In its report, the Council puts digital change and technological innovations at the centre of sustainable transformation and climate protection. It concludes “that digitalisation can help us remain within the planetary boundaries. Decarbonisation, a circular economy, more environmentally friendly agriculture, resource efficiency and emissions reductions, and the monitoring and protection of ecosystems could be achieved more easily and quickly with digital innovations than without them.” As a first big step the Council recommends to align digital change with the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Paris Agreement. Further, they suggest to summon a UN-Summit for “Sustainability in the Digital World” with the goal of elaborating a UN-Charta for a long-term framework.
However, the experts also utter a warning: Digitalisation and technological innovations will not automatically lead to a sustainable transformation, but require strong political, social and scientific efforts. “It needs anticipatory mechanisms like assessing technology’s potential consequences, but also a cross-linkage between digitalisation and sustainability research,” the report lays out. Especially when it comes to the analysis of risks and opportunities, the Council still identifies strong deficits and research gaps not only in Germany but also worldwide.
The German Advisory Council on Global Change issues was established in 1992 as an advisory council for the Federal Government in order to analyse environmental problems and development challenges and to give recommendation to policymakers.
Weblink to the report “Towards Our Common Digital Future”: https://www.wbgu.de/en/publications/publication/towards-our-common-digital-future
