Information and communication technology (ICT) and environmental sustainability: a panel data analysis
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RESEARCH ARTICLE
Information and communication technology (ICT) and environmental sustainability: a panel data analysis Farzana Naheed Khan 1 & Aiman Sana 1 & Umaima Arif 1 Received: 9 March 2020 / Accepted: 11 June 2020 # Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2020
Abstract This study investigates the impact of information and communication technology (ICT) on carbon dioxide emissions for a panel of 91 countries over the period 1990 to 2017. The study constructs an ICT index through principal component analysis and tests for the presence of cross-sectional dependence (CSD) in the data. The study employs pooled ordinary least squares, fixed-effects model, and system-generalized method of moments estimation techniques with panel-corrected standard errors (PCSE) to tackle the issues of CSD in the data. The findings of the study show that ICT reduces CO2 emissions for the full sample of countries. However, the comparative study of developed and developing countries depicts that ICT encourages environmental sustainability in developed countries whereas opposite results are found for developing countries. Moreover, presence of the environmental Kuznets curve is confirmed for the full sample as well as for developed and developing countries. It suggests that with higher levels of development of a country, it would be possible to contribute towards environmental sustainability along with ICT diffusion. Therefore, the outcome of this study may be helpful for policymaker and policies may be designed to encourage ICT investments in developing countries, as ICT will take care of environmental sustainability with higher levels of development. Keywords ICT index . Environmental sustainability . Environmental Kuznets curve . Cross-sectional dependence . Panel-corrected standard errors
Introduction Over the past three decades, significant diffusion of information and communication technology (ICT) has boosted productivity and enhanced energy efficiency in the greater parts of the economies. The research has largely documented these potential benefits of ICT around the world. However, little attention has been paid to the environmental consequences of ICT. And so, the relationship between ICT and environmental sustainability is still inconclusive (Khan 2019). Some studies found that rapid growth of ICT has positively affected environment by mitigating carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, whereas some other studies provided the evidence that greater usage of ICT appliances has caused environmental deterioration. Also, the existing literature shows heterogeneous Responsible Editor: Philippe Garrigues * Umaima Arif [email protected] 1
School of Economics, Quaid-i-Azam University Islamabad, Islamabad, Pakistan
consequences of ICT for CO2 emissions in the developed and developing countries (Al-Mulali et al. 2015; Higon et al. 2017). Since, environment is an important global issue, therefore, this study conducts a comparative analysis of the developed and developing countries at a global level to understand the relati
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