AUTHOR=Damrah Sadeq , Satrovic Elma , Shawtari Fekri Ali 

TITLE=How does financial inclusion affect environmental degradation in the six oil exporting countries? The moderating role of information and communication technology

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Environmental Science

VOLUME=Volume 10 - 2022

YEAR=2022

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/environmental-science/articles/10.3389/fenvs.2022.1013326

DOI=10.3389/fenvs.2022.1013326

ISSN=2296-665X

ABSTRACT=The progress in financial inclusion played a major role in economic development and poverty reduction. However, the environmental impacts of financial inclusion call for urgent implementation of environmental strategies to mitigate climate change. It is on this premise that the present study investigates the direct effects of information and communication technology (ICT) usage on environment as well as its moderating role on the association between financial inclusion and environmental degradation for six oil exporting countries using annual panel data from 1995 to 2019. We also analyze the validity of environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) phenomenon for the entire sample. Employing the Method of Moments Quantile Regression (MMQR) with fixed effects, this study supported the existence of EKC phenomenon here as linkage amid human development index and carbon intensity. We find that energy consumption significantly increases carbon intensity. The empirical results unveiled that internet- and mobile-use as indicators of ICT usage, lead to environmental preservation in the six oil exporting economies. Also, we observe that financial inclusion poses mitigating effects on pollutant emissions, contributing to environmental preservation.  Interaction between ICT usage and financial inclusion jointly reduce carbon intensity in all quantile distributions. Robustness check using alternative proxy of the financial inclusion also confirms that ICT usage significantly and negatively moderates the association between financial inclusion and carbon intensity. Based on the findings of this study, the selected oil exporting countries should integrate financial inclusion with environmental policies to reduce carbon intensity.