Muhammad Imran, Khan Burhan Khan, Khalid Zaman, Mohammed Borhandden Musah, Elih Sudiapermana, Abdul Rashid Abdul Aziz, Rahimah Embong, Zainudin Bin Hassan, Mohd Khata Jabor, Siti Nisrin Mohd Anis
The pro-poor growth and environmental sustainability are the twin agendas widely discussed in environmental science literature. The technology-embodied growth helps to attain both agendas through knowledge sharing and technology transfer, which trickle down to the poor income group and improve their living standards. Hence, the role of information and communication technologies (ICTs) is deemed crucial in boosting economic growth and is under deep consideration to establish its role in reducing poverty and environmental pollution. The current study examines the long-run relationship between ICTs, poverty reduction, and ecological degradation in Pakistan using time series data from 1975–2018. The short- and long-run parameter estimates were obtained through the Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) model for robust inferences. The results substantiate the inverted U-shaped Environmental Kuznets Curve relationship between income and emissions with a turning point at US$1000 in the short-run and US$800 in the long-run. The results confirmed the decisive intervention of ICTs factors in the poverty reduction, i.e., computer communications and mobile-telephone-broadband subscriptions support to reduce poverty incidence with the mediation of inbound FDI in a country. As far as income inequality is concerned, it shows that computer services support minimizing income inequality via a channel of high–technology exports in a country. The technology embodied emissions verified in the long-run, where mobile-telephone-broadband subscriptions increase carbon emissions. Finally, mobile-telephone-broadband subscriptions and inbound FDI both are significant contributors to amplify the country’s economic growth. The results conclude that poverty reduction and environmental sustainability agenda are achieved by developing green ICT infrastructure in a country. © 2021, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.
Department of Economics, University of Wah, Quaid Avenue, Wah Cantt, Pakistan; Department of International Business and Marketing (IB&M), NUST Business School, National University of Sciences and Technology (NUST), Islamabad, 44000, Pakistan; Department of Economics, University of Haripur, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Haripur, Pakistan; Department of Education Studies, Bahrain Teachers College, University of Bahrain, P. O. Box 32038, Sakheer, Bahrain; Department of Community Education, Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia, Bandung, 40154, Jawa Barat, Indonesia; Faculty of Leadership and Management, Universiti Sains Islam Malaysia, Nilai, 71800, Negeri Sembilan, Malaysia; Faculty of Islamic Contemporary Studies, Universiti Sultan Zainal Abidin, Terengganu, Malaysia; Faculty of Social Sciences & Humanities, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM), Skudai, 81310, Johor, Malaysia
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