The importance of internet penetration in reducing carbon dioxide emission growth rates and establishing environmental sustainability in South Asia.

South Asia is regarded as a global region with high susceptibility to carbon emission-related climatic problems. As a result, the persistent rise in carbon dioxide emission levels of the South Asian countries has motivated policymakers to develop strategies that are relevant for making this region environmentally sustainable. Although previous research works conducted in the South Asian context have emphasized the pertinence of reducing the annual level of carbon dioxide emissions, those studies have disregarded the issue that the vast reliance of South Asian countries on fossil fuels may prevent them from abating their yearly emission figures. Hence, considering data from seven South Asian countries, this study appraises whether improving internet penetration rates would affect their annual growth rates of fossil fuel consumption-based carbon dioxide emissions. Overall, from the empirical analyses, it is found that more internet penetration (as indicated by increments in shares of internet users in the total population) helps to mitigate annual carbon dioxide emission growth rates. Besides, the negative internet penetration-carbon dioxide emission growth rate nexus appears to be robust when different proxies of internet penetration are considered. Moreover, the robustness of this nexus is also affirmed by the finding of unidirectional causal influences exerted by internet penetration on carbon dioxide emission growth rates in the South Asian context. Furthermore, the results endorse that annual carbon dioxide emission growth rates are positively influenced by natural resource dependence and financial development, while urbanization curbs emission growth rates in the long-run. Contrastingly, the carbon dioxide emission growth rate-influencing impacts of clean energy adoption, foreign direct investment, and good governance are found to be statistically inconclusive. Accordingly, for ensuring sustainable environments across this region, South Asian policymakers should focus on developing green internet-based infrastructures while strategizing plans for lessening dependence on unclean natural resources, promoting full-blown clean energy adoption, facilitating low-carbon urbanization processes, greening domestic financial sectors, attracting clean foreign direct investments, and enhancing governance quality.