Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Industrial output, services and carbon emissions: the role of information and communication technologies and economic freedom in Africa

  • Published:
Environment, Development and Sustainability Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

This study examines the impact of industrial structure on carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions with emphasis on the activities of secondary and tertiary industries and the role of information and communication technologies and economic freedom. We focus on explaining consumption-based and territorial-based CO2 emissions in a selection of African economies over the period 1995–2017, accounting for possible heterogeneity in the distribution of both measures of CO2 emissions using the Method of Moments Quantile Regression approach for handling fixed effects in panel quantile models. The results show that (i) industrial output increase territorial-based CO2 emissions and have stronger impact in countries with more extractive industries; (ii) services reduce consumption-based CO2 emissions and the impact is significant across the entire quantile distribution; (iii) the use of fixed (wired) and analogue telephone technologies increases consumption-based and territorial-based CO2 emissions and the impact is stronger at the upper quantile distribution; (iv) the use of mobile telephone and internet technologies reduces consumption-based and territorial-based CO2 emissions and the impact is stronger at the upper quantile distribution; (v) increased economic freedom decreases territorial-based CO2 emissions and the impact is stronger at the upper quantile distribution. Overall, our findings highlight the role of mobile telephone and internet penetration, restructuring towards service-based economy and economic freedom in promoting cleaner production and sustainable consumption patterns in African economies.

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

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Altinoz, B., Vasbieva, D., & Kalugina, O. (2020). The effect of information and communication technologies and total factor productivity on CO2 emissions in top 10 emerging market economies. Environmental Science and Pollution Research. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-020-11630-1

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Asongu, S. A., Le Roux, S., & Biekpe, N. (2018). Enhancing ICT for environmental sustainability in sub-Saharan Africa. Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 127, 209–216.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Atikian, J. (2013). Industrial shift: The structure of the new world economy. Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137340313

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Audu, A., Jimoh, A., Abdulkareem, S. A., & Lawrence, O. (2016). Economics and environmental impacts of oil exploration and exploitation in Nigeria. Energy Sources, Part b: Economics, Planning, and Policy, 11(3), 251–257.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Avom, D., Nkengfack, H., Fotio, H. K., & Totouom, A. (2020). ICT and environmental quality in Sub-Saharan Africa: Effects and transmission channels. Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 155, 120028.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Belkhir, L., & Elmeligi, A. (2018). Assessing ICT global emissions footprint: Trends to 2040 & recommendations. Journal of Cleaner Production, 177, 448–463.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Breitung, J. (2000). The local power of some unit root tests for panel data. In B. H. Baltag (Ed.), Advances in econometrics Nonstationary Panels, Panel Cointegration, and Dynamic Panels i (Vol. 15, pp. 161–178). Amsterdam: JAI Press.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Breitung, J., & Das, S. (2005). Panel unit root tests under cross-sectional dependence. Statistica Neerlandica, 59, 414–433.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Canay, I. A. (2011). A simple approach to quantile regression for panel data. The Econometrics Journal, 14(3), 368–386.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Carlsson, F.& Lundström, S. (2003). The effects of economic and political freedom on CO2 emissions. Working Papers in Economics, 29, University of Gothenburg, Department of Economics.

  • Dietz, T., & Rosa, E. A. (1994). Rethinking the environmental impacts of population, affluence and technology. Human Ecology Review, 1(2), 277–300.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dietz, T., Rosa, E. A., & York, R. (2007). Driving the human ecological footprint. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment, 5(1), 13–18.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Driscoll, J. C., & Kraay, A. C. (1998). Consistent covariance matrix estimation with spatially dependent panel data. Review of Economics and Statistics, 80, 549–560.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Edwards, D. P., Sloan, S., Weng, L., Dirks, P., Sayer, J., & Laurance, W. F. (2014). Mining and the African environment. Conservation Letters, 7(3), 302–311.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fayiga, A. O., Ipinmoroti, M. O., & Chirenje, T. (2018). Environmental pollution in Africa. Environment, Development and Sustainability, 20(1), 41–73.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Friedlingstein, P., Jones, M. W., O’Sullivan, M., Andrew, R. M., Hauck, J., et al. (2019). Global carbon budget 2019. Earth System Science Data, 11(4), 1783–1838. https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-11-1783-2019

