Role of information and communication technology, economic growth, financial development and renewable energy consumption towards the sustainable environment: Insights from ASEAN countries

The objective of this study is to examine the effect of information and communication technology, economic growth, renewable energy consumption, and financial development on carbon dioxide emissions in selected ASEAN countries. The PMG (Pooled Mean Group) estimator is used to panel data from 1991 to 2020 to examine both the short-run and long-run impacts. The findings indicate that ICT and financial development contribute to environmental deterioration, in the long run, their influence on CO2 emissions in the short run is insignificant. On the other hand, the use of renewable energy has a long- and short-term favorable impact on environmental quality. Furthermore, it is discovered that economic growth increases CO2 emissions, but squared economic growth reduces CO2 emissions, confirming the inverted U-shaped EKC theory. The Granger causality test indicates that renewable energy and CO2 emissions are bidirectionally causal, but information and communication technology and financial development are unidirectionally causal to CO2 emissions. According to the findings, the governments of these nations must reduce carbon emissions from internet usage and invest in renewable energy sources to control environmental deterioration.