IGF 2023 WS #147 Green and digital transitions: towards a sustainable future

Time
Wednesday, 11th October, 2023 (06:15 UTC) - Wednesday, 11th October, 2023 (07:45 UTC)
Room
WS 4 – Room B-1
Subtheme

Sustainability & Environment
Digital Technologies to Achieve Sustainable Development Goals
Existing and New Technologies as Climate Solutions

Organizer 1: Xiaofeng Tao, 🔒
Organizer 2: Horst Kremers, 🔒
Organizer 3: Daisy Selematsela, 🔒
Organizer 4: Ricardo Israel Robles Pelayo, 🔒
Organizer 5: Zhao Ziwei, Consultative Committee on Information Technology of China Association for Science and Technology (CCIT/CAST)

Speaker 1: Horst Kremers, Technical Community, Western European and Others Group (WEOG)
Speaker 2: Daisy Selematsela, Civil Society, African Group
Speaker 3: Ricardo Israel Robles Pelayo, Private Sector, Latin American and Caribbean Group (GRULAC)
Speaker 4: KE GONG, Intergovernmental Organization, Intergovernmental Organization
Speaker 5: Tomoko Doko, Technical Community, Asia-Pacific Group

Additional Speakers

1. Speaker: Liu Chuang, Editor-in-Chief of Global Change Research Data Publishing & Repository, World Data System - WDS, Professor of Institute of Geographical Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, China

2. Online moderator: Zhou Xiang, Co-chair of CODATA Task Group in/for/with Developing Countries, Professor of Aerospace Information Research Institute, the Chinese Academy of Sciences, China

Moderator

Xiaofeng Tao, Civil Society, Asia-Pacific Group

Online Moderator

Horst Kremers, Technical Community, Western European and Others Group (WEOG)

Rapporteur

Zhao Ziwei, Civil Society, Asia-Pacific Group

Format

Round Table - 90 Min

Policy Question(s)

A. What are the key challenges and governance issues in leveraging digital and green transitions for sustainable development? B. How to strength the cooperations among multiple stakeholders, including governments, science and technology groups, to take full advantage of the twin transition for global sustainable development? C. How to establish a scientific policy framework, and how to provide policy guidance and regulation so that digital transition and green transition can work together to promote healthy and sustainable development of global economy and environment?

What will participants gain from attending this session? The participants will have a comprehensive understanding on the technology development in the field of digital and green transition in different countries. Meanwhile, through the presentation from speakers from different countries, the participants will learn about the key challenges and governance issues in leveraging digital transitions and green transitions for sustainable development. Our session will also provide a clear overview about the cooperation ways among multiple stakeholders, including governments, science and technology groups, to take full advantage of the twin transition for global sustainable development. And a scientific policy framework will be demonstrated to the attendees to provide policy guidance and regulation so that digital transition and green transition can work together to promote healthy and sustainable development of global economy and environment.

Description:

The UN has stated in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development that addressing climate change and achieving sustainable development is one of the most important challenges facing the global society today. With the intensified climate change and energy crisis, it has become a common consensus of the international community to promote green transitions of the global economy. The green transition aims to achieve sustainability, and combat climate change and environmental degradation. The digital transition aims to harness digital technologies for sustainability and prosperity, and to empower citizens and business. In 2021, CODES, ISC, Future Earth, the German Environment Agency, and the Kenyan Environment Ministry in response to the UN Secretary General’s Roadmap for Digital Cooperation. In 2022, the EU-ASEAN Commemorative Summit was held, the joint leaders’ statement was issued to enhance collaboration between ASEAN and the EU for a green and inclusive transition. Many people think of digital as being inherently sustainable – a recent example to support this is the replacement of daily commutes with remote working during the COVID-19 pandemic. Although digitization has brought significant benefits, it continues to carry a significant carbon cost, such as owners of hybrid cars driving more because it is cheaper. Rather than treating digital and sustainability in isolation, a twin transition strategy combines green and digital functions to unlock huge benefits. To unlock their potential and to prevent negative effects, the green and digital transitions require a proactive and integrated management. The digital transition will be spearheaded mainly by the private sector due to its huge economic potential. To harness its benefits for greening and to limit its harmful effects, state and civil society engagement will be necessary. This workshop aims to foster dialogue and collaboration among multiple stakeholders on how to promote twin transitions for a sustainable, equitable and competitive future.

Expected Outcomes

A. Invite international authoritative experts and scholars, leading enterprise leaders and relevant policy makers in the fields related to digital and green transitions to fully discuss the global sustainable development situation, and actively evaluate the opportunities and governance challenges encountered in the development process of digital and green transition. B. Explore the establishment of a global multi-stakeholder cooperation mechanism to jointly address the possible governance issues of digital and green transitions in global sustainable development. C. Propose a policy framework for global digital and green governance and formulate follow-up action plans.

Hybrid Format: All experts and audience will make comments and raise questions in regards to the speeches presented, guided by the moderator. There will be a live broadcast on the meeting, both online and onsite attendees will get involved in the workshop during the whole session. Besides, online attendees will have a separate queue and microphone which rotate equally with the mics in the room and is entitled to raise questions after each presentation of the speaker and engage during the discussion. Trained online moderator with previous experience will direct the online participation. There will be Q&A and discussion session to encourage every online or onsite participant to share their views to the issue. Audio-visual material: Organizers will explore the use of visuals (i.e. videos, PowerPoint slides, images, infographics) not just for the ice-breaker, but also throughout the workshop to animate the session and aid those whose native language are not English.