Day 0 Event #249 Sustainable Digital Growth Net Negative Net Zero or Net Positive

Summary

This discussion at the Internet Governance Forum in Norway focused on achieving “net positive digital sustainability,” exploring how digitalization can deliver environmental and societal benefits beyond merely reducing harm. The session was moderated by Natalie Becker Aakervik and featured speakers from Norwegian government agencies, major technology companies like Google and Huawei, infrastructure providers, and international organizations.

Jan Eyvind Velure from the Norwegian Communications Authority introduced the core concept, explaining that net positive sustainability requires balancing the digital “footprint” (negative environmental impacts from infrastructure and devices) against the “handprint” (positive impacts when digital services enable efficiency in other sectors). Norway has conducted a comprehensive lifecycle analysis of its digital infrastructure, finding that digital devices account for 75% of current emissions, though data centers are expected to grow fastest due to AI demands.

Industry representatives presented various approaches to the challenge. Kenneth Frederiksen from Huawei outlined a five-layer framework for measuring green indices across equipment, facilities, networks, operations, and vertical enablement, citing examples where ICT technologies can deliver up to 10 times improvement in other industries. Anton Aschwanden from Google emphasized their commitment to 24/7 carbon-free energy by 2030 and highlighted AI applications that have already saved millions of tons of emissions through tools like eco-routing in Google Maps.

Jon Gravrak from Bulk Infrastructure advocated for locating data centers near renewable energy sources in northern regions and creating industrial ecosystems that reuse waste heat from data centers. Daniel Dobrygowski from the World Economic Forum stressed the importance of digital trust and multi-stakeholder governance, noting that only 44% of people globally are comfortable with business uses of AI.

Minister Karianne Tung emphasized Norway’s goal to become the world’s most digitalized country by 2030 while maintaining sustainability, announcing upcoming data center strategies that will require heat reuse analysis. The discussion revealed significant challenges, with Pernilla Bergmark from the World Benchmarking Alliance noting that the ICT sector’s emissions have remained stable rather than declining as needed, and that many handprint claims lack rigorous measurement.

The panelists agreed that achieving net positive digital sustainability requires unprecedented collaboration between governments, industry, and civil society, supported by better measurement frameworks, knowledge-based governance, and incentive alignment. The overarching message was that while the challenge is complex, digitalization remains essential for addressing global challenges, requiring careful steering rather than restriction to maximize positive impacts while minimizing environmental costs.

Keypoints

## Major Discussion Points:

– **Net Digital Sustainability Framework**: The concept that digitalization should deliver net positive environmental and societal outcomes, not just reduce harm. This involves balancing the “footprint” (negative impacts like energy consumption and emissions) against the “handprint” (positive impacts through enabling other sectors to be more efficient) while accounting for rebound effects.

– **Data Centers and AI’s Growing Energy Demands**: The rapid expansion of AI workloads and data centers is driving significant increases in power consumption. Speakers discussed the need for strategic placement of data centers near renewable energy sources, improved cooling systems, and innovative heat reuse solutions to minimize environmental impact.

– **Measurement and Governance Frameworks**: The critical importance of developing robust, science-based measurement systems to track both footprint and handprint impacts. Norway’s pioneering lifecycle analysis and planned open-source dashboard were highlighted as examples of knowledge-based governance approaches.

– **Multi-stakeholder Collaboration and Trust**: The necessity of cooperation across sectors, borders, and stakeholder groups to achieve sustainable digital transformation. Digital trust was emphasized as fundamental to long-term innovation success, requiring alignment of technology development with human values and expectations.

– **Innovation vs. Regulation Balance**: The challenge of fostering continued technological innovation while implementing appropriate governance structures. Speakers emphasized that sustainability, innovation, and value creation are interconnected rather than competing priorities.

## Overall Purpose:

The discussion aimed to explore how digitalization can become a net positive force for sustainability and justice, addressing the guiding question: “What kind of governance is needed to ensure digitalization drives net positive sustainability, innovation and value creation?” The session sought to move beyond simply minimizing digital harm to actively creating positive environmental and societal outcomes.

## Overall Tone:

The discussion maintained a consistently collaborative and optimistic tone throughout, characterized by solution-oriented thinking and shared commitment to sustainability goals. While speakers acknowledged the significant challenges ahead, the atmosphere remained constructive and forward-looking. There was notable alignment among panelists from different sectors (government, industry, academia, international organizations) on core principles, with healthy debate around implementation approaches rather than fundamental disagreements. The tone became increasingly action-oriented as the session progressed, with concrete examples and commitments being shared.

Speakers

**Speakers from the provided list:**

– **Natalie Becker Aakervik** – Moderator for the session on sustainable digital growth

– **John Eivind Velure** – Director General of the Norwegian Communications Authority (ENCOM), responsible for digital security, artificial intelligence, and data protection

– **Nicolai Lovdal** – Assistant Director for Digital Sustainability at ENCOM, with 20 years of experience as entrepreneur, researcher, and strategy consultant at the intersection of technology, innovation, and sustainability

– **Kenneth Fredriksen** – Senior Vice President of Huawei Europe region and subsidiary board director for the Nordic and Baltic cluster, with 25 years in the ICT industry

– **Anton Aschwanden** – Head of Google’s Government Affairs and public policy for Switzerland, Austria, and international organizations in Europe, with over 20 years of experience in technology, innovation, and sustainability

– **Jon Gravrak** – CEO of Bulk Infrastructure, a leading provider of digital infrastructure in Norway

– **Daniel Dobrygowski** – Head of Governance and Trust at the World Economic Forum, leads work on trustworthy technology including the Digital Trust Initiative, attorney and educator at Columbia University

– **Pernilla Bergmark** – Research Lead Financial Systems Transformation for the World Benchmarking Alliance, former principal researcher on ICT sustainability at Ericsson

– **Karianne Tung** – Minister of Digitalization and Public Governance of Norway since 2023, leading voice on digital transformation, AI regulation and public sector innovation

**Additional speakers:**

None identified beyond the provided speakers names list.

# Net Positive Digital Sustainability Discussion at Internet Governance Forum Norway

## Executive Summary

This session at the Internet Governance Forum in Norway explored achieving “net positive digital sustainability” – where digitalisation delivers environmental and societal benefits that exceed its negative impacts. Moderated by Natalie Becker Aakervik, the discussion brought together representatives from Norwegian government agencies, technology companies including Google and Huawei, infrastructure providers, and international organisations to examine governance approaches for sustainable digitalisation.

The discussion revealed both opportunities and challenges in achieving net positive outcomes, with strong consensus on the need for multi-stakeholder collaboration and evidence-based governance, while highlighting tensions around regulatory approaches and measurement methodologies.

