This study examined the relationship among carbon dioxide emissions and linkage effects using Input–Output (IO) data of the information and communications technology (ICT) industry between South Korea and the USA. As we wanted to find out if the ICT industry, which the world is passionate about, is a sustainable industry. The linkage effects are analyzed to determine the impact of ICT industry on the national economy, and CO₂ emissions of the industry are analyzed to determine how much influence it has on air pollution. In addition, we classify ICT industry by ICT service and manufacturing industries as the key industries in Korea and the US. Data were collected from OECD ranging from 2006 to 2015 in order to quantitatively estimate backward linkage, forward linkage effect, and carbon dioxide emissions. The results indicated that ICT manufacturing industry in Korea has high backward and forward linkage effects. CO₂ emissions from ICT service is more than from ICT manufacturing in both Korea and the US. We wanted to find out if the ICT industry, which the world is passionate about, is a sustainable industry. As a contribution, ICT manufacturing and service industries in Korea and the United States are directly compared, and CO₂ emissions over 10 years are analyzed in a time series.
In the modern era, software technology is being used not only as a core technology for manufacturing but also in various industries, such as telemedicine services, and the importance of the healthcare industry is being emphasized due to the demand for improved quality of life from the increase in the general level of earnings. However, if the industry emits a lot of carbon dioxide (CO2), it is questionable whether it is a sustainable industry. This study aimed to analyze the economic linkage effect of software and healthcare industries in South Korea and the United States by applying input–output analysis and examine whether these industries are sustainable in terms of CO2 emissions. The input–output tables and CO2 emissions from 2005 to 2015 were used for analysis from OECD. As a result of the analysis, CO2 emissions from the software and healthcare industries were less than 1% in both South Korea and the United States, suggesting that these industries are well-suited for low-carbon development in these countries. The forward and backward linkage effects of the software industry are different between South Korea and the United States. Specifically, the backward linkage effect of the software industry is large in South Korea, and the forward linkage effect is large in the United States. The forward linkage effect of the healthcare industry is different in the two countries, but the backward linkage effect is not. It means that there are differences in the industrial structure of the two countries. The software and healthcare industries need to devise strategies to drive production in other industries while maintaining current low carbon emission levels.
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