Impact of Information and Communication Technologies and Renewable Energy Consumption on Carbon Emissions in Africa.

The pursuit of economic growth has implications for carbon emissions and climate change. Achieving low carbon development is important for attaining the targets of the sustainable development goals. Africa is often described as a largely import-dependent continent. The continent also requires significant investment in information and communication technologies (ICT) and renewable energy to achieve low-carbon economic growth. However, empirical evidence on the joint impacts of imports of goods and services, clean energy use, ICT, and economic growth on carbon emissions in Africa is scanty and mixed. This paper investigated the impacts of information and communication technologies, renewable energy consumption, import and economic growth on carbon emissions by using rich data on total per capita carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions, economic growth, import of goods and services, renewable energy consumption, fixed telephone subscriptions, mobile cellular subscriptions, and individuals using the internet in Africa (2001 ─ 2020) obtained from the World development indicators (WDI) database. Using the Panel autoregressive distributed lag model (PARDL), we found that mobile cellular subscriptions, and level of economic growth significantly increased per capita CO₂ emissions in Africa in the long run while renewable energy consumption and technologies and import of goods and services significantly decreased per capita CO₂ emissions in the long run. We conclude that information and communication technologies, level of economic growth, import of goods and services, and renewable energy consumption exert impacts on carbon emissions in Africa. Highlights: Achieving low-carbon development in Africa is possible. This research investigated the impacts of information and communication technologies, renewable energy consumption, import and economic growth on carbon emissions in Africa. This study utilized the Panel autoregressive distributed lag model and panel data from 31 African countries. The results shed new light on the emission reduction potential of renewable energy consumption and import of goods and services. The study also shows that ICTs increase carbon emissions in Africa. This article offers recommendations concerning carbon emissions reduction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]