Report: Digital Reset.

Redirecting Technologies for the Deep Sustainability Transformation.
  • Rewatch the launch presentation at ECDF in Berlin here.

    View our presentation at Bits & Bäume conference in October 2022 here.

    Or watch the introduction and Q&A at the ZOE speaker series here.

Time seems out of joint. The world society has experienced a centennial pandemic, the global thermometer has displayed a sequence of hottest years on record, and Russia’s war on Ukraine has shattered political order. Unsurprisingly, the economy is severely affected. Governments worldwide hope that digital technologies can provide key solutions. Yet this report shows that digitalisation, in its current and mainstream form, is rather aggravating than solving many of the pressing social and environmental crises at hand. What is needed instead is a deep sustainability transformation that fundamentally reorganizes the economy and all its sectors – agriculture, mobility, energy, buildings, industry, and consumption.

“Digital Reset” shows how digital technologies can support the quest for such a deep sustainability transformation. The report provides a blueprint for the European Union on how to reconceptualize digitalisation so that it first and foremost contributes to achieving carbon neutrality, resource autonomy and economic resilience while supporting equity and fully respecting citizen’s rights and privacy.

The report is the outcome of a two-year international science-policy dialogue, “Digitalization for Sustainability” (D4S), and presents the most up-to-date comprehensive analysis of opportunities, risks and governance options regarding digitalization and sustainability.

Suggested citation: Digitalization for Sustainability (D4S), 2023: Digital Reset. Redirecting Technologies for the Deep Sustainability Transformation. München: oekom. https://doi.org/10.14512/9783987262463

ISBN: 978-3-98726-022-3

Lead Authors: Steffen Lange & Tilman Santarius

Authors: Lina Dencik, Tomas Diez, Hugues Ferreboeuf, Stephanie Hankey, Angelika Hilbeck, Mattias Höjer, Lorenz Hilty, Dorothea Kleine, Johanna Pohl, Lucia Reisch, Marianne Ryghaug, Tim Schwanen, Philipp Staab