Understanding the Behavior of High-Tech and Non-High-Tech Firms on Environmental Sustainability: New Evidence From the United States

Achieving environmental goals requires transformative change that supports the development of high-tech industries for the deployment and diffusion of existing technologies. As technology evolves continuously, businesses in the high-tech industry play a crucial role in this transition by introducing new technologies and practices that impact both the broader economy and environmental sustainability. Using the environmental sustainability metric, this paper examines the environmental impact of high-tech and non-high-tech industry firms in the United States. Employing the Fourier Augmented ARDL approach, it explores the effects of high-tech and non-high-tech industry firms, economic growth, low-carbon energy, and urbanization on environmental sustainability in the United States from 1978 to 2022. The empirical results reveal that high-tech industry firms are not yet widespread enough to improve environmental sustainability significantly in the United States. In contrast, non-high-tech industry firms show significant and harmful effects on environmental sustainability. Furthermore, low-carbon energy use and urbanization support environmental sustainability. Overall, the findings of this study suggest the urgent need to develop high-tech industries in the United States, a major economy, to drive transformative change through new technological innovations and practices while divesting from harmful existing technologies and activities.