ICT and environmental quality in Sub-Saharan Africa: Effects and transmission channels

By Désiré Avom, Hilaire Nkengfack, Hervé Kaffo Fotio, Armand Totouom. Technological forecasting & social change, 2020

503 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Abstract This paper contributes to the literature on the relationship between information and communication technologies (ICT) and environmental quality. Despite a growing attention on the topic, existing studies have not yet investigated the channels through which ICT affects the environment. We use an extended Stochastic Impact by Regression on Population, Affluence and Technology model to estimate both the effect and the transmission channels of ICT on CO2 emissions in 21Sub-Saharan African countries from 1996 to 2014. The empirical results show that ICT use - measured by mobile phone and internet penetrations - significantly stimulates CO2 emissions. Moreover, the mediation analysis reveals that ICT does not only have a direct positive effect on CO2 emissions, but also an indirect positive effect through its effect on energy consumption and financial development and an indirect negative effect through trade openness. However, the total effect is positive and indicates that ICT worsens environmental quality in SSA. Finally, we find an environmental Kuznets curve between economic growth and CO2 emissions. To mitigate the adverse effects of ICT on environmental quality, governments should design policies to improve energy efficiency, promote the use of renewable energy and provide financial incentives for green technology development.

Subfields: Economics and Econometrics, Information Systems

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/34ac6272c0e6e5d603a93c1d8e7a0814f7e531dc

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In Economics and Econometrics

1. Arshian Sharif
2. Asif Razzaq
3. Ahsan Anwar
4. Avik Sinha
5. Fengsheng Chien
6. Ching-Chih Hsu
7. Huwei Wen
8. Kun Yang

In Information Systems

1. Ching-Chih Hsu
2. Fengsheng Chien
3. Ahsan Anwar
4. Avik Sinha
5. Asif Razzaq
6. Arshian Sharif

Citations in the corpus

• Artificial intelligence and energy intensity in China’s industrial sector: Effect and transmission channel (2021, background): “application of ICT can promote energy efficiency and productivity and thereby contribute to reducing energy intensity (Røpke and Christensen, 2012; Corbett, 2013; Cai et al., 2013; Wang and Han, 2016; Bastida et al., 2019; Avom et al., 2020).”
• Digital Economy and Environmental Quality: Evidence from 217 Cities in China (2021, background): “The application of information and communications technology increases energy consumption and pollution [16,17].”
• The role of information and communication technology in encountering environmental degradation: Proposing an SDG framework for the BRICS countries (2021, background): “Avom et al. (2020) investigated the influence of ICT on environmental pollution in Sub-Saharan African economies. They found that ICT stimulates CO2. Faisal et al. (2020) explored that ICT increases CO2 emissions at the early phase, and subsequent to an inflection, ICT reduces environmental pollutio”