Does ICT influence carbon emissions in the context of universal connectivity: a global perspective?

• Published in: Environmental science and pollution research international Vol. 31; no. 6; pp. 9535 - 9549
• Main Authors: Ben Jebli, Mehdi, Hasni, Radhouane, Jaouadi, Issam
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Berlin/Heidelberg Springer Berlin Heidelberg 01.02.2024; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Aquatic Pollution; Atmospheric Protection/Air Quality Control/Air Pollution; carbon; Carbon dioxide; Carbon dioxide emissions; Connectivity; Data exchange; Earth and Environmental Science; Ecotoxicology; Emissions; Empirical analysis; empirical research; Environment; Environmental Chemistry; Environmental Health; nonrenewable resources; principal component analysis; Principal components analysis; Renewable energy; renewable energy sources; Renewable resources; Research Article; Sustainable development; Waste Water Technology; Water Management; Water Pollution Control; ICT index; GDP; PMG-ARDL; CO2 emissions; Renewable and non-renewable energy; Financial development
• ISSN: 1614-7499; 0944-1344; 1614-7499
• DOI: 10.1007/s11356-023-31793-x

The Connect 2030 initiative, launched by the International Telecommunication Union, is in alignment with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the United Nations Agenda 2030. Its main objective is to achieve universal connectivity, a goal that is closely related to environmental issues. This topic currently receives attention from researchers and policymakers. Given these considerations, our study investigates the impact of information and communication technologies on carbon dioxide emissions for a panel of 84 countries spanning the years 2009 to 2020. Using principal component analysis, we construct an ICT index that encompasses international bandwidth, reflecting the universal connectivity, and participation in international data exchanges. The empirical analysis applies the pooled mean group-panel autoregressive distributive lag (PMG-ARDL) approach to estimate both the long-run and short-run coefficients of CO2 emissions’ determinants. Our findings show that ICT and renewable energy mitigate CO2 emissions, unlike financial development, GDP, and non-renewable energy, which contribute significantly to emissions for the full sample. These outcomes suggest that promoting ICTs in general and international bandwidth in particular, as part of universal connectivity, improves the quality of the global environment.