## Conceptual Framework and Norwegian Leadership

Jan Eyvind Velure from the Norwegian Communications Authority introduced the net positive concept through a simple illustration: “So if you add a handprint, subtract the footprint and adjust for the rebound effect, only then can we know if we achieve a net positive result worth celebrating.” This framework considers three components: footprint (negative environmental impacts), handprint (positive impacts when digital services enable efficiency improvements), and rebound effects (increased usage offsetting efficiency gains).

Nicolai Lovdal, Assistant Director for Digital Sustainability at ENCOM, presented findings from Norway’s comprehensive lifecycle analysis of its digital infrastructure. Norway is the second country in the world to conduct such an assessment, following France. The research revealed that digital devices currently account for 75% of the sector’s emissions, while data centres are expected to experience the fastest growth due to increasing AI demands. Lovdal announced plans to develop an open-source dashboard for measuring digital sustainability impact to share internationally.

## Industry Perspectives

### Technology Companies

Kenneth Fredriksen from Huawei outlined a five-layer framework for measuring green indices and presented statistics showing that ICT technologies can deliver up to 10 times improvement in other industries compared to ICT’s own emissions. He warned against over-regulation, arguing that being too restrictive on footprint reduction could limit handprint opportunities. He referenced how a 2017 “fun fact” about energy consumption from watching Gangnam Style had become outdated, illustrating how quickly efficiency improvements occur.

Anton Aschwanden from Google emphasized their commitment to achieving 24/7 carbon-free energy by 2030 and highlighted AI applications delivering measurable benefits, such as eco-routing in Google Maps. He noted that AI models are now 100 times more energy efficient than earlier generations while raising concerns about preventing the digital divide from becoming an AI divide.

### Infrastructure Innovation

Jon Gravrak from Bulk Infrastructure advocated for strategic placement of data centres near renewable energy sources and creating industrial ecosystems that reuse waste heat. He made a compelling argument about generational responsibility: “I think our kids, they will not accept that we now build a new industry without making sure we use the energy twice.”

Gravrak proposed treating digital and energy systems as integrated, coining the term “digital energy” and suggesting data centres could provide grid balancing services while their waste heat supports industrial processes.

## Government Strategy and Policy

Minister Karianne Tung outlined Norway’s goal to become the world’s most digitalized country by 2030. She announced several policy measures including:

– A forthcoming data centre strategy requiring heat reuse analysis

– Prohibition of cryptocurrency mining due to energy inefficiency

– Focus on circular economy approaches for device lifecycle management

– Requirements for waste heat reuse

The Minister emphasized the need for regulation that enables rather than restricts innovation.

## International Governance and Trust

Daniel Dobrygowski from the World Economic Forum stressed the importance of digital trust, presenting statistics showing only 44% of people globally are comfortable with business uses of AI. He argued that sustainable innovation requires public acceptance: “History has taught us that we cannot innovate, at least not over the long term, if we lose trust.”

## Critical Assessment of Progress

Pernilla Bergmark from the World Benchmarking Alliance provided a sobering assessment, noting that ICT sector emissions have remained stable rather than declining as required. Only 20% of assessed companies are on track to meet emission targets, and AI-driven companies have increased operational emissions by up to 150%.

Bergmark challenged optimistic handprint narratives, stating that handprints “can also be adding emissions in other sectors,” emphasizing the need for rigorous measurement methodologies that avoid cherry-picking and over-generous extrapolation.

## Key Areas of Agreement and Tension

### Strong Consensus

– Multi-stakeholder collaboration is essential across sectors and borders

– Evidence-based policy making requires robust measurement frameworks

– Strategic infrastructure development should prioritize renewable energy integration

– International knowledge sharing and common standards are necessary

### Areas of Disagreement

– **Regulatory approach**: Industry representatives warned against over-regulation limiting innovation, while government officials advocated for specific policy measures

– **Progress assessment**: Contrasting views on current achievements, with some highlighting efficiency improvements while others emphasized concerning emission trends

– **Priority balance**: Tension between immediate footprint reduction versus long-term handprint maximization

## Emerging Solutions

The discussion highlighted several promising approaches:

– Waste heat reuse from data centres for industrial applications

– AI applications for sustainability optimization across sectors

– Open-source measurement tools for international collaboration

– Industrial co-location strategies around data centres

## Unresolved Challenges

Key challenges requiring further work include:

– Developing standardized international measurement methodologies

– Creating proper business incentives for sustainable practices

– Addressing global digital equity with 2.6 billion people still offline

– Building public trust in AI and digital technologies

– Accurately accounting for rebound effects in sustainability calculations

## Conclusions

The discussion demonstrated mature understanding of digital sustainability challenges with broad agreement on solution directions. Achieving net positive digital sustainability requires unprecedented collaboration between governments, industry, and civil society, supported by better measurement frameworks and aligned incentives.

While the path forward is complex, participants agreed that digitalisation remains essential for addressing global challenges. Success requires careful steering to maximize positive impacts while minimizing environmental costs, with continued collaboration and innovation from all stakeholders to ensure digitalisation becomes a force for positive transformation.

Natalie Becker Aakervik: joining us globally, a warm welcome to sustainable digital growth, net negative, net zero, or net positive. I’m Natalie Becker-Arkovic and I’ll be your moderator for this session. It’s so lovely to have you here this morning. Well, this session will explore the concept of net digital sustainability. What is that? Well, that is the idea that digitalization should not only reduce harm, but actively deliver net positive environmental and societal outcomes, redefining how we measure and how we manage a truly sustainable digital transformation. So, digital infrastructure and services are transforming our societies, as we know, from data centers to mobile networks. They are the key drivers of innovation and sustainability, and they have a growing environmental impact that requires really a more responsible approach. Data centers are particularly important in this conversation and in this transformation. Their power consumption has increased sharply and is expected to continue rising, driven by the large AI models and also global demands that we see for connectivity. By aligning infrastructure and governance and accountability with our shared global goals, this session invites really a cross-sectoral dialogue on how digital transformation can become a force for sustainability and for justice. Now, the guiding question, what kind of governance is needed to ensure digitalization drives net positive sustainability, innovation and value creation, will be a core guiding question that we will try and answer during the session. And through keynotes and a panel discussion, we will try and do this. However, what I would like to do first is introduce the people who are going to be framing this session, who are really going to be setting the tone for us and laying the foundations for the conversations that are coming in our panel discussions. I would like to welcome Jan Eyvind Vellure. He’s the Director of the Norwegian Communications Authority, or ENCOM. Two values they have, responsible and bold. And digital sustainability is one of its strategic focus areas. As a leader at ENCOM, he is responsible for digital security, for artificial intelligence, and for data protection. He is also the Director of the Norwegian Communications Authority, intelligence and the regulation of electronic communication in Norway. He will share the stage with Nikolai Lovdal, who is the Assistant Director for Digital Sustainability at ENCOM, and he will be introducing Nikolai, who has 20 years of experience as entrepreneur, researcher, strategy consultant at the intersection of technology and innovation and sustainability. And Jan, Ivan and Nikolai will really, as I said, frame the concept of what net digital sustainability means. And they will present the case of Norway, highlighting Norway’s journey towards developing a data-driven dashboard for sustainable digital governance. So, please join me in welcoming Jan-Ivan Villora to the stage.

