Industrialization-Environmental Performance Nexus: The Moderating Role of ICT Infrastructure in Developed Countries: In-depth Analysis of Symmetric & Asymmetric Effect

This research investigates the symmetric and asymmetric effect of industrialization on environmental performance in the wake of moderating effect of ICT infrastructure in 45 developed countries spanning period from 2000–2024. This study used advanced econometric methods Panel-NARDL-PMG for asymmetric and Panel-ARDL-PMG for symmetric effect, the study also used JKS Panel Granger Non-Causality test to check the direction and dynamics of causal-relationship among variables. The asymmetric long-run outcomes indicate that industrialization and de-industrialization have negative effects on the environmental performance with industrialization having a greater negative effect as compared to de-industrialization. Nonetheless, ICT infrastructure has a major moderating role that alleviates adverse environmental impact of industrialization. Developed nations face an environmental cost from industrial activity, but this cost can be significantly mitigated by deepening the knowledge economy characteristics of activity through integrated ICT infrastructure. The knowledge economy, facilitated by robust digital infrastructure, provides the tools for smarter, cleaner industrial growth. The symmetric long-run outcomes also confirm that industrialization and ICT infrastructure adversely affect the performance of the environment, but their combination improves the improve environmental performance. The impacts of the short run are minimal. Population density and urbanization are observed to have negative pressures on the environmental performance in the developed economies. The actionable insights for policymakers are the adoption of ICT infrastructure into industrialization to increase the environmental performance.