Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

The role of private investment in ICT on carbon dioxide emissions (CO2) mitigation: do renewable energy and political risk matter in Morocco?

  • Research Article
  • Published:
Environmental Science and Pollution Research Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The present study proposed the relationship among private investment in information and communication technology (ICT), carbon emissions (CO2), renewable energy, political risk, and economic growth over the period of 1985–2020 in Morocco. The dynamic ARDL simulations (ARDL) model suggests that private partnership in ICT plays a significant role in abating CO2 emissions, the adaptation of renewable energy is a key contributor in CO2 degradation, while economic growth shows a positive and significant association with CO2 emissions, indicating that economic growth increases CO2 emissions. The study also analyzed political risk in the study region, which indicates that low political risk mitigates CO2 emissions in Morocco. The findings provide significant enlightenment to acknowledge the importance of private partnership in ICT for the purpose to decarbonize CO2 emissions, and adopting the use of renewable energy. The findings also suggest that a stable political system is inventible towards low-carbon development.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5

Similar content being viewed by others

Data availability

The datasets analyzed for this study can be found in the World Bank Database, here is the website reference https://databank.worldbank.org/reports.aspx?source=world-development-indicators

Abbreviations

CO2 emissions:

Carbon dioxide emissions

PIICT:

Private investment in ICT

ICT:

Information communication and telecommunication

PRI:

Political risk index

RE:

Renewable energy

GDPPC:

Gross domestic product per capita

ARDL:

Autoregressive distributed lag

References

  • Agostini P, Botteon M, Carraro C (1992) A carbon tax to reduce CO2 emissions in Europe. Energy Econ 14(4):279–290

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Akbostancı E, Türüt-Aşık S, Tunç Gİ (2009) The relationship between income and environment in Turkey: is there an environmental Kuznets curve? Energy Policy 37(3):861–867

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ali M, Liu L, Zhang J (2021) Exploring spatio-temporal variations in environmental impacts from eating out in the United Kingdom. Sci Total Environ 801:149540

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Al-Mulali U, Sheau-Ting L, Ozturk I (2015) The global move toward Internet shopping and its influence on pollution: an empirical analysis. Environ Sci Pollut Res 22(13):9717–9727

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • AñónHigón D, Gholami R, Shirazi F (2017) ICT and environmental sustainability: a global perspective. Telematics Inform 34(4):85–95

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Apergis N, Payne JE (2009) CO2 emissions, energy usage, and output in Central America. Energy Policy 37(8):3282–3286

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Arshad Z, Robaina M, Botelho A (2020) The role of ICT in energy consumption and environment: an empirical investigation of Asian economies with cluster analysis. Environ Sci Pollut Res 27(26):32913–32932

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Asongu SA, Le Roux S, Biekpe N (2018) Enhancing ICT for environmental sustainability in sub-Saharan Africa. Technol Forecast Soc Chang 127:209–216

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Begum RA, Sohag K, Abdullah SMS, Jaafar M (2015) CO2 emissions, energy consumption, economic and population growth in Malaysia. Renew Sustain Energy Rev 41:594–601

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bengochea-Morancho A, Higón-Tamarit F, Martínez-Zarzoso I (2001) Economic growth and CO2 emissions in the European Union. Environ Resour Econ 19(2):165–172

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Blanco L, Gonzalez F, Ruiz I (2013) The impact of FDI on CO2 emissions in Latin America. Oxf Dev Stud 41(1):104–121

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brown RL, Durbin J, Evans JM (1975) Techniques for testing the constancy of regression relationships over time. J R Stat Soc Ser B Methodol 37(2):149–163

    Google Scholar 

  • Bruno G, Esposito G, Iandoli L, Raffa M (2004) The ICT service industry in North Africa and the role of partnerships in Morocco. J Glob Inf Technol Manag 7(3):5–26

    Google Scholar 

  • Burke MJ, Stephens JC (2018) Political power and renewable energy futures: a critical review. Energy Res Soc Sci 35:78–93

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cattaneo O, Diop N, Walkenhorst P (2007) The potential for ICT-development in Morocco. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/46447114_The_potential_for_ICT-development_in_Morocco

  • Chapa BP, Rao GS (2020) Green mobile Communications in India: emerging technologies and challenges. IUP J Telecommun 12(1). URL: https://web.p.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail/detail?vid=0&sid=7a7ca489-6de9-495d-a8c3-ddf1531bba82%40redis&bdata=Jmxhbmc9emgtY24mc2l0ZT1laG9zdC1saXZl#AN=142017289&db=bth

  • Coroama VC, Hilty LM, Birtel M (2012) Effects of Internet-based multiple-site conferences on greenhouse gas emissions. Telematics Inform 29(4):362–374

