Digitalization is one of the most important drivers of economic, social and environmental transformation. It has given rise to powerful general-purpose technologies such as artificial intelligence and cloud computing that offer revolutionary scale and potential. Digital transformation is globally pervasive, increasing productivity, disrupting pre-existing business models and leading to diverse innovations with profound implications for the human future. This transformation has enormous potential to support progress towards sustainability however in its current form, it continues to enable and/or encourage unsustainable practices that are degrading natural systems, entrenching inequality and undermining human wellbeing.
There is an urgent need to reverse these negative trends and to utilize the potential of digital transformation as a vital tool in developing globally sustainable economic and social behaviors. We need to move the focus away from the pursuit of short-term, unsustainable gains towards the achievement of long-term values-driven sustainable outcomes. Three systemic shifts are needed to harness digital transformation as a positive and exponential force for progressing environmentally and socially sustainable development.
- Shift 1 Enable Alignment: Create the enabling conditions to align the vision, values and objectives of the digital age with sustainable development;
- Shift 2 Mitigate Negative Impacts: A commitment to “sustainable digitalization” that mitigates the negative environmental and social impacts of digital technologies;
- Shift 3 Accelerate Innovation : Advancing investments in “digitalization for sustainability” to accelerate the development and deployment of sustainability-driven digital innovation.
Within each shift, this Action Plan identifies six strategic priorities that must be addressed during the 2022-2025 timeline together with 9 global Impact Initiatives to catalyze systemic transformations. The Coalition for Digital Environmental Sustainability (CODES) has published this Action Plan on the 50th anniversary of the Stockholm Conference on the Human Environment and will contribute the implementation of this vision in the years ahead. More information is available on the CODES Community Page on www.sparkblue.org/CODES