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fuchs, C. (2008). The implications of new information and communication technologies for sustainability. Environment, Development and Sustainability, 10(3), 291–309.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Galvao, A. F., Jr. (2011). Quantile regression for dynamic panel data with fixed effects. Journal of Econometrics, 164(1), 142–157.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gouvea, R., Kapelianis, D., & Kassicieh, S. (2018). Assessing the nexus of sustainability and information & communications technology. Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 130, 39–44.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Graafland, J. (2019). Economic freedom and corporate environmental responsibility: The role of small government and freedom from government regulation. Journal of Cleaner Production, 218, 250–258.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Graafland, J. (2020). When does economic freedom promote well being? On the moderating role of long-term orientation. Social Indicators Research, 149(1), 127–153.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Green, S., Melnyk, A., & Powers, D. (2002). Is economic freedom necessary for technology diffusion? Applied Economics Letters, 9(14), 907–910.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hartwell, C. A., & Coursey, D. L. (2015). Revisiting the environmental rewards of economic freedom. Economics and Business Letters, 4(1), 36–50.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hashmi, S. H., Hongzhong, F., Fareed, Z., & Bannya, R. (2020). Testing non-linear nexus between service sector and CO2 emissions in Pakistan. Energies, 13(3), 526.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Higón, D. A., Gholami, R., & Shirazi, F. (2017). ICT and environmental sustainability: A global perspective. Telematics and Informatics, 34(4), 85–95.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Houghton, J.W. (2010). ICT and the environment in developing countries: A review of opportunities and developments. In What kind of information society? Governance, virtuality, surveillance, sustainability, resilience (pp. 236–247). Heidelberg: SpringerBerlin.

  • Huisingh, D., Zhang, Z., Moore, J. C., Qiao, Q., & Li, Q. (2015). Recent advances in carbon emissions reduction: Policies, technologies, monitoring, assessment and modeling. Journal of Cleaner Production, 103, 1–12.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Jacob, P. (2018). Information and communication technology in shaping urban low carbon development pathways. Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability, 30, 133–137.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jebli, M. B., Farhani, S., & Guesmi, K. (2020). Renewable energy, CO2 emissions and value added: Empirical evidence from countries with different income levels. Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, 53, 402–410. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.strueco.2019.12.009

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Joshi, P., & Beck, K. (2018). Democracy and carbon dioxide emissions: Assessing the interactions of political and economic freedom and the environmental Kuznets curve. Energy Research & Social Science, 39, 46–54.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Joshua, U., & Alola, A. A. (2020). Accounting for environmental sustainability from coal-led growth in South Africa: The role of employment and FDI. Environmental Science and Pollution Research, 27, 17706–17716.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Kao, C. (1999). Spurious regression and residual-based tests for cointegration in panel data. Journal of Econometrics, 90, 1–44.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kouton, J., Bétila, R. R., & Lawin, M. (2020). The impact of ICT development on health outcomes in Africa: Does economic freedom matter? Journal of the Knowledge Economy, 12(4), 1–40. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13132-020-00689-3

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kreps (2020). Global digital overview essential insights into how people around the world use the internet, mobile devices, social media, and ecommerce. https://wearesocial-net.s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/common/reports/digital-2020/digital-2020-global.pdf.

  • Lampert, A. (2019). Over-exploitation of natural resources is followed by inevitable declines in economic growth and discount rate. Nature Communications, 10(1), 1–10.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Li, Z., Shao, S., Shi, X., Sun, Y., & Zhang, X. (2019). Structural transformation of manufacturing, natural resource dependence, and carbon emissions reduction: Evidence of a threshold effect from China. Journal of Cleaner Production, 206, 920–927.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lu, W. C. (2018). The impacts of information and communication technology, energy consumption, financial development, and economic growth on carbon dioxide emissions in 12 Asian countries. Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change, 23(8), 1351–1365.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Machado, J. A. F., & Santos Silva, J. M. C. (2019). Quantiles via moments. Journal of Econometrics, 213, 145–173.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mahmood, H., Alkhateeb, T. T. Y., & Furqan, M. (2020). Industrialization, urbanization and CO2 emissions in Saudi Arabia: Asymmetry analysis. Energy Reports, 6, 1553–1560.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Miller, T., Kim, A.B. & Roberts, J.M. (2020). 2020 index of Economic Freedom. https://www.heritage.org/index/pdf/2020/book/index_2020.pdf.

  • Murshed, M., Nurmakhanova, M., Elheddad, M., & Ahmed, R. (2020). Value addition in the services sector and its heterogeneous impacts on CO2 emissions: Revisiting the EKC hypothesis for the OPEC using panel spatial estimation techniques. Environmental Science and Pollution Research, 27(31), 38951–38973.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Nguyen, T. T., Pham, T. A. T., & Tram, H. T. X. (2020). Role of information and communication technologies and innovation in driving carbon emissions and economic growth in selected G-20 countries. Journal of Environmental Management, 261, 110162.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Okamoto, S. (2013). Impacts of growth of a service economy on CO 2 emissions: Japan’s case. Journal of Economic Structures, 2(1), 8.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Opoku, E. E. O., & Boachie, M. K. (2020). The environmental impact of industrialization and foreign direct investment. Energy Policy, 137, 111178.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Ozcan, B., & Apergis, N. (2018). The impact of internet use on air pollution: Evidence from emerging countries. Environmental Science and Pollution Research, 25(5), 4174–4189.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Pandey, S., Dogan, E., & Taskin, D. (2020). Production-based and consumption-based approaches for the energy-growth-environment nexus: Evidence from Asian countries. Sustainable Production and Consumption, 23, 274–281.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pedroni, P. (1999). Critical values for cointegration tests in heterogeneous panels with multiple regressors. Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, 61, 653–670.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pedroni, P. (2004). Panel cointegration: Asymptotic and finite sample properties of pooled time series tests with an application to the PPP hypothesis. Econometric Theory, 20, 597–625.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pesaran, M. H. (2003). a simple panel unit root test in the presence of cross section dependence. Cambridge Working Papers in Economics 0346, Faculty of Economics (DAE), University of Cambridge.

