Is digitalisation boosting the decarbonisation of industries?

Result code in IS VaVaI

<a href="https://www.isvavai.cz/riv?ss=detail&h=RIV%2F00025950%3A_____%2F24%3AN0000055" target="_blank" >RIV/00025950:_____/24:N0000055 - isvavai.cz</a>

Result on the web

<a href="https://spe.org.uk/reading-room/ryb-essays/2023-24-rybczynski-prize-essay/" target="_blank" >https://spe.org.uk/reading-room/ryb-essays/2023-24-rybczynski-prize-essay/</a>

DOI - Digital Object Identifier

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Result language

angličtina

Original language name

Is digitalisation boosting the decarbonisation of industries?

Original language description

Growth in the industrial sectors plays a key role in global economic growth. However, it also contributes to CO2 emissions due to the use of fossil fuels. Digitalisation has changed the way companies operate in the market; nevertheless, it is not clear whether digital technologies contribute to environmental sustainability for industries and businesses. From one point of view, modern information and communication technologies (ICTs) are energy efficient and reduce overall electricity consumption. However, the expansion of ICTs and the quantity of systems available are also likely to increase the carbon footprint of industries. Therefore, we quantify the net effects of ICTs on electricity consumption for different industrial sectors, using the latest available data for 14 sectors within 16 countries from 1995 to 2020. We find that investments into ICT capital reduce relative electricity use for all industrial sectors by 7.8% for a 1% increase in ICT capital, and this effect is stronger for manufacturing than services. Furthermore, with technological innovations over the past decades, ICTs show a stronger energy-saving effect in more recent years. Lastly, we analyse cross-country differences in an attempt to shed light on the role of digitalisation in the decarbonisation of Europe, and find that industrial sectors in Germany and the UK benefit the most from the net energy-saving effects of ICTs. These results provide useful insights to industrial sectors, businesses, and policymakers, motivating them to adopt modern digital technologies to reduce their carbon footprint and reach the climate target of net-zero emissions.

Czech name

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Czech description

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Type

O - Miscellaneous

CEP classification

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OECD FORD branch

50204 - Business and management

Project

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Continuities

I - Institucionalni podpora na dlouhodoby koncepcni rozvoj vyzkumne organizace

Publication year

2024

Confidentiality

S - Úplné a pravdivé údaje o projektu nepodléhají ochraně podle zvláštních právních předpisů