IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v17y2025i19p8912-d1766530.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Bridging the Digital–Energy Divide: Artificial Intelligence, Internet Connectivity, and Knowledge Management

Author

Listed:
  • Nowara Moftah

    (Department of Business Administration, Institute of Graduate Research and Studies, University of Mediterranean Karpasia, Mersin 33010, Turkey)

  • Ahmad Bassam Alzubi

    (Department of Business Administration, Institute of Graduate Research and Studies, University of Mediterranean Karpasia, Mersin 33010, Turkey)

Abstract

Achieving sustainable growth in emerging economies requires more than expanding clean energy; it also relies on the synergistic role of Artificial Intelligence, Internet Connectivity, and Knowledge Management in narrowing the digital–energy divide. Thus, this study examines the factors influencing the energy transition—both implicit and explicit—using the case of the BRICS economies with data spanning from 2000 to 2022. This study employed Driscoll–Kraay (DK) standard errors together with Lewbel IV-2SLS estimators to examine the connections. The results showed that Artificial Intelligence and economic growth hinder energy transition, while financial development and trade openness promote it. Furthermore, Knowledge Management and Internet Connectivity show threshold effects, and education remains negatively aligned with sustainability goals. Based on these findings policies are proposed.

Suggested Citation

  • Nowara Moftah & Ahmad Bassam Alzubi, 2025. "Bridging the Digital–Energy Divide: Artificial Intelligence, Internet Connectivity, and Knowledge Management," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 17(19), pages 1-20, October.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:17:y:2025:i:19:p:8912-:d:1766530
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/17/19/8912/pdf
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/17/19/8912/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Chang, Lei & Taghizadeh-Hesary, Farhad & Saydaliev, Hayot Berk, 2022. "How do ICT and renewable energy impact sustainable development?," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 199(C), pages 123-131.
    2. Dong, Zequn & Tan, Chaodan & Ma, Biao & Ning, Zhaoshuo, 2024. "The impact of artificial intelligence on the energy transition: The role of regulatory quality as a guardrail, not a wall," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 140(C).
    3. Wan, Tong & Tao, Yuechuan & Qiu, Jing & Lai, Shuying, 2023. "Internet data centers participating in electricity network transition considering carbon-oriented demand response," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 329(C).
    4. George Kyriakarakos, 2025. "Artificial Intelligence and the Energy Transition," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 17(3), pages 1-10, January.
    5. Acheampong, Alex O. & Opoku, Eric Evans Osei & Amankwaa, Afua & Dzator, Janet, 2024. "Energy poverty and gender equality in education: Unpacking the transmission channels," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 202(C).
    6. Ben Lahouel, Béchir & Taleb, Lotfi & Ben Zaied, Younes & Managi, Shunsuke, 2021. "Does ICT change the relationship between total factor productivity and CO2 emissions? Evidence based on a nonlinear model," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 101(C).
    7. Naseem, Kashif & Khalid, Faryal & Fei, Qin & Suo, Guoquan & Khan, Ali Abbas & Jabeen, Tabinda & Karamat, Shumalia & Shah, Basit Ali, 2025. "Role of carbon-based materials to promote the hydrolysis performance of magnesium-based materials," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 219(C).
    8. Tuo Liu & Bo Xu & Xin Zheng & Yirui Deng & Wei Zhang, 2021. "The Impact Mechanism and Scenario Simulation of Energy Internet on Transition," Discrete Dynamics in Nature and Society, Hindawi, vol. 2021, pages 1-11, April.
    9. Ding, Qian & Huang, Jianbai & Chen, Jinyu & Tao, Dali, 2023. "Internet development and renewable energy technological innovation: Does institutional quality matter?," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 218(C).
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Charfeddine, Lanouar & Umlai, Mohamed, 2023. "ICT sector, digitization and environmental sustainability: A systematic review of the literature from 2000 to 2022," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 184(C).
    2. Tao, Miaomiao, 2024. "Dynamics between electric vehicle uptake and green development: Understanding the role of local government competition," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 146(C), pages 227-240.
