Digital and Environment
Digitalisation has a multifaceted impact on nature and the environment. While technologies such as AI and data-driven tools can be used to monitor and preserve endangered species on land or detect overfishing practices and pollution levels in ocean habitats, rapid digital transformation comes at a cost to our environment. In part, the answer to this challenge lies in developing technologies that are sustainable by design to help move the needle towards a more sustainable and circular economy. The nexus between environment and digital can be observed in the following aspects of environmental policy: atmosphere, biodiversity, climate change, energy consumption, food and agriculture, land and deforestation, oceans and seas, use of rare materials, pollution and e-waste, and water.
In support of Geneva-based environmental actors, the Geneva Environment Network (GEN) holds workshops and roundtables on the necessity of high-quality data to track the 2030 Agenda implementation progress, the urgency of mitigating digital tools’ carbon footprint, and the use of digital technologies like Earth observations for data monitoring and collection. The Group on Earth Observations, in turn, leads crucial information and knowledge initiatives such as Land Degradation Neutrality, the Biodiversity Observation Network, Global Agricultural Monitoring, the Global Forest Observation Initiative, and the Global Observation System for Mercury.
