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

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.

Do financial development, financial stability and renewable energy disturb carbon emissions? Evidence from asia-pacific economic cooperation economics.

The present paper investigates the influence of renewable energy consumption (REC), economic growth (GDP), financial development index (FDI), z-score (ZS) and control of corruption (CC) on carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, for eighteen different APEC economies over the period 2000-2019 using the Pooled Mean Group-Autoregressive Distributed Lags (PMG-ARDL) approach and Granger causality tests. The outcomes of the empirical study confirm that the variables are cointegration using Pedroni tests. The long-run estimates revealed that economic growth and renewable energy contribute to the huge of carbon emissions, while financial development, ZS and CC lead to decrease carbon emissions. Granger causality shows that, in the long-run, there is bidirectional causality between CO2 emissions, economic growth, and financial development. In the short-run and for basic variables, Granger shows a unidirectional causality from CO2 emissions and economic growth to REC and; unidirectional causality from financial development, ZC and CC to CO2 emissions. A comprehensive approach is needed in APEC countries to effectively reduce CO2 emissions and promote sustainable development, including encouraging green financial products, reinforcing financial regulations, transitioning to a low-carbon economy, enhancing renewable energy usage, and improving governance and institutional quality, while considering the distinctive characteristics of each country.