Digital Momentum for the United Nations Sustainability Agenda in the 21st Century

While digitalization fundamentally changes the range of options available for future civilizational development, the implementation of the 2030 Agenda with its 17 Sustainable Development Goals requires a fundamental transformation of the economy and society.
“These two challenges can only be met by dedicated global thinking and action,” a policy paper by the German Advisory Council on Change (WBGU) stresses. “So what could be more appropriate than to use the momentum of digitalization to advance the Transformation towards Sustainability and launch decisive stimuli for achieving national and global sustainability targets?”
Digital solutions can make it easier to supply the world’s population with food and renewable energies in an environmentally friendly and sustainable way, according to the paper, titled ‘Digital Momentum for the UN Sustainability Agenda in the 21st Century’.
The intelligent design, longevity, reparability and recyclability of products in a digitally supported circular economy can reduce the demand for resources. Individuals can further their education using digital commons and develop an awareness of responsibility for overarching sustainability and humanity issues. Polycentric networks based on a culture of global cooperation and as a foundation for global governance can increasingly use sustainability-oriented social platforms. International sustainability politics could follow principles of open government and improve democratic participation.
However, the paper stresses, leveraging this potential will not happen automatically. Taking into account the opportunities and risks of digitalization in selected fields, WBGU offers four stimuli for using the digital momentum to (1) develop a global (environmental) awareness, (2) establish a globally networked, digitally supported circular economy, (3) modernize sustainability governance, and (4) continue sustainability policy in the digital age beyond 2030.
The implementation of these proposals can provide essential impetus for global sustainability politics: it is a question of the further development of our civilization on a finite planet in the digital Anthropocene. “In this way, the WBGU wishes to generate impetus for inter and transnational initiatives that urgently need to be taken. At the latest, the UN Summit proposed by the WBGU for 2022 should agree on key steps for a sustainable Digital Age – 30 years after the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro.”

WBGU – German Advisory Council on Global Change (2019): Digital Momentum for the UN Sustainability Agenda in the 21st Century. Policy Paper 10. Berlin: WBGU.