Participatory and Intelligent Public Governance: What Impact on Carbon Dioxide Emissions in Developing Countries?

One of the objectives of governments today is to develop while limiting their impact on the environment. The involvement of citizens and the introduction of new technologies are all levers that can be used to help reduce carbon dioxide emissions. The aim of this study is to analyse the simultaneous effects of participatory and intelligent public governance on the level of carbon emissions in developing countries. We use a system GMM to determine the direct effects, then a structural equation mediation to show the indirect effects. We consider a sample of 83 developing countries from 2000 to 2023. The results of the system GMM revealed no direct effect between participatory and intelligent public governance and the level of carbon dioxide emissions. However, Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), population growth and energy consumption have a positive effect on the level of CO₂ emissions in developing countries. The mediation analysis shows the indirect effect that participatory and smart public governance has on carbon dioxide emissions through the vote buying and participation channel, the direct popular vote index and the information and communication technology index. We suggest that governments should encourage open democratic processes and rethink frameworks for the use of digital in governance, to prevent technological tools from becoming instruments of manipulation or disengagement.