THE DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION NEEDS RESILIENT INFRASTRUCTURE It is not yet clear whether the digital transformation will help fight socio-ecological crises or if, on the contrary, it might even intensify and accelerate them. Just as artificial intelligence can be both a threat and an opportunity for the knowledge society, digital progress can support the transition to a more sustainable use of resources – or massively hinder it. The ambivalence is obvious: increases in productivity thanks to digital technologies initially give our classic, growth-driven economic model an additional boost. But whether they can also be turned into a powerful tool on the way to a sustainable economy will depend on the political framework conditions on the one hand and the willingness of everyone involved to work together and integrate their different perspectives and competencies on the other hand. It is no coincidence that the German Federal Ministry for the Environment presented an environmental digital agenda80 at the beginning of 2020. This strategy shed light on the consumption of resources through digitalization itself. After all, the digital industry will soon be emitting more greenhouse gases than all road traffic combined. However, the 70 measures proposed in the ministry report also explore the interaction between technology, ecology, and society. In the expert interviews we conducted for this POLYPROBLEM report, one key message has emerged time and again: “good” digitalization, meaning one that fosters the careful use of resources, is not a question of technology but it’s all the more about attitude. Will businesses be willing to share data in order to plan, design, produce, sell, and recycle products along the entire value chain in a more environmentally friendly way? Will it be possible to make use of shared data infrastructures and still stand out from the competition? Technologically, this is not really an issue, most experts claim. Economically, however, it is, because it is still difficult to make money from sustainability. So, who will pay for and operate digital infrastructures that are not designed to step up productivity, but geared toward resource-conserving economic activities? This is where politics come into play. Politicians can and should create incentives to establish digital infrastructures for greater sustainability as a common good in areas that lack viable business models. This applies, for example, to investments in digital progress in the area of waste management and recycling, but also to shaping a culture that emphasizes the use of reusables as the new normal. Developers and providers of digital solutions are also called upon to work together if technological change is to deliver on the hoped-for boost in the transition to a sustainable use of resources. We need to agree on overarching standards in many areas in order to combine the sometimes remarkable developments in smart ways. Our research repeatedly brought to light the call for shared structures instead of isolated solutions. This is not a surprising finding considering that the circular economy can only succeed if all the links in the value chain work together. 80 https://www.bmuv.de/fileadmin/Daten_BMU/Download_ PDF/Digitalisierung/digitalagenda_bf.pdf 53
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