New Report: "DIGITAL RESET. Redirecting Tech for the Deep Sustainability Transformation" (EN)
01.10, 10:30–11:30 (Europe/Berlin), ADA
Sprache: English

Presentation & discussion of the new report "DIGITAL RESET."

In this report we argue that digitalization, in its current and mainstream form, is rather aggravating than solving many of the pressing social and environmental crises and show how to reconceptualize digitalization so that it can support the quest for a deep sustainability transformation.


Time seems out of joint. The world society has experienced a centennial pandemic, the global thermometer has displayed a sequence of hottest years on record, and Russia’s war on Ukraine has shattered political order. Governments worldwide hope that digitalisation can provide key solutions for the pressing social and environmental crises. Yet, we argue, digitalisation, in its current and mainstream form, is rather aggravating than solving many of the problems at hand. What is needed instead is a deep sustainability transformation that fundamentally reorganizes the economy and all its sectors – agriculture, mobility, energy, mobility, consumption, industry, and buildings.

Our report shows how digitalisation can support the quest for such a deep sustainability transformation. It dives into the sectors agriculture, mobility, energy, industry, buildings, consumption and presents specific policies that can redress the risks and support the opportunities of digital technologies for the transformation. And the report provides a blueprint for the European Union on how to reconceptualise governance of digital services, Data, Artificial Intelligence, business models so that digitalisation contributes to achieving carbon neutrality, resource autonomy and economic resilience.

The report is the outcome of the project “Digitalization for Sustainability: Science in Dialogue“. This workshop will bring together researchers and practitioners from various European countries to discuss the proposals from the D4S dialogue project. The workshop agenda includes a brief introduction to the results, lightening talks on specific proposals and a plenary discussion.

Johanna is a researcher at TU Berlin, focusing on environmental effects of ICT-based services, socio-ecological transformation, and sustainable digitalisation.

Just in time for the Bits & Bäume 2022, she will publish the brand new report "DIGITAL RESET. REDIRECTING TECHNOLOGIES FOR THE DEEP SUSTAINABILITY TRANSFORMATION" together with 15 other international experts. This report is the outcome of a two-year science-policy dialogue (https://digitalization-for-sustainability.com/) and presents a comprehensive analysis of opportunities, risks, governance options and specific policies how to make digitalization work for social and environmental sustainability.

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Tilman Santarius is professor at the Technical University of Berlin and the Einstein Centre Digital Future and works on topics such as climate policy, world trade, sustainable economics, global justice and digital transformation (www.santarius.de).

Just in time for the Bits & Bäume 2022, he will publish the brand new report "DIGITAL RESET. REDIRECTING TECHNOLOGIES FOR THE DEEP SUSTAINABILITY TRANSFORMATION" together with 15 other international experts. This report is the outcome of a two-year science-policy dialogue (https://digitalization-for-sustainability.com/) and presents a comprehensive analysis of opportunities, risks, governance options and specific policies how to make digitalization work for social and environmental sustainability.

Tilman is also co-founder of FrohLaWi e.V. (www.frohlawi.de) and serves on the Board of Greenpeace Germany.

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Steffen Lange is economist, author and sustainability researcher. He currently works at the Technical University Berlin.

Just in time for the Bits & Bäume 2022, he will publish the brand new report "DIGITAL RESET. REDIRECTING TECHNOLOGIES FOR THE DEEP SUSTAINABILITY TRANSFORMATION" together with 15 other international experts. This report is the outcome of a two-year science-policy dialogue (https://digitalization-for-sustainability.com/) and presents a comprehensive analysis of opportunities, risks, governance options and specific policies how to make digitalisation work for social and environmental sustainability.