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Danish N, Khan MA, Baloch SS, Fatima T (2018) The effect of ICT on CO2 emissions in emerging economies: does the level of income matters? Environ Sci Pollut Res 25(23):22850–22860

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Dickey DA, Fuller WA (1979) Distribution of the estimators for autoregressive time series with a unit root. J Am Stat Assoc 74(366a):427–431

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dong K, Dong X, Jiang Q, Zhao J (2021) Valuing the greenhouse effect of political risks: the global case. Appl Econ 53(31):3604–3618

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ewing J, Chevrolier N, Leenderste M, Quigless M, Verghese T (2014) ICT competitiveness in Africa. http://www.sciepub.com/reference/366685

  • Fan J-L, Liang Q-M, Wang Q, Zhang X, Wei Y-M (2015) Will export rebate policy be effective for CO2 emissions reduction in China? A CEEPA-based analysis. J Clean Prod 103:120–129

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gatzert N, Kosub T (2017) Determinants of policy risks of renewable energy investments. Int J Energy Sect Manage 11(1):28–45

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Grossman GM, Krueger AB (1991) Environmental impacts of a North American free trade agreement. National Bureau of economic research, Cambridge

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Hassan T, Song H, Khan Y, Kirikkaleli D (2022a) Energy efficiency a source of low carbon energy sources? Evidence from 16 high-income OECD economies. Energy, 123063

  • Hassan T, Song H, Kirikkaleli D (2022b) International trade and consumption-based carbon emissions: evaluating the role of composite risk for RCEP economies. Environ Sci Pollut Res 29(3):3417–3437

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • HCP (2022) Morocco’s population size. 2022, from https://www.hcp.ma/. Accessed 10 Feb 2022

  • Houghton JW (2010) ICT and the environment in developing countries: A review of opportunities and developments. What kind of information society? Governance, virtuality, surveillance, sustainability, resilience, 236-247. https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007%2F978-3-642-15479-9_23.pdf

  • Johansen S, Juselius K (1990) Maximum likelihood estimation and inference on cointegration—with appucations to the demand for money. Oxford Bull Econ Stat 52(2):169–210

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jordan S, Philips AQ (2018) Cointegration testing and dynamic simulations of autoregressive distributed lag models. Stata J 18(4):902–923

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Khan Y, Bin Q (2020) The environmental Kuznets curve for carbon dioxide emissions and trade on belt and road initiative countries: a spatial panel data approach. Singap Econ Rev 65(04):1099–1126

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Khan Y, Bin Q, Hassan T (2019) The impact of climate changes on agriculture export trade in Pakistan: evidence from time-series analysis. Growth Chang 50(4):1568–1589

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Khan Z, Ali M, Jinyu L, Shahbaz M, Siqun Y (2020) Consumption-based carbon emissions and trade nexus: evidence from nine oil exporting countries. Energy Econ 89:104806

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Khan Y, Hassan T, Kirikkaleli D, Xiuqin Z, Shukai C (2021a) The impact of economic policy uncertainty on carbon emissions: evaluating the role of foreign capital investment and renewable energy in East Asian economies. Environ Sci Pollut Res

  • Khan Y, ShuKai C, Hassan T, Kootwal J, Khan MN (2021b) The links between renewable energy, fossil energy, terrorism, economic growth and trade openness: the case of Pakistan. SN Bus Econ 1(9):115

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Khan Y, ShuKai C, Hassan T, Kootwal J, Khan MN (2021c) The links between renewable energy, fossil energy, terrorism, economic growth and trade openness: the case of Pakistan. SN Bus Econ 1(9):1–25

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Khan Z, Murshed M, Dong K, Yang S (2021d) The roles of export diversification and composite country risks in carbon emissions abatement: evidence from the signatories of the regional comprehensive economic partnership agreement. Appl Econ 53(41):4769–4787

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Khan AA, Luo J, Safi A, Khan SU, Ali MAS (2022) What determines volatility in natural resources? Evaluating the role of political risk index. Resourc Policy 75:102540

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kirikkaleli D (2020) Does political risk matter for economic and financial risks in Venezuela? J Econ Struct 9(1):1–10

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kousksou T, Allouhi A, Belattar M, Jamil A, El Rhafiki T, Arid A, Zeraouli Y (2015) Renewable energy potential and national policy directions for sustainable development in Morocco. Renew Sustain Energy Rev 47:46–57

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lakshmanan TR, Han X (1997) Factors underlying transportation CO2 emissions in the U.S.A.: a decomposition analysis. Transp Res D Transp Environ 2(1):1–15

