Digital Technologies as a Path to the “Green” Economy: Financial Effectiveness vs. Ecological Responsibility

Abstract

Purpose: The purpose of the paper is to compare the ecologically responsible and irresponsible investment projects on development and usage of digital technologies according to the criterion of financial effectiveness and ecological responsibility and to determine the most preferable one. Design/methodology/approach: The authors use correlation analysis for comparing the projects in the sphere of the digital economy and projects in the sphere of the “green” economy according to the criterion of contribution into the financial position of the state and business; also, coefficients of correlation of the IMD digital competitiveness index and the index of the green economy Dual Citizen with the structural balance of the state budget of the IMF and the index of doing business of the World Bank in countries that are leaders as to the level of digital competitiveness and the “green” economy in 2019 are calculated. Findings: It is proved that the existing practice of implementing “green” projects separately from the projects on development of digital technologies – which seems profitable at the first glance – is, in view of the latent long-term consequences, ineffective and unprofitable for economic subjects, and, in the scale of the national economy, leads to emergence of an “institutional trap” of reduction of financial effectiveness of the digital economy due to ecological irresponsibility, which leads to decline of the green economy. Originality/value: The authors substantiate the preference of the practice of simultaneous implementation of the sustainable development goals in digital projects, which allows starting the mechanism of building the financially effective “green” economy based on ecologically responsible digital technologies and ensures high effectiveness for investments for business, venture investors, and the state.