Investigating the role of the tech industry, renewable energy, and urbanization in sustainable environment: Policy directions in the context of developing economies

Abstract

This paper investigates environmental sustainability by examining the impact of the tech industry, renewable energy, and urbanization environmental degradation in a developing country such as China. This study mainly relates to China for the period 1991 to 2015. Our findings may be extrapolated to other developing countries. We employ several econometric techniques, such as the augmented Dickey-Fuller, the Zivot-Andrew unit root test, autoregressive distributive lags, fully modified ordinary least squares, and canonical cointegrating regression tests, to draw our empirical inferences. Our findings show that there is a significant inverse connection between the tech industry, renewable energy consumption, urbanization, and environmental degradation in China. This negative connection indicates that adding value in the tech industry, increasing the share of renewable energy consumption, and increased urbanization can help reduce environmental degradation. The outcomes of this study suggest some useful policy implications. First, national- and local-level governments should establish specific budgets to promote the use of renewable energy in high-tech industries. Second, policymakers should develop strict policies to increase spending on technological and green innovations. Third, governments should build new smart cities equipped with the latest advanced technologies to encourage more people to move from less developed to highly developed regions.