How can digitalization support the quest for a deep sustainability transformation?

On Friday the 30th of September, the European research network “Digitalization for Sustainability – Science in Dialogue” (D4S) launches their report “Digital Reset”. The report presents specific policies that can redress the risks and support the opportunities of digital technologies.

Why is this necessary? Analyses show that current forms of digitalization accelerate economic and social inequalities while environmental costs outweigh environmental benefits.

The need for societal and political action to reshape digitalization is becoming increasingly clear. Research on digitalization and its manifold implications for social justice and environmental integrity has been gaining momentum in recent years.

Interdisciplinary dialogue

The report “Digital Reset” is the outcome of more than two years of interdisciplinary work by the network and its expert panel consisting of European researchers and practitioners from academia, think tanks, and civil society organizations.

– This has been a dialogue project, says Marianne Ryghaug, professor at the Department of Interdisciplinary Studies of Culture and one of the 15 experts in the panel. They have drawn on existing research, and have through deliberation arrived at specific core principles that must form the basis for a successful sustainability-oriented digitalization process across different sectors of society.

– Real and lasting sustainability is a social and economic endeavor as well as an environmental goal, says Ryghaug

– And therefore any digitalization process and policy need to consider and address issues such as equity and fairness, power asymmetries and include the reduction of the environmental footprint of digital technologies to achieve the sustainability goals.

Sustainability and digitalization

The report “Digital Reset” outlines core elements of a sustainable digitalization that can contribute to deep sustainability transformations. It shows how digitalization can contribute to achieving carbon neutrality, resource autonomy and economic resilience. Through a blueprint for the European Union on how to reconceptualize governance of digital services, data, artificial intelligence, and business models, the report provides strategies for sustainability and digitalization in sectors such as agriculture, mobility, energy consumption, industry, and architecture.