John Eivind Velure: Jan-Ivan, the floor is yours. Thank you, Nathalie. Thank you. Excellencies, distinguished guests, colleagues and friends, good morning and welcome again to day zero of the Internet Governance Forum here in Norway. At ENCOM, and as the Director General, it is my honor to open a session that asks a bold yet responsible question. How can we make sure that the digital wave we are riding becomes a net positive force for people and the planet? First of all, let me try to frame it. So, where do we stand today? The ICT sector alone already accounts for about 2 to 4 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions, and that share is likely to grow. Science-based targets require us to cut absolute ICT emissions by 45 percent between 2020 and 2030, to stay at the one-and-a-half degree pathway. So, although energy efficiency per bit keeps improving, our absolute footprint still rises, driven in particular by data-hungry AI workloads. So we need digital infrastructure and new technology, of course, because this is powering health, it’s powering education, security and business growth. But as a society, we must also answer how do we shrink that footprint while scaling the handprint, the positive knock-on effects that digitalization can deliver. So what does net positive mean? Allow me to try to frame net digital sustainability with a simple illustration. Showing on the screen on the left block, the footprint, that is, of course, the negative impact of digital infrastructure and devices. Its energy consumption is carbon emitted, its material use and biodiversity lost. And on the other side, the right block, that is the positive impact, its emissions and resources avoided when other sectors use digital services. Smart grids, telemedicine, precision farming, for naming a few. In addition, we also have the rebound effect. When things get more efficient, more cheap, we tend to use more of it, which reduces again the positive handprint effect. So if you add a handprint, subtract the footprint and adjust for the rebound effect, only then can we know if we achieve a net positive result worth celebrating. So governance in this. That is, of course, everything we do to steer the balance. That are the rules, the incentives, the standards, it’s the open data, it’s of course inside companies, between companies, within nations, across borders. So, the guiding question for today is, what kind of governance is needed to ensure that digitalization drives net positive sustainability, innovation and value creation? Of course, to solve this is not a solo project. We need to work together. It spans public and private sector, regulators and innovators, from the north to the south. And that is, of course, precisely the spirit of the Internet Governance Forum. It’s a multi-stakeholder arena, where we can test ideas and build common rulesets. Norway has begun to walk the talk, by measuring our national digital footprint and developing an open data-driven dashboard. To share that journey, I’m pleased to pass the floor to my colleague and Enkom’s Assistant Director within Digital Sustainability, Nikolaj Løvdal, who will take us from concepts to concrete action.

Nicolai Lovdal: Nikolaj, the stage is yours. So, the government of Norway gave us a task. We want you to reduce the footprint and increase the handprint. And while doing so, you should also drive innovation and value creation. Is that possible? Yes, of course it is. We will have a knowledge-based approach to this. And there’s a strong link between sustainability, innovation and value creation. So, how did we start on this task? Well, the first thing we did was to start saying we have to understand the footprint. So, we did a full lifecycle analysis of the entire digital infrastructure of Norway. We also did scenario analysis. towards 2030-2050. We included CO2 emission, energy consumption, use of materials and also nature. The report is not published yet but if you’re super curious, let’s see, there’s a small QR code down there, so if you are able to catch it from where you’re sitting or look at the presentations afterwards, you can already now download a version because we have asked for feedback. It’s super important for us that we agree that this is actually where we stand, so this can become a common reference in Norway. This is also the place I think I want to say, anyone from France here? We want to send a tribute to France because you guys were the first one doing something like this, so we more or less did a copy morph of you. So, going to the findings. The total emission from the digital infrastructure of Norway is pretty much the same as the direct emission from domestic air travel. Another interesting finding was that the digital devices, they account for 75% of the footprint today. But moving forward, we expect the data center segment to grow fastest and have the highest growth on footprint. That’s mainly caused by AI and energy, but I have to also add that in Norway, a bit special case maybe, it’s also because we’re an attractive country because we have access to renewable energy in this country. It was a lot of work to do that analysis. We can’t do that every year, it will be too costly, both for us as a public institution, but also for the companies that were sharing the data, so we need to do this more efficiently. So, moving forward, we will design a new So, moving forward, we will design, build and test a data-driven open source dashboard or index dashboard, maybe more correct. So, we will basically move towards A framework for governing the net biosphere impact from digitalization. So allow me to briefly talk about the most important design principles of this. It should maybe have started with saying it has to add value for us and for all the stakeholders, so especially the companies. First of all, we will gather data as digital as possible. It will be science-based, transparent. It will be of course fully aligned with international metrics like EU and the standards of ITU and stuff that most of you use. It will be modular and open source, and we will consider to publish it as a digital public good. We will, as the next step, so what will we do as the next step? Well, on Footprint it’s quite straightforward. In close collaboration with companies and industry associations, we will simply build this beta version. On the handprint it’s a bit more of a challenge, since the nature of how you measure it is quite different. That’s where true uncertainty and stuff comes in. But we will do a stab and look at how can we actually measure it? How can we do and make sure that we can discuss this in a meaningful way? Because of course we can’t do that in a better way than we do it today. So, I’m going to end by saying we will first build this for Norway, but it’s designed to share. So even if we’re a small team, we really would like to collaborate internationally, especially with the doers. Thank you. Thank you.

Natalie Becker Aakervik: Thank you Nikolaj Lovdahl and thank you Jan Eyvind for sharing those wonderful perspectives and also for setting the tone and the foundation so well for the conversations that are to follow in this session. Now our keynote speakers are up next and they’re going to share their points of view on net positive sustainable or rather net positive digital sustainability. They will share those with us in individual presentations and then we’re going to be moving into a panel discussion as well, ladies and gentlemen. So first up I would like to introduce our first keynote speaker. Kenneth has spent all of his 25 long year career in the ICT industry having worked for both or rather European, American and Chinese suppliers. The last 14 years he has spent at Huawei and Huawei Technologies in various leadership positions. He is currently the senior vice president of Huawei Europe region and a subsidiary board of director for the Nordic and the Baltic cluster as well. So he is going to share their point of view on net positive sustainability and they have a special focus on the development of green indices for ICT as outlined in their green management white paper. So without further ado I’d like to give a warm round of applause to Kenneth Frederiksen, the senior vice president for Europe region for Huawei. Please join us on stage. The floor is

