The Dynamic Interlinkages between Green Energy, Information and Communication Technology and Corruption on Environmental Sustainability : Evidence from Developing Economies

This study examines the role of corruption, green energy, trade, innovation, natural resources, and ICT on carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions in developing countries from 2000 to 2018 in developing economies. We use the Driscoll-Kraay Panel Corrected estimators to find out the direct and indirect impacts of corruption on the environment via the interaction effects. We find that the increase in corruption in developing countries adversely impacts the environment, increasing CO ­2 emissions. Similarly, the interaction effect between corruption and natural resources increases CO 2 emissions. On the other hand, corruption and green energy jointly decrease environmental quality. We find evidence that green energy and innovation can help lower carbon emissions. Furthermore, the interaction between corruption with innovation and information and communication technology (ICT) increases environmental quality in the long run. The findings also support the presence of the EKC hypothesis over the sample period. For the robustness check, bootstrap quantile regression is applied. The results also revealed that corruption, natural resource depletion, and non-renewable energy usage all contribute to increased CO2 emissions. However, Green energy, innovation, and ICT are fueling the growth in environmental sustainability in developing countries. The findings imply that developing countries should raise their investment in green energy generation and stimulate green innovation in high-energy-intensive sectors to meet the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)