IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/zbw/itse22/265622.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

How is mobile broadband intensity affecting CO₂ emissions? – A macro analysis

Author

Listed:
  • Edquist, Harald
  • Bergmark, Pernilla

Abstract

This paper investigates the association between relative mobile broadband penetration and carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions globally. The study is based on 181 countries for the period 2002-2020. The results indicate an initial increase in CO2 emissions for a country at an average emission level once mobile broadband is introduced. Possible explanations might be initial investment in network infrastructure and increased consumption of electricity. However, on average for the period 2002-2020 the continuous relationship between mobile broadband (defined as speeds of at least 256 kbps) and CO2 is significantly negative, i.e. emissions at a country level significantly reduce as mobile broadband penetration increase. Based on a two-stage model and controlling for fixed broadband and four addition control variables (i.e. population density, electricity consumption from fossil fuel, industry as a share of GDP and a regulation index), we are able to conclude that on average a 10 percentage points increase in mobile broadband penetration causes a 7 percent reduction of CO2 emissions per capita (given that the instrumental variable strategy, as assumed, identifies causal effects). Thus, the results show that investments in mobile infrastructure over longer periods of time can contribute to mitigating climate change.

Suggested Citation

  • Edquist, Harald & Bergmark, Pernilla, 2022. "How is mobile broadband intensity affecting CO₂ emissions? – A macro analysis," 31st European Regional ITS Conference, Gothenburg 2022: Reining in Digital Platforms? Challenging monopolies, promoting competition and developing regulatory regimes 265622, International Telecommunications Society (ITS).
    • Handle: RePEc:zbw:itse22:265622
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.econstor.eu/bitstream/10419/265622/1/Edquist-and-Bergmark.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Grossman, G.M & Krueger, A.B., 1991. "Environmental Impacts of a North American Free Trade Agreement," Papers 158, Princeton, Woodrow Wilson School - Public and International Affairs.
    2. Susmita Dasgupta & Benoit Laplante & Hua Wang & David Wheeler, 2002. "Confronting the Environmental Kuznets Curve," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 16(1), pages 147-168, Winter.
    3. Harald Edquist & Peter Goodridge & Jonathan Haskel, 2021. "The Internet of Things and economic growth in a panel of countries," Economics of Innovation and New Technology, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 30(3), pages 262-283, April.
    4. Dale W. Jorgenson & Mun S. Ho & Kevin J. Stiroh, 2008. "A Retrospective Look at the U.S. Productivity Growth Resurgence," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 22(1), pages 3-24, Winter.
    5. Stern, David I., 2004. "The Rise and Fall of the Environmental Kuznets Curve," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 32(8), pages 1419-1439, August.
    6. Stephen D. Oliner & Daniel E. Sichel, 2000. "The resurgence of growth in the late 1990s: is information technology the story?," Proceedings, Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco.
    7. Hocaoglu, Fatih Onur & Karanfil, Fatih, 2011. "Examining the link between carbon dioxide emissions and the share of industry in GDP: Modeling and testing for the G-7 countries," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 39(6), pages 3612-3620, June.
    8. Moyer, Jonathan D. & Hughes, Barry B., 2012. "ICTs: Do they contribute to increased carbon emissions?," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 79(5), pages 919-931.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Briglauer, Wolfgang & Köppl-Turyna, Monika & Schwarzbauer, Wolfgang & Bittó, Virág, 2023. "Evaluating the effects of ICT core elements on CO2 emissions: Recent evidence from OECD countries," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 47(8).