Kenneth Fredriksen: yours. A warm round of applause. Thank you. Thank you Natalie and good morning everyone, ladies and gentlemen, distinguished guests both offline and online. As mentioned I’m basically probably going to outline this topic more from a infrastructure perspective. Huawei is a relatively large infrastructure provider doing an end-to-end portfolio of all kinds of digital infrastructures and as part of our work we have done a green management white paper which is basically addressing how to govern, execute and plan ICT organizations, green targets and ambitions. And one important component of this white paper is as already mentioned, the green indices, trying to address the different impact of the different layers of digital infrastructure, both from a footprint perspective but also from a handprint perspective. And I’ll briefly go through these different layers which we basically have categorized into five layers of infrastructure and also, you know, the final and maybe most important one, which is related to the handprint of ICT infrastructure. So if we look at, basically, you can also address this from a bottom-up approach but also from a top-down approach. But if we start at the bottom, which is basically the basic equipment layer, here you have the impact of the different equipment product components individually. The facility layer is more than the combined site or data center layer of all these different technologies being at a site level, where you also measure the overall site energy efficient level. Then you go one step further, which is the network layer, which is basically measuring the overall energy efficiency of the whole network and then you measure the output of the network in terms of performance and quality. At the operational level, you look at the cross network impact, where basically you measure the impact of data across networks from A to B. And then at the enablement layer, the fifth layer, you look at the impact of introducing ICT technologies into other verticals. So going into a bit more detail, I mean at the site level, a typical site or a data center can look very different or basically it looks unique for every setup. So in order to address the impact of a site or a data center facility, you need to go into the details. of the equipment in the site and you need to analyze both from an energy perspective what kind of energy being used but also how to better optimize the performance of the different components together as a unit. There’s also different features of course you can introduce in order to optimize and to improve energy consumption. At the network level you have the energy efficiency index which is basically measuring the energy being used in order to provide a certain number of data traffic and this has been a very typical way of measuring energy or network efficiency but now it’s also very important to include the quality and the performance part into this because by only focusing on efficiency you might compromise quality and performance of the network such as coverage speed of the network which then may have a overall negative impact of the total omission or performance of the network. You need to look at both, you cannot just look at only the energy consumption part on the data traffic but you also need to look at how these measures then impact the quality and the user experience of the network. Then at the operational level you look at the end-to-end traffic of data from basically the consumer back to the data center and vice versa. As an operator of such facilities you have two main areas to focus on. To improve the energy efficiency which is basically looking at how to optimize the performance of the network, the site, the data center level and the different components involved and you can look at how to reduce the emission factors which is basically then for the operators to make sure that you try to use as green energy as possible either from purchasing it or developing your own energy production facilities. And also very importantly is of course the vertical enablement index which is basically the handprint part. How to enable new verticals, new industries to be more green, more sustainable by introducing ICT technologies. This is a simple example of how ICT technologies have been introduced in the mining industry and basically what we see as a more kind of a general finding is that introducing ICT technologies into new verticals have a potential of up to 10 times improvement in those industries compared to the emission created at the ICT industry level which means that in this case as you can see it has an 8.4 times positive net factor of introducing ICT technologies. And in order to achieve this at least Huawei very much encourage continuous dialogues at industry level among the suppliers of course but the industry standard organizations, government authorities, we need to work together in furthering and improving the standardization of these ICT solutions and the requirements of it but also trying to work together to create ecosystems to increase the handprint potential of ICT technologies. Thank you very much.

Natalie Becker Aakervik: Thank you so much Kenneth for your presentation there. Introducing our next keynote speaker Anton Heads Google’s Government Affairs and public policy for Switzerland, Austria, and international organizations in Europe. With over 20 years of experience in technology, innovation, and sustainability, Anton’s focus is on building collaborations, a key word here in the conversations not only for today, but in the coming weeks, collaborations and partnerships across various sectors, whether it’s economy, politics, or civil society, or even academia. He’s also a strong advocate for using artificial intelligence to achieve sustainability goals, such as the Sustainable Development Goals, and he advises BrainForest.Global, which is a non-profit focused on forests, biodiversity, and climate action. Please join me in welcoming Anton Aschwanden. The floor is yours.

Anton Aschwanden: Hello, thank you. Good morning, everyone. So technology and AI are probably among the most powerful tools we have to tackle climate change and building a sustainable future. And yet we know that the challenge is really big. We know that there’s a big challenge on energy questions, and I think addressing this duality is a key task we’re having together. No one can do it alone, not a single company, not a single sector. And that’s why we’re really glad to be here at IGF. We were a strong supporter of the IGF for years, and we’re looking forward to the debates this week. Thanks to the Norwegians as well for bringing us together. And really, this commitment to sustainability begins at our own operations. We’re doing that globally, but also locally, to manage our operations really in a sustainable way. Some of you, I don’t know. they are Norwegians in the crowd. We’re about to deepen our roots here in Norway by building a data center in Schien, which is the capital of the Telemark county. So it’s roughly 100 kilometers from here. So this is a key priority for us to really be sustainable across the globe, but also locally. To reduce emissions, and this is really a key work we’re working on, this is like we matched 100 percent of our global and annual electricity with renewable energy every year since 2017. And our ambition is still as big and even bigger because we’re aiming to operate 24-7 carbon-free energy and achieve net zero across our entire value chain by 2030. So what does that mean? That means that every Google search, every YouTube video you’re going to watch will be running by completely green energy. And we’re making progress. You see it on the slides. 10 of our great regions already achieving 90 percent clean energy, carbon-free. But we have to admit as well, this is a challenging task. You see on the very map above me as well that some regions are still behind. So we need to deepen collaboration, work on technical progress, work together, collaborative spirit as we have here at IGF. So now let’s address the elephant in the room, the energy footprint of AI. We tackle this by really a relentless obsession on efficiency. And this goes on several levels. The first level being our data centers. They are now already like a factor 1. 8 times more efficient than average, and we are delivering 4 times more compute power for the same electricity as we did 5 years ago. And then the next layer is the breakthroughs on the hardware. I don’t know if you heard about the latest TPUs, the Tensor Processing Units, the latest AI chips, and it’s really incredible the progress that has been made over the last years. They’re now like 30 times more efficient than the first generation. And then the next level are the AI models. There we see the same kind of increase of efficiency, now cutting the energy required to train an AI model by a factor of 100. And I think this is really key. As the AI adoption grows, this really radical commitment to efficiency will be more important than ever. So let’s come to the footprint of AI, to the handprint after the footprint. And we really see many, many tools where AI can play a key role. We’ve done a study with BCG that AI can help mitigate 5-10% of global greenhouse gas emissions, and we’re doing that with tools that empower people. You see one illustration from the transport field eco-routing in Google Maps. We saved 2.7 million metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions in 2024 alone, which is the equivalent of taking off the road roughly 630,000 cars per year. Another illustration from the transport field is our project GreenLight, where we can cut emissions together with cities at intersection by up to 10%. Or taking a… an illustration from the energy field, our solar API which supports rooftop solar deployment now available for half a billion buildings across 40 markets. Let me end with an illustration on climate adaption. For years, predicting floods was almost impossible. You only had a warning phase of one or two days and sometimes only a few hours. And now, with improved prediction models, we now manage to warn people up to seven days in advance. So, this is, if you imagine, really impressive, 100 countries, 700 million people, and instead of only giving a warning a few hours before, together with partners like the UN, NGOs, we are able now to warn people up to seven days in advance. Not only saving lives, but livelihoods. So those were just a few illustrations, and I think the crucial point I’m making is that digitization can be a really powerful force for a sustainable planet. I invite you all to also pass at our booth. We’re going to highlight some of the projects I just mentioned, and I’m looking forward to the discussion with my fellow co-panelists today and to your questions. Thank you so much. Anton. Right, ladies and gentlemen, so I hope you enjoyed that presentation.

