The Impact of Digital Economies on Carbon Emissions and Economic Growth in Türkiye: Evidence from the FA-ARDL

Currently, digital economies, or digitalisation, are progressively infiltrating all facets of economies, from production to consumption. Consequently, alongside the impact of digitisation on economic growth, its influence on carbon emissions is also of interest. Digitalisation positively impacts economic growth while concurrently decreasing carbon emissions. Nonetheless, some contend that digitisation will elevate carbon emissions due to increased energy use. The literature does not achieve consensus regarding the effects of digitalisation on carbon emissions and economic growth. This study examines the impact of digital economies on carbon emissions and economic growth within the Turkish economy from 1996 to 2021. The research employs the ratio of internet users to the total population as an indication of the digital economy. In addition to carbon emissions and economic growth indicators, we utilise data on energy structure, government expenditures, urbanisation, and openness to foreign trade as control variables. The ADF unit root test with structural break is employed to ascertain the presence of both unit root and structural break in the study's data. We opted to employ the FA-ARDL approach, incorporating Fourier terms, to ascertain the long-term relationship among the variables. The study's findings indicate that digitisation positively influences economic growth while adversely affecting carbon emissions.