Time-varying impact of information and communication technology on carbon emissions

To investigate the time-varying net environmental impact of Information and Communication Technology (ICT), we apply the local linear dummy variable estimation (LLDVE) method using a panel data consisting of 63 countries for the period 1995–2017. Our analysis reveals that ICT increases CO₂ emissions until 2004, while reducing them after 2008, regardless of the national income level. We further uncover that the positive environmental impact of ICT on high-income countries is about 10 times greater than that on middle-income countries over time. These findings indicate that the development of ICT should be encouraged to alleviate carbon emissions on a global scale, especially for middle-income countries, given the benefits of an improved technology absorption rate on the mitigation effect in high income countries.