    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. Edquist, Harald & Bergmark, Pernilla, 2024. "How is mobile broadband intensity affecting CO2 emissions? – A macro analysis," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 48(2).
    2. Saia, Artjom, 2023. "Digitalization and CO2 emissions: Dynamics under R&D and technology innovation regimes," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 74(C).
    3. Ariane Amin & Johanna Choumert, 2015. "Development and biodiversity conservation in Sub-Saharan Africa: A spatial analysis," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 35(1), pages 729-744.
    4. Longden, Thomas, 2014. "Going Forward by Looking Backwards on the Environmental Kuznets Curve: an Analysis of CFCs, CO2 and the Montreal and Kyoto Protocols," Climate Change and Sustainable Development 183540, Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei (FEEM).
    5. Luzzati, T. & Orsini, M., 2009. "Investigating the energy-environmental Kuznets curve," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 34(3), pages 291-300.
    6. Hüseyin İçen, 2020. "Environmental Kuznets Curve in D8 Countries: Evidence from Panel Cointegration," EKOIST Journal of Econometrics and Statistics, Istanbul University, Faculty of Economics, vol. 0(32), pages 85-96, June.
    7. Sabuj Kumar Mandal & Devleena Chakravarty, 2017. "Role of energy in estimating turning point of Environmental Kuznets Curve: an econometric analysis of the existing studies," Journal of Social and Economic Development, Springer;Institute for Social and Economic Change, vol. 19(2), pages 387-401, October.
    8. Stern, David I., 2014. "The Environmental Kuznets Curve: A Primer," Working Papers 249424, Australian National University, Centre for Climate Economics & Policy.
    9. Zheng, Xinye & Yu, Yihua & Wang, Jing & Deng, Huihui, 2013. "Identifying the determinants and spatial nexus of provincial carbon intensity in China: A dynamic spatial panel approach," MPRA Paper 56088, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    10. Hao, Yu & Zhang, Zong-Yong & Liao, Hua & Wei, Yi-Ming, 2015. "China’s farewell to coal: A forecast of coal consumption through 2020," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 86(C), pages 444-455.
    11. Opoku, Eric Evans Osei & Dogah, Kingsley E. & Aluko, Olufemi Adewale, 2022. "The contribution of human development towards environmental sustainability," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 106(C).
    12. Rodolfo Campos & Marta Suárez-Varela & Jacopo Timini, 2022. "The EU-MERCOSUR trade agreement and its impact on CO2 emissions," Economic Bulletin, Banco de España, issue 1/2022.
    13. Aurel BURCIU & Rozalia KICSI & Iulian CONDRATOV, 2018. "Environmental Issues on The Trade-Related Agenda. Evidences from Romania," Book chapters-LUMEN Proceedings, in: Carmen NÄ‚STASE (ed.), The 14th Economic International Conference: Strategies and Development Policies of Territories: International, Country, Region, City, Location Challen, edition 1, volume 6, chapter 15, pages 156-165, Editura Lumen.
    14. Yu Hao & Shang Gao & Yunxia Guo & Zhiqiang Gai & Haitao Wu, 2021. "Measuring the nexus between economic development and environmental quality based on environmental Kuznets curve: a comparative study between China and Germany for the period of 2000–2017," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 23(11), pages 16848-16873, November.
    15. Aslanidis, Nektarios, 2009. "Environmental Kuznets Curves for Carbon Emissions: A Critical Survey," Working Papers 2072/15847, Universitat Rovira i Virgili, Department of Economics.
    16. Zilio, Mariana & Recalde, Marina, 2011. "GDP and environment pressure: The role of energy in Latin America and the Caribbean," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 39(12), pages 7941-7949.
    17. Liu, Xiaozi & Heilig, Gerhard K. & Chen, Junmiao & Heino, Mikko, 2007. "Interactions between economic growth and environmental quality in Shenzhen, China's first special economic zone," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 62(3-4), pages 559-570, May.
    18. George Marbuah & Ing-Marie Gren, 2015. "Carbon Emissions and Social Capital in Sweden," Working Papers 2015.14, FAERE - French Association of Environmental and Resource Economists.
    19. Aslanidis Nektarios, 2009. "Environmental Kuznets curves for carbon emissions: A critical survey," wp.comunite 0051, Department of Communication, University of Teramo.
    20. Duc Khuong Nguyen & Benoît Sévi & Bo Sjö & Gazi Salah Uddin, 2017. "The role of trade openness and investment in examining the energy-growth-pollution nexus: empirical evidence for China and India," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 49(40), pages 4083-4098, August.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Mobile broadband; carbon dioxide (CO2); climate change;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • O13 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Agriculture; Natural Resources; Environment; Other Primary Products
    • O33 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Technological Change: Choices and Consequences; Diffusion Processes
    • Q54 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Climate; Natural Disasters and their Management; Global Warming

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    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:zbw:itse22:265622. 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: ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.itseurope.org/ .

    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.