Machines, products, and people are increasingly interconnected through information technology, but what are the consequences? Will we see a “smart green world”, with technological advances benefitting everyone – including the environment? Alternatively, are we heading towards a digital growth economy where money and power are bundled in the hands of

MAY 6, 2021, 15.00-18.00 CEST, online via Zoom

+++ Documentation is now online +++

Look back on exciting impulses and interesting discussions with our Aftermovie and a short review below. For all participants and those who were unable to attend at short notice, we have also summarized the most important points of discussion in a longer article.

A solution for pressing sustainability challenges? Or an impediment for socio-ecological transformation? As of today, it is rather impossible to draw an overall conclusion on how digitalisation affects sustainability. In this first digital and open access issue of the journal OekologischesWirtschaften (Ecological Economy), the authors argue that there is no “black and white” answer to this question; instead, the answer is complex and overarching.

In their book “Smart Green World”, Steffen Lange and Tilman Santarius investigate how digitalization influences environmental and social sustainability. The information revolution is currently changing the daily lives of billions of people worldwide. At the same time, the current economic model and consumerist lifestyle needs to be radically transformed if society is to overcome the challenges humanity is facing on a finite planet. Can the much-discussed disruption potential of digitalization be harnessed for this purpose?

Nowadays, the resources and energy necessary to produce and use digital appliances oftentimes countervail the savings they induce. Furthermore, their usage in everyday life may induce additional consumption such as video streaming or online shopping, which also goes along with energy and resource demand.