Natalie Becker Aakervik: Our next speaker is Jan Gravrok. He’s the CEO of Bulk Infrastructure. Bulk Infrastructure is a leading provider of digital infrastructure right here in Norway. He is a strong believer in building something bigger than ourselves, and that Norway can play a key role in Europe’s digital and green brain. Now he will share the company’s point of view on digital sustainability with us. with a special focus on how large data centers can support the energy grid with flexibility and how data centers could act as a cornerstone business with local support and value creation. That’s going to be an exciting presentation as well, so I hope you’re looking forward to it. Without further ado, I’d like you to join me in giving a very warm welcome to Jon Gravrock.

Jon Gravrak: Thank you. Hello everyone, good to see you, good morning. So I’m representing Bulk Infrastructure and we are a Nordic-based data center operator and developer and operator, and we also build fiber networks. So I wanted to talk a bit about this today, our planet. And I think we’re definitely going into the digital society, to the data age, but it’s still the humble beginning and we still have an opportunity to make our digital society a truly sustainable one. And I think that’s all about our mission in Bulk. How can we make our digital society sustainable? And our governing thought, looking at this planet, is that we have to think a bit differently. We have to choose the locations of the digital foundation, the data centers, carefully. They should be located next to surplus of renewable energy, because data centers are consuming energy and we need to be careful where we put them. We think we need to look up north. We have abundance of renewable power, both on the European side and on the American side, if you look up north. It’s actually shorter fiber distances to cross the continents the further north you get. The climate is colder. It does reduce the power consumption of our data centers and it can scale for the future, which is important. for those GPUs. In bulk, we try to think like an industrial company. What does it mean to bring an industrial mindset into this digital infrastructure world? Well, first of all, we think you need to think long-term. You have to do things today that will have an effect 10, 20, 30, maybe 50 years ahead of time. And what we’re doing today, that’s based on decisions that were made 10, 15 years ago. So you need to keep that long-term logic with you. Secondly, we think you need to really think about industrial scale. So you cannot only solve digital problems locally. You have to find a bigger role, a bigger scale to make it truly industrial. In bulk, we think that what we do in Norway, making use of the renewable power surplus here should benefit all of Europe. So sometimes we talk about building the European engine room for the digital society. Thirdly, an industrial mindset requires you to think about people and capabilities. Yes, these are the machines that we’re kidding for, but it’s still a people business. You need to bring in those young people, teach them capabilities of the future that can benefit all of us. And I wanted to touch upon two sustainability aspects of what we’re doing. The first one, definitely linking to the electricity or energy system. So if you look at this picture, there’s a data center in the foreground. That’s not only any data center, it’s our latest one, and it’s tailored to fit with generative AI. And it’s already housing the GB200s for the ones interested, which is the latest and greatest of NVIDIA GPU technology. And in the background of this picture, you see another interesting thing, which is Kristiansand transformer station. So this is Norway. biggest transformer station. It handles a lot of the surplus of power production in our part of the world. And I think sustainability is about seeing this energy system in the background together with the digital system in the foreground. We actually talk about digital energy and there’s so many synergies to explore here. I already touched upon the first one which is that location of the data centers matters a lot. It’s easier to transport data through fiber networks than it is to transport power through electric grids. And it’s much more efficient. So you have to think carefully about where you put these large data centers of the future. Secondly, there’s simple things which you’ll have to understand on a local level. How can the data centers, you know, play in sync with the grid? And in Norway it’s so that it is really cold and especially in the winter time. So we spend by far the most energy in the winter as a society. But the data centers, they actually consume most power in the summer because that’s when we need to cool down those servers. So seeing those seasonal synergies and using them to optimize the grid, that’s one example of a synergy. Another one is, as we unfortunately saw in Spain and Portugal this summer, or this spring I should say, as we bring more and more distributed power generation, solar, wind, etc. into the grid system, we create new problems for ourselves. And those problems relate to the frequencies of how the power is distributed. And you need to constantly rebalance those frequencies in the grid. And again, data centers with our backup batteries can contribute to that frequency balancing. It’s another synergy. It’s all about electricity. I also think we need to talk about, sorry, oh, too many slides. We need to talk about building cornerstone businesses. So as data centers, we’re often just flying in, consuming the power and never meeting anyone locally. We think you have to build these data centers together with the local communities. You have to build the future cornerstone businesses like the old industries did before. And on this picture is one example of that. It’s to engage on sustainability initiatives together with the local municipality. This is Vennesla in the South of Norway. And another example I wanted to show is this. We have to take care of our youth. So this is Christopher, our supervisor on connectivity and fiber in the data center business. And he’s teaching these 17-year-old kids that’s studying to become electrical engineers how to think about connectivity in the data centers. And for the ones that didn’t know, the newest AI setups require tens, if not hundreds of thousands of independent fiber connections just to work. So we need that youth to come in, but it’s also part of building a cornerstone business that you give the local youth an opportunity to take part in something which is bigger than themselves. And finally, just to summarize what I say, we need to build an industry around this. We need to have the long-term thinking and the scalable thinking. We need to think about the digital industry as an integrated one with the energy industry. We need to think about digital energy. And as Jensen Huang here says, for countries and regions that have surplus of renewable power, we really need to think about exporting intelligence and not just the raw material of power. Thank you so much. Thank you.

Natalie Becker Aakervik: We’re really looking forward to having all of our keynote speakers in the panel discussion so we can engage and take a deeper dive into this very important conversation. And great to see you, our audience, and again acknowledging our global audience who’s watching from online. So nice to have you here at this presentation. So up next, our next speaker leads the World Economic Forum’s work on trustworthy technology and trusted word that’s coming up a lot in this forum, so important in our day and age that we are in, including the Digital Trust Initiative, the Global Coalition for Digital Safety and Connected Future Initiative. He’s also an attorney and educator, Daniel teaches at Columbia University, and his work has been featured in the Harvard Business Review, Wired, and other publications which I’m sure that our audience is very familiar with. So Daniel will present the World Economic Forum’s point of view on net positive sustainability as we’ve mentioned a core concept and the core of this conversation, with a special request to explore the role of digital trust at a handprint potential of emerging technologies really, he’s going to be focusing on that, and the handprint of emerging technologies with a positive impact in shaping a more sustainable digital future. So we’re going to hear from Daniel now, and I’m going to ask you to give another warm rousing, warm round of applause, our audience, to Daniel Dobrygowski, Head of Governance and Trust at the World Economic Forum. Let’s hear it. Daniel. Excellent.

