As digital transformation is advancing steadily, society is faced with the challenge of ensuring that this change remains in accordance with the principles of sustainability. Digital innovations are correctly hailed as a beacon of hope for environmentally friendly solutions and simultaneously seen as a potential threat to our ecosystems. Indeed, both conceptions are justified. A recent study conducted by the technopolis group and the Institute for Ecological Economy Research (IÖW) took a close look at the impact of digitalization on the environment. The study identified numerous promising applications that offer considerable potential for positive environmental effects, particularly in areas such as energy, transportation and agriculture. The study was commissioned by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF).
The most important findings are summarized below:
- The study identifies numerous applications that have the potential to achieve positive environmental effects, for example by reducing energy consumption and cutting greenhouse gas emissions.
- Despite numerous studies, there are still knowledge gaps of the potential digitalization can provide in various areas. Many publications only offer qualitative descriptions without quantifications. This applies particularly studies on artificial intelligence, which were therefore only included to a limited extent in this meta-study.
- Digitalization does not only offer environmental opportunities, but also negative environmental effects. Environmental opportunities arise, for example, from optimization and substitution effects, positive enabling effects and sustainable behavior and consumption patterns. On the other hand, negative effects arise, for example, through direct effects (energy and resource consumption) or systemic effects (rebound effects).
- The existing quantifications in studies generally focus on the potential of digital technologies, in particular on positive enabling effects, but rarely on downstream environmental effects of production and systemic effects such as rebound effects. This makes it difficult to comprehensively assess the overall balance of digital technologies. Furthermore, as many studies are case studies, the scalability and transferability of these potentials to other contexts is equally unclear.
- Technologies such as the Internet of Things (IoT), AI & big data and blockchain are identified as key technologies in the literature and offer numerous possible applications with a potential for positive environmental effects such as greenhouse gas savings, but they also entail environmental risks.