Improving ICT and renewable energy for environmental sustainability in sub-Saharan Africa

Abstract

The study investigates the role of information and communication technology (ICT) and renewable energy on environmental sustainability in sub-Saharan Africa. The system generalized method of moments (GMM) was employed to estimate data of 45 sub-Saharan countries that cover the 2008 -2016 period. Result reveals that increasing ICT penetration and renewable energy use reduce CO2 emissions and improves environmental sustainability. Economic growth and population growth also mitigate CO2 emissions while education and trade openness have a neutral impact. These findings imply that increasing penetration of ICT facilities and renewable energy in the region will promote inclusive environmental sustainability. The interactive estimation of ICT variables was further considered to determine net effects and the ICT threshold that is relevant for policy implication.

Public infrastructural development and economic performance in Africa: a new evidence from panel data analysis

“…The data for these variables were taken from the 2020 World Development Indicators (World Bank 2020 ). Some of the empirical studies that support the inclusion of these variables in this study are Sahoo and Dash ( 2012 ), Glass et al ( 2019 ), Wang et al ( 2020b ), and Maji and Waziri ( 2020 ).…”

“…Besides, some recent studies in the extant literature (e.g. Saidi et al 2018 ; Maji and Waziri 2020 ; Ogundipe et al 2020 ; Cheng et al 2020 ) support the use of system GMM technique in investigating infrastructure–growth relationships.…”

“…Similarly, David and Grobler ( 2020 ) found that ICT penetration encourages economic growth in Africa. Maji and Waziri ( 2020 ) used panel data of 45 African countries to show that improvements in ICT penetration and renewable energy consumption enhance environmental sustainability in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Rice and Martin ( 2018 ) found that investment in ICT infrastructure is a strategic resource for smart city infrastructure and economic improvement, which is indispensable in the development of communities, regions and urban environments in Australia.…”

ICT Utilization in Supply Chain Environmental Collaboration Practices as the Moderator of Firms’ Financial Performance

“…Some prior studies were focused particularly on ICT utilization in ESCM (including ECPs) and its influence on various measures of a firm's performance [32][33][34]. However, to my best knowledge, there are almost no empirical studies verifying how ICT utilization in ECPs may influence firms' FP.…”

ICT, energy consumption, financial development, and environmental degradation in South Africa

“…Ibrahim and Waziri (2020) in a study 45 SSA countries during the period 2008-2016 report that ICT and renewable energy promote environmental quality, while education and trade openness were not significantly related to emissions. In a literature review of the ICT-emissions dynamics,Moletsane (2019) concludes that the benefits of ICT to environmental quality are more likely in developed countries, while the opposite is true for developing countries.…”