Title: Emerging trends in ICT applications and environmental sustainability

Authors: Abubakar Shettima Abdulkadir; Yaser Banadaki; Victor Mbarika; Shettima Abdulkadir Saidu

Addresses: Environmental Toxicology, College of Agric and Food Science, Southern University A and M College, Baton Rouge, USA ' School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Oklahoma, Norman, OK, 73019-1102, USA ' Department of Management Information Systems, College of Business, East Carolina University, Greenville, 27858-4353, USA ' Chemistry Department, Faculty of Science, Federal University Gashua, Gashua, Yobe, Nigeria

Abstract: Information and communication technology (ICT) has greatly impacted how humans live and interact with the environment. This work reviews the various ways in which ICT has influenced sustainability; it cuts across the role of ICT in establishing a low-carbon society, Green ICT and energy, cloud computing and virtualisation, Artificial Intelligence (AI), and the Internet of Things (IoT), and most recently, the drive towards establishing Smart 'Cities', as they fit within the concept of the sustainability principles. Additionally, we reviewed the current and emerging sustainability frameworks shaping innovation in this area, models such as the lifecycle, enabling, structural impact (LES) model, and other instrumental models to the green concepts paradigm and its application of emerging technology, including AI and 5G technologies. Finally, the consensus is that the impact of ICT on environmental sustainability can be either positive or negative depending on the principles guiding its deployment.

Keywords: ICT; information and communication technology; sustainability; frameworks; IoT; Internet of Things; artificial intelligence; climate change.

DOI: 10.1504/IJISD.2024.140828

International Journal of Innovation and Sustainable Development, 2024 Vol.18 No.5/6, pp.543 - 576

Received: 17 Apr 2022
Accepted: 25 Oct 2022
Published online: 03 Sep 2024 *

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