  • Pesaran, M. H. (2007). A simple panel unit root test in the presence of cross-section dependence. Journal of Applied Econometrics, 22, 265–312.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Peters, G.P., Minx, J.C., Weber, C.L. & Edenhofer, O. (2011). Growth in emission transfers via international trade from 1990 to 2008. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 108, 8903–8908. http://www.pnas.org/content/108/21/8903.

  • Pham, N. M., Huynh, T. L. D., & Nasir, M. A. (2020). Environmental consequences of population, affluence and technological progress for European countries: A Malthusian view. Journal of Environmental Management, 260, 110143.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sajeev, A., & Kaur, S. (2020). Environmental sustainability, trade and economic growth in India: Implications for public policy. International Trade, Politics and Development, 4(2), 141–160.

  • Sabuj, S. U., Ali, S. M., Hasan, K. W., & Paul, S. K. (2020). Contextual relationships among key factors related to environmental sustainability: Evidence from an emerging economy. Sustainable Production and Consumption, 27, 86–99.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Safi, A., Chen, Y., Wahab, S., Ali, S., Yi, X., & Imran, M. (2021). Financial instability and consumption-based carbon emission in E-7 countries: The role of trade and economic growth. Sustainable Production and Consumption, 27, 383–391.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ulucak, R., & Kahn, S.U.-D. (2020). Does information and communication technology affect CO2 mitigation under the pathway of sustainable development during the mode of globalization? Sustainable Development, 28, 857–867. https://doi.org/10.1002/sd.2041

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wang, R., Zheng, X., Wang, H., & Shan, Y. (2019). Emission drivers of cities at different industrialization phases in China. Journal of Environmental Management, 250, 109494.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wang, Z., Rasool, Y., Zhang, B., Ahmed, Z., & Wang, B. (2020). Dynamic linkage among industrialisation, urbanisation, and CO2 emissions in APEC realms: Evidence based on DSUR estimation. Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, 52, 382–389.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • World Bank. (2022). World development indicators. https://databank.worldbank.org/home.aspx. Accessed 25 Jan 2022.

  • York, R., Rosa, E. A., & Dietz, T. (2003). STIRPAT, IPAT and ImPACT: Analytic tools for unpacking the driving forces of environmental impacts. Ecological Economics, 46(3), 351–365.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • ZhangWang Latif, J. B. Z. (2019). Towards cross-regional sustainable development: The nexus between information and communication technology, energy consumption, and CO 2 emissions. Sustainable Development, 27(5), 990–1000.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zheng, X., Wang, R., & Du, Q. (2020). How does industrial restructuring influence carbon emissions: City-level evidence from China. Journal of Environmental Management, 276, 111093.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Ziemba, E. (2019). The contribution of ICT adoption to the sustainable information society. Journal of Computer Information Systems, 59(2), 116–126.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

Author gratitude is extended to the prospective editor(s) and reviewers that will/have spared time to guide towards a successful publication.

Funding

I hereby declare that there is no form of funding received for this study.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Economics and Development Studies, Alex Ekwueme Federal University, Ndufu-Alike, Ebonyi State, Nigeria

    Chinazaekpere Nwani & Philip C. Omoke

  2. Faculty of Economics Administrative and Social Sciences, Istanbul Gelisim University, Istanbul, Turkey

    Festus Victor Bekun

  3. Department of Economic Security, South Ural State University, 76, Lenin Aven, Chelyabinsk, Russia, 454080

    Festus Victor Bekun

  4. Mechanical Engineering Department, College of Applied Engineering, King Saud University (Al Muzahimiyah Branch), Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

    Phillips O. Agboola

  5. Department of Economics, University of Uyo, Uyo, Nigeria

    Ekpeno L. Effiong

Authors
  1. Chinazaekpere Nwani
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Festus Victor Bekun
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Phillips O. Agboola
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Philip C. Omoke
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Ekpeno L. Effiong
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Festus Victor Bekun.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of interest

All authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Additional information

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

Nwani, C., Bekun, F.V., Agboola, P.O. et al. Industrial output, services and carbon emissions: the role of information and communication technologies and economic freedom in Africa. Environ Dev Sustain 25, 3299–3322 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10668-022-02183-z

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10668-022-02183-z

Keywords

Search

Navigation