Daniel Dobrygowski: Thank you very much for that warm introduction, and I truly appreciate the Government of Norway and IGF inviting us out and giving us the opportunity to have this discussion. This is an excellent way, obviously, to start the IGF. In many ways, this theme of sustainability, governance, innovation, trust, highlights some of the key themes of our IGF meeting this week. Digital trust and resilience. on responsible innovation, universal access, and digital rights, and digital cooperation. Today, I wanna talk a little bit about the intersection between those different themes and how innovation, sustainability, governance, and trust are absolutely vital when we’re thinking about new and emerging technologies. So first, let’s talk a little bit about innovation. One of the key innovations we think about, AI, is likely to introduce enormous benefits to individuals and to society as a whole. We stand to become more effective and more efficient in almost every human endeavor, from medicine to communications to the provision of government services. But without clear and effective guardrails for that innovation, there’s a chance that all of this will come at tremendous cost to individuals, to society, and to the planet. Those guardrails and the choices that we make in setting them are what we mean when we talk about good governance. And this is where the forum’s work on digital trust comes in. In order to be trustworthy in the development and deployment of new and emerging technologies, we need to decide collectively about what those guardrails guiding our decisions around technology should look like. What we found is that the base expectation for individuals in determining whether they trust these technologies is whether the development and use of those technologies meets people’s expectations and represents their values. Some values and expectations are, of course, dependent on cultural, national, and other contexts. But some are more widely held, like those set out in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and some are even more basic than that. People don’t want or expect technology that does them harm. People don’t expect or want technologies that degrade the environment that supports our lives. And looking at those reasons and more, I think we can see that AI doesn’t seem to be measuring up in terms of trust, at least not yet. Here we have research from the firm Edelman and their 2025 trust barometer, and shows that only 44% of people globally are comfortable with business uses of AI. Now this is a bad trajectory. History has taught us that we cannot innovate, at least not over the long term, if we lose trust. That means we need to do better about how we ensure that people’s expectations guide our decisions around technology. This is governance in its most basic sense, developing rules or principles for how we decide how to develop these technologies. And making good decisions is fundamentally a multi-stakeholder and interdisciplinary effort. Again, here’s where we wanna talk about digital trust. It’s multi-stakeholder because it takes all actors, nations, companies, civil society, and individuals working together in order to identify what our expectations are in terms of new technologies. And also to define the guardrails for those technologies which we will accept. And it’s interdisciplinary because there’s no one source of trust. It’s systemic and interconnected. And here’s what I mean by that. Looking at the forum’s digital trust model, you can see we need to protect a variety of different issues. We need to have intersections between a variety of different disciplines in order to build trust. All of these areas must interact in order to have trustworthy technology development. And here. to highlight one of the areas that we talk about, sustainability. As we discussed today, we need to ensure that technologies are developed and deployed in a sustainable way. This is a basic expectation that people have of technologies. And as digital technologies increasingly consume resources such as energy, water, a trustworthy technology company, or a government that wants to incentivize trustworthy technology, must consider sustainability as part of its obligations. So here briefly, you’ve heard a lot about AI footprint, handprint. Here’s how we found that that works. Let’s consider one aspect, as Kenneth brought up, of AI development, data centers. Data centers are a vital component of digital infrastructure, and they support a variety of applications, not just AI, cloud computing, complex data processing. AI’s rapid expansion is increasing the demand we place on these centers. And this is likely to increase significantly every year for the near future. Our estimate from January is a 50% annual increase through 2030. And so that gets us to the handprint. If AI is significantly increasing our energy use, we can use AI to potentially offset that. And there’s two ways we can do that. One, I think as Anton mentioned, we can make AI more efficient. We can have it use energy more efficiently through more efficient hardware, through more efficient models, by making better data centers. And we can also use AI to make other energy uses more efficient. That’s the sustainability handprint that we talked about for AI. What we found in our work is that through grid optimization, energy management, renewables forecasting, and energy storage, we can use AI to bolster the tools that we’ve already developed to support sustainability. So as I mentioned earlier, this is based on choices we have to make. And this is what brings together the themes of the week. If our innovations have caused a problem, and severe environmental toll is certainly a problem, then it may be possible for us to innovate our way out of that problem, but only if we decide to do that. Only if we decide that digital trust is important, and only if we decide that good governance is worth pursuing and cooperate in defining what that looks like, so we can have both innovation and sustainability, and thereby build trust. Thank you very much.

Natalie Becker Aakervik: Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you so much, Daniel, for that very interesting and in-depth presentation on trust, and such an important part of this conversation as well. Now, I’m going to introduce our next speaker before we engage in a panel discussion with the great speakers, and diving deeper, as I said, into the topics that they’ve touched upon in their presentations. So, while focusing now on the financial sector sustainability impact as a research lead in the World Benchmarking Alliance, Penelope Bergmark was earlier the principal researcher on ICT sustainability, and that is the sustainability impact at Ericsson, where she conducted peer-reviewed research, and led standardization on topics connected to assessment of sustainability of digital, in particular, focusing on climate and other environmental topics. And as a standardizer, Penelope has been very active, really, in bodies such as ITU, ISO, ETSI, and other co-led methodologies in development for avoided emissions, smart, sustainable cities, and net zero and decarbonization strategies as well. So, without further ado, I will leave it up to her to talk more about the subject. She’s going to be sharing the World Benchmarking Alliance’s point of view on net positive sustainability, and also. discussing approaches for greening digital companies and also advancing handprint frameworks to measure and enhance their impact. Please join me in welcoming Pernilla to the stage. Pernilla Bergmark who is the research lead financial systems transformation for the World Benchmarking Alliance and again a warm round of applause ladies and gentlemen. Pernilla. Thank you so

