The determinants of carbon emissions in Belt and Road Initiative countries: analyzing the interactive role of information and communication technologies

Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) countries have benefited greatly from the intelligent growth of the green economy made possible by the widespread adoption of internet and mobile phone technologies. In addition, renewable energy consumption endorses sustainable development. Therefore, the purpose of this research is to determine if the use of information and communication technology (ICT) and renewable energy consumption has an effect on sustainable development in BRI countries, while using the augmented mean group (AMG) model, AMG robustness test, and panel Dumitrescu-Hurlin causality test to get robust results. According to the results of the study, the information and communication technology, renewable consumption, human capital, and urbanization reduces the emission of carbon dioxide emission in BRI countries while economic growth enhances the CO2 emission. Therefore, it is recommended that BRI countries increase their inter-regional cooperation in order to boost investment in renewable energy, effectively use the spillover effect of technology and knowledge, and end the resource curse in environmental policy. Based on the results, the authors of this paper propose a number of important steps toward environmental sustainability.