AUTHORS: Thorfinn Stainforth – Krisztina Korpassy

IEEP hosted an online discussion forum for civil society to explore topics related to environmental justice and digitalisation. This is a summary of the discussion.

The so-called “twin transitions” of digitalisation and sustainability are frequently cited as priorities at the EU level. In recent years the environmental impact of digitalisation, as well as its potential uses as a tool for a cleaner environment have been increasingly on the agenda. However, the environmental justice implications are still rarely discussed, both in terms of environmental rights and the differential effects of these technologies.

This summary report summarises the main inputs to an online discussion forum for civil society, hosted by the IEEP between December and January to discuss the intersection between digitalisation, sustainability, and environmental justice with civil society stakeholders. The summary of submitted inputs is reported with the aim of outlining views and suggestions from stakeholders and framing future policy discussions.

In the report, we specifically look at:

• Access to environmental information
• Participation in environmental decision making
• Civil society environmental initiatives
• Implications of digitalisation for systemic change
• Human rights and environmental impacts of ICT manufacturing and life cycle
• Justice and Discrimination in digital environmental technologies

The forum and consequential summary report was were facilitated by IEEP and the Institute for Ecological Economy Research (IÖW) and funded by the German Federal Environment Agency (UBA).

This online forum was implemented as part of the R&D project “Digitalization and Sustainability at the EU level” (research code: 3720 41 101 0) on behalf of the German Environment Agency (UBA), and financed by the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Nuclear Safety and Consumer Protection (BMUV).