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Ich bin Agrarökologin und forsche und lehre auf dem Gebiet der agrarökologischen Transformation unserer Ernährungssysteme

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Prof Dorothea Kleine is Co-Director of the Institute for Global Sustainable Development at the University of Sheffield, where she leads the Digital Technologies, Data and Innovation (DDI) group. She is a Professor of Human Geography. Her research investigates sustainable human development, global justice, and the role of digital technologies in making progress towards these aims. She has published widely on the potential and the ethical challenges of the use of ICTs in sustainable development in both the global South and North, focusing in particular on the perspective, agency and creativity of the more marginalised. Prof Kleine is well-known for her theoretical work, proposing the choice framework to apply the capabilities approach to digital development, as laid out in ‘Technologies of Choice?’ (MIT Press). She argues for a sustainable and people-centred approach.
Prof Kleine combines policy-level work with ongoing empirical research, including participatory action research. She has conducted research in Europe, Latin America and Africa. Recent projects have included www.gedia-network.org – Gender-Justice in Digital innovation in Africa, which centers women as changemakers in digital futures. Prof Kleine has conducted collaborative research with and/or advised ILO, UNCTAD, UNICEF, UNEP, EuropeAid, DFID, GIZ, IDRC, private sector organisations and NGOs.
Before joining Sheffield University, Dorothea Kleine has worked at Royal Holloway, University of London, the University of Cambridge, Bonn University as well as being a Faculty Associate at Harvard University’s Berkman Center for Internet and Society. Educated at the University of Munich (LMU and TUM) and the University of Oxford, she holds a PhD from the London School of Economics and Political Science.

Just in time for the Bits & Bäume 2022, she will publish the brand new report "DIGITAL RESET. REDIRECTING TECHNOLOGIES FOR THE DEEP SUSTAINABILITY TRANSFORMATION" together with 15 other international experts. This report is the outcome of a two-year science-policy dialogue (https://digitalization-for-sustainability.com/) and presents a comprehensive analysis of opportunities, risks, governance options and specific policies how to make digitalization work for social and environmental sustainability.

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Hugues Ferreboeuf, 60, has been an executive in the information technology sector; he joined the think tank The Shift Project (*) in 2016 to work on digital sustainability and he is a D4S expert.Just in time for the Bits & Bäume 2022, he will publish the brand new report "DIGITAL RESET. REDIRECTING TECHNOLOGIES FOR THE DEEP SUSTAINABILITY TRANSFORMATION" together with 15 other international experts. This report is the outcome of a two-year science-policy dialogue (https://digitalization-for-sustainability.com/) and presents a comprehensive analysis of opportunities, risks, governance options and specific policies how to make digitalization work for social and environmental sustainability.

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Just in time for the Bits & Bäume 2022, Mattias Höjer will publish the brand new report "DIGITAL RESET. REDIRECTING TECHNOLOGIES FOR THE DEEP SUSTAINABILITY TRANSFORMATION" together with 15 other international experts. This report is the outcome of a two-year science-policy dialogue (https://digitalization-for-sustainability.com/) and presents a comprehensive analysis of opportunities, risks, governance options and specific policies how to make digitalization work for social and environmental sustainability.

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Lorenz M. Hilty is a professor at the University of Zurich with a research focus on digital transformation and sustainable development. He serves as the Sustainability Delegate of his university and as a director of the Zurich Knowledge Center for Sustainable Development. He published over 100 papers and books on environmental and sustainability aspects of computing. He holds a PhD in computer science from the University of Hamburg. Before being appointed professor at UZH in 2010, he was head of the Technology and Society Laboratory, an interdisciplinary research lab at Empa, the Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Testing and Research. Lorenz also served as an affiliated professor at the Royal Institute of Technology KTH in Stockholm and initiated the conference series ICT4S (Information and Communication Technologies for Sustainability) with ICT4S 2013 held in Zurich. He is a member of the Steering Committee of TA-Swiss, the Foundation for Technology Assessment of the Swiss Academies of Arts and Sciences.

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Just in time for the Bits & Bäume 2022, Philipp Staab will publish the brand new report "DIGITAL RESET. REDIRECTING TECHNOLOGIES FOR THE DEEP SUSTAINABILITY TRANSFORMATION" together with 15 other international experts. This report is the outcome of a two-year science-policy dialogue (https://digitalization-for-sustainability.com/) and presents a comprehensive analysis of opportunities, risks, governance options and specific policies how to make digitalization work for social and environmental sustainability.

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