Pernilla Bergmark: much Natalie and thank you Norway and IGF for inviting me. As you can hear my voice is not perfect today so I hope it will last for this presentation. I represent an organization called WBA World Benchmarking Alliance. We provide benchmarks and data and insights to policymakers, civil society and to the industries to help understand how they are delivering on social and environmental impacts. We do that across 2,000 companies across industries and 200 of them are from the tech sector and that I will refer to today. As we have heard today already we can divide impacts from digital into three categories. We have the first order impacts which is also the footprint which has been referred to earlier. We have the second order impacts which is the avoided but also added emissions when ICT is used or digital solutions are used in different sectors and we have the higher order effects called rebound. I by that challenge a bit the previous speakers by saying that the handprint is not only about avoiding emissions in other sectors but it can also be adding emissions in other sectors so that’s an important thing to remember. If you as you heard also from the first speaker There is a trajectory which tells us how much the ICT sector should reduce its emissions between 2020 and 2040 by 45 percent. That is based on the normative framework which was developed by ITU and SBTI and so forth. This is not really what we are seeing happening yet. Based on research until 2020 we can see that the footprint has really not started to decline but it’s stable while it should decline by seven percent basically a year. So as WBA we are working with the ITU. We have a report that we publish on an annual basis called the Green Digital Report. In this report we are looking at the first footprint of the sector and we are also rating companies in relation to their commitments, in relation to their performance and also in relation to how transparent they are. We can see also there that we are not really on the right track. So in comparison with 2020 we can see that telecom operators have actually reduced operational emissions somewhat but at the same time we can see that AI driven companies have increased their operational emissions with up to 150 percent. And also we can see that while these companies are investing quite heavily in renewables it’s not always renewables which leads to additionality but it’s definitely something which is good. But we can also see that there is a concentration of emissions, so only 10 out of 164 companies that reported are actually providing half the emissions. We can also see when it comes to targets that it’s below 20 percent of the assessed digital emissions which are in the target which is where companies are on the track with meeting the target. And we can also see that while over half the companies have targets we can see that only 45 percent of emissions are under a target. So that remains a lot to do and especially when we come to what’s called scope free the value chain emissions that are just 58 companies. I should speed up a bit. Let’s go to the second order effect whether this is net positive net negative or net zero for the sector. This is not a new discussion. Already in 2008 there was a famous report called the smart 2020 that looked into the handprint and proposed solutions that could help reduce emissions globally. It came out with the conclusion that 15 percent of overall global emission could be reduced by the ICT sector by the digital sector. However if we look at recent data from our word in data we can see that if we look at all the sectors where ICT is supposed to reduce this handprint we can see that they are not reducing by 15 percent. Then you can maybe say that the ICT without the ICT sector it would have been even worse. We cannot know that but we are definitely not seeing this delivered as of yet. What can we say about more recent development? Of course if you compare with 2008 we are a highly digital society which we were not at that point. But we can also see that the claims that are made today are very similar to the claims made in 2008 but we are adding like new buzzwords to describe them. We have the methodology development and standardization has developed a lot. Our understanding of this handprint is much deeper today but many of the studies which are presented are quite limited in scope or they are still quite crude. So it’s very hard to know where the sector is as a whole. We see in those studies that there is often a cherry-picking. That means that you have chosen solutions which are delivering the positive effects rather than looking at all solutions. There is also double counting and also over generous extrapolation from small studies to wider effect. So there is definitely a need for in-depth studies, wider studies. And also these higher order effects rebound are often omitted while they have a substantial impact in reality. So there are a lot of key questions that remains to be answered. So I’m looking forward to discuss that with my fellow panelists. Thank you for listening. Thank you so much for that presentation. I’m going to ask you to kindly have a seat over here. Thank you so much. We are going to be heading into our panel discussion. So we’re going to invite our speakers who along with Pernilla have also contributed here with their presentations.

Natalie Becker Aakervik: So, thank you so much, Pranila. I would like to invite back onto stage, please join me in giving a warm round of applause, our audience, and you at home can too, our global audience who are watching from online. Please join me in welcoming again, Jon Gravik, please, Gravrak, please join us on stage. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Let’s go ahead, here, please. Anton. Anton. Anton. Kenneth. Kenneth. Kenneth. Kenneth. It keeps everybody’s energy up. Please join us, Kenneth. And then we have Jon Iven, Jon Iven. Jon Iven. Jon Iven. Jon Iven. Jon Iven. over there, over there, okay? And Daniel, please join us on stage. Okay. Okay. And we have a, thank you so much. Joining us also in this panel discussion, ladies and gentlemen, we have Karianne Tung, who serves as our Minister of Digitalization and Public Governance since taking office in 2023. She has been a leading voice on digital transformation, AI regulation and public sector innovation in Norway. Last year, she presented the government’s new national digitalization strategy, a roadmap really guiding Norway’s digital development towards 2030, with the goal of becoming the most digitalized country in the world. Please join me in welcoming Karianne Tung, our Minister for Digitalization and Public Governance. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. I have the opportunity to hear from our various speakers, their take on, well, their take on the guiding question of how to… obtain a net positive result, not just do no harm but actually how do we positively turn this around, and that is what we’re going to be diving into here. Without further ado, I want to just also say thank you to our panel for your wonderful contributions and looking now at how we together can move forward towards net positive right. Where do we start? There’s so much to talk about and so many interesting points that you’ve all raised, but we have to start somewhere, so let’s start here. Minister Tunga, I’m going to direct the first question to you. What kind of governance do you believe is needed to ensure that digitalization really drives net positive

Karianne Tung: sustainability, innovation and value creation? Thank you moderator for the question. I believe that digitalization is the tool that we need to solve huge societal challenges, but also to chase down the possibilities that comes with the digitalization. That is also why I set the goal of being the most digitalized country in the world by 2030. Norway is already quite a digitalized society, but we still have a way to go and a continuous way to go. One year ago in Norway, we then established a new ministry for digitalization and public governance. We did that because we saw the need for better coordination and better steering of digitalization across sectors, but also working across borders internationally, so that we could find the positive sides of digitalization. Because we really need to cooperate across borders to be able to find the pathway, both for public sector, but also the business sector, to work together to be able to do this in a sustainable way, in an energy efficient way as well. Because we know we can use digitalization as a positive tool, but also with digitalization. we see emissions, we see challenges, and to be able to tackle these challenges we have to work together as well. So, cooperation, standardization and clear goals is the way I’m working with digitalization.

Natalie Becker Aakervik: Thank you so much for answering that question, Minister. Jan Eyvind, over to you. What is your take on that? Thank you, Natalie. Of course, I’d like to add to what Minister Tonge said.

John Eivind Velure: Of course, we at the Norwegian Regulator, the Norwegian Communications Authority, are first known as a regulator, of course. But in our mandate, it’s very clear that we have a mandate to drive sustainability, innovation and value creation also across the sector. That is also related to equipment and services and now also, of course, the data centers. So, we find it helpful to view the green and digital transitions as one continuous innovation journey. So, that is why also digital sustainability and innovation is one of our core strategic pillars at ENCOM. So, first of all, I think we, and it might be obvious, but the governance must be knowledge-based. That is core. So, as also we have informed about today, we began by commissioning a full lifecycle analysis of the footprint of the Norway networks, data centers and devices. So, we have a shared reference point that we can start talking around. We have a common language. That is very important. Second, the governance must also stimulate innovation and business growth. So, we see and research shows that sustainability drives competitive advantage. So, regulators need to understand emerging technologies and even co-create solutions. solutions. And at ENCOM, we try to cooperate also with the industry, with the telecom industry. And I have one example of that, that we are also, we have the tower companies where we learn how the tower site batteries may be used to stabilize the power grid. That is one example. So, and third, we also must strengthen partnership, as also Kayane Tong said, and international cooperation. So, we have a strong tradition of working with industry and NRAs, but we also must use the multi-stakeholder model to increase this. So, knowledge, innovation and collaboration, I think that is three words.

