The effects of spatial spillover information and communications technology on carbon dioxide emissions in Iran

Information and communications technology (ICT) has developed economies and the way of energy consuming through the access, analysis, planning, and management of information. Such innovation, hence, explains the important direct effects on the environment and carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions in a region or causes the spillover effects on other regions. This research examines the relationship between ICT and CO2 emissions to have both within-region effects and spillover effects on other regions. In this way, ICT and the square of ICT were combined into the environmental Kuznets curve to specify the direct, spatial spillover, and total effects of ICT on CO2 emissions. The dynamic spatial Durbin model was used to estimate the effects of ICT on the provinces of Iran for a period of 2001 to 2015. The results showed that the spatial spillover effects of ICT on CO2 emissions have an inverted U-shaped relationship in short and long run. This findings show that an increase in the ICT in a province first causes to increase and then decrease the CO2 emissions in other provinces.