Moderating role of ICT on the drivers of material footprint: Empirical evidence from G20 countries

The swift development in information and communications technology (ICT) is leading to digitalization of the world's economy, reshaping production and consumption patterns and raising concerns about its implications for sustainable resource management. This study explores the impact of ICT and its moderating role on the key explanatory factors of material footprint (MF) in G20 countries from 1999 to 2023, employing Feasible Generalized Least Squares (FGLS) and Panel Corrected Standard Error (PCSE) as part of the empirical analysis. The results exhibit a positive influence of economic growth and urbanisation, while globalisation and human capital exerts a negative and significant direct effect. Moreover, the interaction terms of ICT with economic growth, urbanisation, human capital, and globalisation (EG*ICT, URB*ICT, HC*ICT, GLB*ICT) are all negative and statistically significant at the 1% level, indicating that ICT weakens the footprint's increasing effects of economic growth, urbanisation and human capital while reinforcing the footprint's reducing effects of globalisation. These outcomes corroborate with the core principles of Ecological Modernization Theory (EMT) and reveal ICT's potential in achieving sustainable material consumption. The study emphasizes that better accessibility, adaptability, and building infrastructure for ICT can reinforce sustainable resource management in G20 economies.