The environmental paradox of technology: can green technological innovation outweighs the carbon footprint of traditional technological innovation?

Purpose – Technologies that aim to reduce the carbon footprint can sometimes have unintended consequences, especially when integrated with higher energy consumption. Although such technologies may reduce CO2 emissions, their high-energy use inflicts more environmental damage, worsening the carbon footprint. However, green technological innovations (TECH) are energy efficient because they do not require vast amounts of energy to produce; hence, they improve environmental conservation. This study compares the environmental impacts of traditional and green technologies, focusing on CO2 emissions and carbon footprints in five greening middle economies from 1995 to 2021. Design/methodology/approach – We use World Development Indicators data and employ the Cross-sectional Autoregressive Distributed Lag (CS-ARDL) model to empirically analyze the long-run and short-run results. Findings – Our results contribute to the existing literature by revealing that, while traditional technologies can reduce CO2 emissions in the long run, they simultaneously exacerbate carbon footprints in both the short and long term. In contrast, green TECH are effective in reducing CO2 emissions and limiting carbon footprint over both time horizons. Originality/value – These findings indicate that green technology is vital for neutralizing environmental issues and utilizing carbon-neutral energy. Therefore, policymakers should make deliberate efforts to encourage green technology adoption through the formulation of policies to enhance the use of technology, leading to green economies.