Investigating the impact of information and communication technology on environmental quality in major Asian Emitters

The purpose of this study is to investigate the impact of information and communication technology on the quality of the environment in major Asian Emitters. This survey is conducted in the period of 2000-2020 in the form of a panel model with the FGLS method for two groups of developing and developed countries. Principal component analysis (PCA) is used to construct ICT and good governance (GG) index. The variables of ICT index are mobile, internet and fixed telephone subscriptions and the variables of GG index are control of corruption, freedom of expression and political stability. Environmental Kuznets Curve hypothesis is confirmed in both groups of countries. In both groups of countries, energy consumption and trade openness leads to a decrease and good governance leads to an increase in the quality of the environment. ICT significantly reduces the quality of the environment in developing countries. In developed countries, ICT does not have a significant effect on the quality of the environment (positive and meaningless), while access to the Internet significantly improves the quality of the environment. It is expected that the carbon-increasing effects of ICT development, such as direct and rebound effects, will be larger in total in developing countries than the carbon-reducing effect of ICT, such as substitution effect. Considering the impact of ICT on economic growth and development, it is recommended to use renewable energy and optimize energy consumption in developing countries. Also, stimulating and activating the substitution effect will help to improve the quality of the environment .