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Latif Z, Mengke Y, Danish, Latif S, Ximei L, Pathan ZH, Salam S, Jianqiu Z (2018) The dynamics of ICT, foreign direct investment, globalization and economic growth: panel estimation robust to heterogeneity and cross-sectional dependence. Telematics Inform 35(2):318–328

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Leal PH, Marques AC, Shahbaz M (2021) The role of globalisation, de jure and de facto, on environmental performance: evidence from developing and developed countries. Environ Dev Sustain 23(5):7412–7431

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lee JW, Brahmasrene T (2014) ICT, CO2 emissions and economic growth: evidence from a panel of ASEAN. Glob Econ Rev 43(2):93–109

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lee K-H, Min B, Yook K-H (2015) The impacts of carbon (CO2) emissions and environmental research and development (R&D) investment on firm performance. Int J Prod Econ 167:1–11

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lennerfors TT, Fors P, van Rooijen J (2015) ICT and environmental sustainability in a changing society. Inf Technol People 28(4):758–774

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Liu X, Zhang S, Bae J (2017) The nexus of renewable energy-agriculture-environment in BRICS. Appl Energy 204:489–496

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Malik A, Awadallah B (2013) The Economics of the Arab Spring. World Dev 45:296–313

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Menyah K, Wolde-Rufael Y (2010) CO2 emissions, nuclear energy, renewable energy and economic growth in the US. Energy Policy 38(6):2911–2915

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • MIT (2021) "Industrial Recovery Plan", 2022. https://www.unido.org/sites/default/files/files/2021-11/IDR%202022%20-%20EBOOK.pdf

  • Ollo-López A, Aramendía-Muneta ME (2012) ICT impact on competitiveness, innovation and environment. Telematics Inform 29(2):204–210

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ozcan B, Apergis N (2018) The impact of Internet use on air pollution: evidence from emerging countries. Environ Sci Pollut Res 25(5):4174–4189

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Paramati SR, Mo D, Huang R (2021) “The role of financial deepening and green technology on carbon emissions: evidence from major OECD economies. Financ Res Lett 41:101794

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pesaran MH, Shin Y, Smith RP (1999) Pooled mean group estimation of dynamic heterogeneous panels. J Am Stat Assoc 94(446):621–634

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pesaran MH, Shin Y, Smith RJ (2001) Bounds testing approaches to the analysis of level relationships. J Appl Econ 16(3):289–326

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Phillips PC, Perron P (1988) Testing for a unit root in time series regression. Biometrika 75(2):335–346

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ponce P, Khan SAR (2021) A causal link between renewable energy, energy efficiency, property rights, and CO2 emissions in developed countries: a road map for environmental sustainability. Environ Sci Pollut Res 28(28):37804–37817

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Qi T, Zhang X, Karplus VJ (2014) The energy and CO2 emissions impact of renewable energy development in China. Energy Policy 68:60–69

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Riemer P (1996) Greenhouse gas mitigation technologies, an overview of the CO2 capture, storage and future activities of the IEA Greenhouse Gas R&D programme. Energy Convers Manage 37(6):665–670

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rodríguez-Crespo E, Martínez-Zarzoso I (2019) The effect of ICT on trade: does product complexity matter? Telematics Inform 41:182–196

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sadorsky P (2009) Renewable energy consumption, CO2 emissions and oil prices in the G7 countries. Energy Econ 31(3):456–462

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Safi A, Chen Y, Wahab S, Ali S, Yi X, Imran M (2021a) Financial instability and consumption-based carbon emission in E-7 countries: the role of trade and economic growth. Sustain Prod Consum 27:383–391

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Safi A, Chen Y, Wahab S, Zheng L, Rjoub H (2021b) Does environmental taxes achieve the carbon neutrality target of G7 economies? Evaluating the importance of environmental R&D. J Environ Manag 293:112908

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Safi A, Wahab S, Zeb F, Amin M, Chen Y (2021c) Does financial stability and renewable energy promote sustainable environment in G-7 countries? The role of income and international trade. Environ Sci Pollut Res 28(34):47628–47640

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Saidi K, Ben Mbarek M (2016) Nuclear energy, renewable energy, CO2 emissions, and economic growth for nine developed countries: evidence from panel Granger causality tests. Prog Nucl Energy 88:364–374

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Sánchez-Chóliz J, Duarte R (2004) CO2 emissions embodied in international trade: evidence for Spain. Energy Policy 32(18):1999–2005

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shahbaz M, Solarin SA, Mahmood H, Arouri M (2013) Does financial development reduce CO2 emissions in Malaysian economy? A time series analysis. Econ Model 35:145–152

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Soytas U, Sari R, Ewing BT (2007) Energy consumption, income, and carbon emissions in the United States. Ecol Econ 62(3):482–489

