The critical role of digital governance in reshaping coal consumption: Policy insights for G7 countries

Digital governance (DG) plays a significant role in effectively executing a number of economic activities, thereby promoting sustainable development. Not only this, but it can also play a critical role in energy management. However, only a few studies are available on how DG impacts energy markets. Therefore, the main focus of this research is to examine how DG impacts coal consumption (CC). A panel dataset for the G7 countries is adopted. Also, the second-generation panel data methods are applied for robust empirical outcomes. Based on the findings from the augmented mean group (AMG) estimator, it is reported that DG has a considerable positive influence on CC. Next, the results from the sensitivity analysis are consistent with baseline findings. This is one of the earliest studies on the influence of DG on CC, and hence, provides a policy framework to manage CC to keep the balance between economic and environmental preferences in G7 countries.