The impact of information and communication technologies, CO₂ emissions, and energy consumption on inclusive development in developing countries

This study investigates the impact of information and communication technologies, carbon dioxide emissions, and energy consumption on inclusive development of 81 developing countries for the period 2010-2014. Two-step system generalized method of moments has been employed to estimate these dynamic relationships among the variables in conditional and unconditional models. Our findings support the theory that ICTs can be used as policy instrument to dampen the negative effect of environmental degradation on inclusive development. The results suggest that ICTs in association with CO₂ emissions per capita positively affect inclusive development in an unconditional regression. When ICT complements CO₂ intensity, it positively affects inclusive development in mobile- and internet-oriented regressions. However, we also found net negative effects of association between ICTs and CO₂ emissions from liquid and fuel and CO₂ emissions from heat and electricity which reflects a decrease in inclusive human development. We suggest that policy makers should consider the nature and dimensions of CO₂ emissions while using ICTs as policy instrument to mitigate emissions and should invite and plan such investments in ICTs which help in attaining environmental sustainability and inclusive development.