    3. Manal Elhaj & Jihen Bousrih & Hind Alofaysan, 2024. "Can Technological Advancement Empower the Future of Renewable Energy? A Panel Autoregressive Distributed Lag Approach," Energies, MDPI, vol. 17(20), pages 1-18, October.
    4. LIU Xiangling & Md Qamruzzaman, 2024. "The role of ICT investment, digital financial inclusion, and environmental tax in promoting sustainable energy development in the MENA region: Evidences with Dynamic Common Correlated Effects (DCE) an," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 19(5), pages 1-30, May.
    5. Lin, Boqiang & Ullah, Sami, 2023. "Towards the goal of going green: Do green growth and innovation matter for environmental sustainability in Pakistan," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 285(C).
    6. Sun, Xianming & Xiao, Shiyi & Ren, Xiaohang & Xu, Bing, 2023. "Time-varying impact of information and communication technology on carbon emissions," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 118(C).
    7. Hanyu Zhang & Kaiyue Zhang & Taihua Yan & Xiaonan Cao, 2025. "The impact of digital infrastructure on regional green innovation efficiency through industrial agglomeration and diversification," Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 12(1), pages 1-15, December.
    8. Cao, Feifei, 2023. "Digital financial innovation and renewable electrification: A step toward zero carbon nexus," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 215(C).
    9. Wang, Ke-Liang & Sun, Ting-Ting & Xu, Ru-Yu & Miao, Zhuang & Cheng, Yun-He, 2022. "How does internet development promote urban green innovation efficiency? Evidence from China," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 184(C).
    10. Xiaoyu He & Bo Li, 2023. "A Study on the Influence of Green Industrial Policy on Urban Green Development: Based on the Empirical Data of Ecological Industrial Park Pilot Construction," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(13), pages 1-29, June.
    11. Han, Ouzhu & Ding, Tao & Yang, Miao & Jia, Wenhao & He, Xinran & Ma, Zhoujun, 2024. "A novel 4-level joint optimal dispatch for demand response of data centers with district autonomy realization," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 358(C).
    12. Hunjra, Ahmed Imran & Bouri, Elie & Azam, Muhammad & Azam, Rauf I & Dai, Jiapeng, 2024. "Economic growth and environmental sustainability in developing economies," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 70(PA).
    13. Saia, Artjom, 2023. "Digitalization and CO2 emissions: Dynamics under R&D and technology innovation regimes," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 74(C).
    14. Yunyan Jiang & Feng Deng, 2022. "Multi-Dimensional Threshold Effects of the Digital Economy on Green Economic Growth?—New Evidence from China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(19), pages 1-22, October.
    15. Agata Gniadkowska-Szymańska & Jakub Keller & Magdalena Kowalska, 2025. "Renewable Energy, Macroeconomic Stability and the Sustainable Development of the Logistics Sector: Evidence from the Visegrad Countries," Energies, MDPI, vol. 18(21), pages 1-34, October.
    16. Awijen, Haithem & Belaïd, Fateh & Zaied, Younes Ben & Hussain, Nazim & Lahouel, Béchir Ben, 2022. "Renewable energy deployment in the MENA region: Does innovation matter?," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 179(C).
    17. Shuangcheng Luo & Yangli Yuan, 2023. "The Path to Low Carbon: The Impact of Network Infrastructure Construction on Energy Conservation and Emission Reduction," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(4), pages 1-20, February.
    18. Cheng, Shulei & Wang, Kexin & Chen, Yongtao & Meng, Fanxin, 2025. "Temporal-spatial decomposition and multi-scenario prediction analysis of energy poverty in China," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 219(C).
    19. Mounir Dahmani & Mohamed Mabrouki & Adel Ben Youssef, 2022. "ICT, trade openness and economic growth in Tunisia: what is going wrong?," Economic Change and Restructuring, Springer, vol. 55(4), pages 2317-2336, November.
    20. Fang, Ying & Fan, Ying & Haroon, Muhammad & Dilanchiev, Azer, 2023. "Exploring the relationship between global economic policy and volatility of crude futures: A two-factor GARCH-MIDAS analysis," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 85(PA).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:17:y:2025:i:19:p:8912-:d:1766530. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.