Digitization is associated with ever-increasing energy and resource consumption as well as global production and consumption patterns that pollute global ecosystems ever more. Technological innovations do not automatically translate into transformations towards more sustainability, but instead must be closely linked to role models and policies of sustainability.
The report "Our joint digital future" makes it clear that sustainability strategies and concepts need to be fundamentally developed in the age of digitization. Only when the digital developments and the transformation towards sustainability are harmonized, it can be possible to advance protection of the climate and earth system as well as social progress in human development. Without active policy making, digital transformation will further accelerate resource and energy consumption and damage the environment and climate. It is therefore an urgent political task to create conditions that put digitization at the core of sustainable development.
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