Does ICT Exacerbate the Consumption-Based Material Footprint? A Re-Examination of SDG12 Challenges in the Digital Era Across G20 Countries

Qinghua Pang, Huilin Zhai (), Jingyi Liu and Luoqi Yang
Additional contact information
Qinghua Pang: School of Economics and Finance, Hohai University, Changzhou 213200, China
Huilin Zhai: School of Economics and Finance, Hohai University, Changzhou 213200, China
Jingyi Liu: School of Social Science, The University of Manchester, Manchester M13 9PL, UK
Luoqi Yang: School of Economics and Finance, Hohai University, Changzhou 213200, China

Sustainability, 2025, vol. 17, issue 15, 1-24

Abstract: Global resource depletion has intensified scrutiny on Sustainable Development Goal 12 (SDG12), where consumption-based material footprint serves as a critical sustainability metric. Despite its transformative potential, the paradoxical role of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in resource conservation remains underexplored. This study adopts an extended STIRPAT model as the analytical framework. It employs the Method of Moments Quantile Regression to evaluate the non-linear effects of digitalization-related indicators and other influencing factors on material footprint. The analysis is conducted across different quantiles for G20 countries from 2000 to 2020. The results show that (1) ICT exhibits a substantial positive effect on consumption-based material footprint under all quantiles. This leads to an increase in the material footprint, hindering the G20’s progress toward achieving SDG12. (2) The impact of ICT varies notably, with a more pronounced adverse effect on SDG12 in countries with higher resource consumption. (3) ICT goods export trade, technological innovation, and globalization significantly mitigate ICT’s adverse impact on resource consumption. This study provides targeted recommendations for G20 countries on how to leverage ICT to achieve SDG12 more effectively.

Keywords: consumption-based material footprint; information and communication technology; sustainable development goal 12; method of moments quantile regression (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/17/15/6733/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/17/15/6733/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:17:y:2025:i:15:p:6733-:d:1708926

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().