A Study of Linkage Effects and Environmental Impacts on Information and Communications Technology Industry between South Korea and USA: 2006–2015

Hangsok Choi,Junhwan Mun,Eungyeong Yun

doi:10.3390/pr9061043

Abstract

This study examined the relationship among carbon dioxide emissions and linkage effects using Input–Output (IO) data of the information and communications technology (ICT) industry between South Korea and the USA. As we wanted to find out if the ICT industry, which the world is passionate about, is a sustainable industry. The linkage effects are analyzed to determine the impact of ICT industry on the national economy, and CO2 emissions of the industry are analyzed to determine how much influence it has on air pollution. In addition, we classify ICT industry by ICT service and manufacturing industries as the key industries in Korea and the US. Data were collected from OECD ranging from 2006 to 2015 in order to quantitatively estimate backward linkage, forward linkage effect, and carbon dioxide emissions. The results indicated that ICT manufacturing industry in Korea has high backward and forward linkage effects. CO2 emissions from ICT service is more than from ICT manufacturing in both Korea and the US. We wanted to find out if the ICT industry, which the world is passionate about, is a sustainable industry. As a contribution, ICT manufacturing and service industries in Korea and the United States are directly compared, and CO2 emissions over 10 years are analyzed in a time series.

Highlights

Global warming is the most serious problem facing humankind today
Backward linkage effect of Korean information and communications technology (ICT) manufacturing industry is 1.24 on average over 10 years, which has a large influence on other industries
We compared ICT manufacturing and service sectors between Korea and USA to analyses the relationship among linkage effects and CO2 emissions

Summary

Introduction

Global warming is the most serious problem facing humankind today It is because, due to human activities, greenhouse gases (GHG) are increasing at an unprecedented rate and are accumulating in the atmosphere. They set up a strategy to reduce production costs and reduce greenhouse gas emissions by increasing energy efficiency and reducing energy consumption They seek sustainable growth by replacing final energy consumption in industries with clean energy such as fossils, electricity, and renewable energy, and they strive to build a resource recycling economy system that reuses and recycles resources in industrial processes that emit large amounts of greenhouse gases. Korea aims to improve the quality of life of people by building low-carbon society and to leap forward as a mature advanced country that fulfills its responsibilities in the international community [3] To this end, the first step begins with reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Since Korea has an industrial structure different from those of countries that are strongly pursuing low carbon, their domestic reality should be considered

Methods

Results

Conclusion