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Su C-W, Umar M, Khan Z (2021a) Does fiscal decentralization and eco-innovation promote renewable energy consumption? Analyzing the role of political risk. Sci Total Environ 751:142220

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Su C-W, Yuan X, Tao R, Umar M (2021b) Can new energy vehicles help to achieve carbon neutrality targets? J Environ Manag 297:113348

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Su Z-W, Umar M, Kirikkaleli D, Adebayo TS (2021c) Role of political risk to achieve carbon neutrality: evidence from Brazil. J Environ Manag 298:113463

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Tao S, Zheng T, Lianjun T (2008) An empirical test of the environmental Kuznets curve in China: a panel cointegration approach. China Econ Rev 19(3):381–392

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tianjian Y, Yiwen H, Ping Z, Huaying S, Xi L (2011) Low-carbon telecom solution for China’s emission reduction and future forecasts. China Commun 8(3):52–65

    Google Scholar 

  • Umar M, Ji X, Kirikkaleli D, Alola AA (2021) The imperativeness of environmental quality in the United States transportation sector amidst biomass-fossil energy consumption and growth. J Clean Prod 285:124863

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Van Heddeghem W, Lambert S, Lannoo B, Colle D, Pickavet M, Demeester P (2014) Trends in worldwide ICT electricity consumption from 2007 to 2012. Comput Commun 50:64–76

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wahab S, Zhang X, Safi A, Wahab Z, Amin M (2021) Does energy productivity and technological innovation limit trade-adjusted carbon emissions? Econ Res-Ekonomska Istraživanja 34(1):1896–1912

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wang Y, Zhang C, Lu A, Li L, He Y, ToJo J, Zhu X (2017) A disaggregated analysis of the environmental Kuznets curve for industrial CO2 emissions in China. Appl Energy 190:172–180

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wang J, Dong X, Dong K (2021) How renewable energy reduces CO2 emissions? Decoupling and decomposition analysis for 25 countries along the Belt and Road. Appl Econ 53(40):4597–4613

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Xu H, Cao S, Xu X (2022) The development of highway infrastructure and CO2 emissions: the mediating role of agglomeration. J Clean Prod 337:130501

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Yuan J-H, Kang J-G, Zhao C-H, Hu Z-G (2008) Energy consumption and economic growth: evidence from China at both aggregated and disaggregated levels. Energy Econ 30(6):3077–3094

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zhang X-P, Cheng X-M (2009) Energy consumption, carbon emissions, and economic growth in China. Ecol Econ 68(10):2706–2712

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zhang C, Liu C (2015) The impact of ICT industry on CO2 emissions: a regional analysis in China. Renew Sustain Energy Rev 44:12–19

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zhu H-M, You W-H, Zeng Z-F (2012) Urbanization and CO2 emissions: a semi-parametric panel data analysis. Econ Lett 117(3):848–850

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zivot E, Andrews DWK (2002) Further evidence on the great crash, the oil-price shock, and the unit-root hypothesis. J Bus Econ Stat 20(1):25–44

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zoundi Z (2017) CO2 emissions, renewable energy and the environmental Kuznets curve, a panel cointegration approach. Renew Sustain Energy Rev 72:1067–1075

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Funding

This study was supported by the 2021 Anhui Provincial University Science And Research Project (Grant No. SK2021A0290).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Industrial Economics, School of Economics & Management, Anhui Polytechnic University, Wuhu, 241000, China

    Yasir Khan & Hana Oubaih

  2. Department of Management and Logistics, Ibn Zohr University, 80000, Agadir, Morocco

    Fatima Zahra Elgourrami

Authors
  1. Yasir Khan
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Hana Oubaih
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Fatima Zahra Elgourrami
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Contributions

The main idea of the original draft belongs to Yasir Khan. He designed the empirical analysis and methodology, wrote the introduction, and revised the final draft and supervision, while Hana Oubaih and Fatima Zahra Elgourrami formulated a literature review and data collection.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Yasir Khan.

Ethics declarations

Ethics approval

We acknowledged that this paper has not been published elsewhere and is not under consideration by another journal. Ethical approval and informed consent do not apply to this study.

Consent to participate

Not applicable.

Consent for publication

Not applicable.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare no competing interests.

Additional information

Responsible Editor: Roula Inglesi-Lotz

Publisher's note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Khan, Y., Oubaih, H. & Elgourrami, F.Z. The role of private investment in ICT on carbon dioxide emissions (CO2) mitigation: do renewable energy and political risk matter in Morocco?. Environ Sci Pollut Res 29, 52885–52899 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-022-19455-w

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-022-19455-w

Keywords

Search

Navigation