Impact of ICT exports and internet usage on carbon emissions: A case of OECD countries

This paper investigates the causal associations between Information and communication technology (ICT) exports, internet usage, economic growth, and CO2 emission. We use two modes of ICT exports, namely ICT goods exports, and ICT services exports. Similarly, two modes have been used for internet usage, namely number of broadband connections per 100 people, and number of internet users per 100 people. By studying 28 OECD countries for 1991-2015 and employing an error-correction model for detecting Granger causality, we find a series of short-run causal associations among the four variables. The long-run causal association results show that the economic growth is likely to converge to the long-run equilibrium path in keeping with the changes in the other three variables. Our main finding is that the group of developing countries should foster an environment, which will not only boost the ICT service exports, but also will make the penetration of broadband connections in a better way.