Natalie Becker Aakervik: Great. Three great keywords to take forward into this conversation. Kenneth, over to you.

Kenneth Fredriksen: Well, I think from our perspective, obviously, it’s not only about sustainability for the society, it’s also about making sure that we can sustain a sustainable industry for ourselves. I mean, unless we are able to continue to innovate and drive down the energy efficiency of our equipment, our industry itself is not going to be sustainable. But as I also said in my presentation, it’s extremely important to create ecosystems to maximize the potential of the handprint of ICT technology. I mean, and I think also awareness of the energy used of such technology is extremely important among a broader audience. I always use a very, you know, it’s starting to become an old fun fact, but back in 2017, we did an assessment on, you know, trying to find examples to understand better how much energy is actually used. And for those who remember the gangbang style video on YouTube, that video by 2017 had consumed equal CO2. emissions to the taxi industry in Germany in one year. And that puts things into perspective and was kind of a wake-up call, I think, also for the industry to understand that we have to continue to innovate if we are going to be able to meet the data explosion. Thank you so much and that really does paint a

Natalie Becker Aakervik: picture very clearly for us of the challenge and the task ahead and why these conversations are so important. Coming over to you, Anton. Yeah, I would love to bring in another thought when talking about sustainable digital

Anton Aschwanden: development. I think, obviously, it’s an ecological aspect but it’s also a social aspect and we’re today super privileged to be here in Norway where you’re one of the leading digital nations. But it’s also a reality that 2.6 billion people on this planet Earth are still offline. So I think this is, when talking about sustainable digital development, we also need to think on how we can assure that this current digital divide is filled with sustainable infrastructure, obviously, but that we also make sure that this digital divide doesn’t suddenly become an AI divide. And those are our current topics we’re working on. So speaking about infrastructure, I think it’s key not only to think about the Northern Hemisphere, so to say, but also, and this morning there was a debate about subsea cables in the other room, that we think on how we connect people. And as Google, this is one of the priorities we’re having, like connecting the African continent as an illustration, but then also like building subsea cables where they do not exist right now, for example, between the Southern American continent and Africa and Africa directly going over to the Pacific region without going over the over the north. I think this is really key that we not only think about like ecological questions, but also like about the investments, doing it obviously in a sustainable way. And then the skilling, it was already mentioned there. I think in this age, when talking to people working at Google, they ask me, what should I do with this AI thing? And I just say, take the basic classes, take their offerings from Google, like prompting classes, AI essentials. But there are many, many offerings.

Natalie Becker Aakervik: Go out, try it out, do the upskilling. I think this is my key message here, that we really have this sustainable development in a global sense. Anton, thank you for your contribution. I’d like to come over to you now, Daniel. You raised some very interesting points in your talk as well. And how would you answer this question? What kind of governance is needed to ensure that digitalization drives net positive sustainability, innovation and value creation? Yeah, I think that’s a great question.

Daniel Dobrygowski: It’s really a question of measurement and decision making. I think sometimes global cooperation is difficult, right? Sometimes it’s easy, like it is on this panel, right? We all sort of agree on where we want to see the world in the future. We all sort of agree on how important sustainability is. But the real question is, how do you get there? And that’s a question of the decisions we make. We’re unlikely to slow the pace of innovation, right? But as Minister Tong said, we can still steer it. And it’s better steering that we need. In order to have better steering, we need better inputs. And this gets to what my colleague John Elvin said. We need better reference points among all the stakeholders who are developing these technologies, who are making decisions about these technologies. And one of those reference points are accurate measurements about how much new technologies are impacting our sustainability goals, how much they’re either, how much the footprint costs, how much the handprint can alleviate. This is fundamentally the question that we all need to work together to figure out what good looks like and then how do we measure whether we’re achieving that?

Natalie Becker Aakervik: Thank you so much, Daniel. Tropician Pinnilla, World Benchmarking Alliance, what do you say to that question?

Pernilla Bergmark: So I agree very much with what has been said that the digital divide is there and of course there has to be access to digital technologies for all, not only for the wealthy part of the world. But at the same time, I think companies need to come to, especially the handprint side, and not so much from a marketing perspective, but rather to look into what are the opportunities, but what are also the risk, which are the solutions we should use, and how can we make sure to maximize those, and also which are the solutions, or not solutions, maybe the wrong word, but what are the services that we should avoid? So there is one infrastructure layer, but there is also the service layer on top that we need to be careful about.

Natalie Becker Aakervik: Thank you so much, Pinnilla, from the World Benchmarking Alliance for that response. And then I’d like to go over to Jan, bulk infrastructure, how would you answer that question?

Jon Gravrak: Well, I think there’s many questions being addressed here, but I think I’m coming back to, I mean, our digital society having to be linked with the energy system. I think they’re so closely interlinked to begin with, that we have to see them almost as one. And I think as we’ve learned through, I think, generations, the energy system is not a local one. It works best when you can think about it, at least in continental terms, or at least maybe even global terms. And I think that’s some of the thinking we need to apply now that we integrate the digital system into that as well. And for sitting here in Norway, I think our role in Europe is very important. And I think we are fortunate enough to have, you know, surplus of renewables. energy in this part of the world and we’re fortunate enough to be quite close to continental Europe but also with a coastline where our next neighbor is actually North America if you cross the Atlantic and and if you even go let’s say across the Arctic then then you actually hit Asia. I think there’s something here that I think there need there’s a need for bold leadership to see how this digital system could evolve not tomorrow but but actually to serve you know our planet for for generations ahead and then I think we need to think about how to build those power-consuming data centers in places where they can piggyback on what nature is already offered us and where we can maybe build new renewable energy and so on and fuel let’s say the digital needs via fiber networks in a slightly different way and I think that has to be seen in side by side by sovereignty issues which is another part of this but I think we need to overcome both right we need to build local solutions with the right robustness for our local societies but we also need to work together to find the truly sustainable solutions in between countries and even in between continents.

Natalie Becker Aakervik: Thank you so much for for that answer Jan. Now our next question is diving a little bit deeper into this I’m going to give the word again to Minister Tung to answer the question and then I’m going to ask our panelists if they would like to answer to that question but we have a number of other deeper questions that are potentially more specific to your industries that I’m also going to pose so you’ll have an option but Minister Tung also and the next question I’d like to ask you is how can we reduce the environmental footprint of digital infrastructure while maximizing the handprint and its positive contributions

Karianne Tung: to society and and sustainability? Thank you well It’s easy and it’s hard, because as a minister or as a politician, you then have to be able to have two thoughts in your head at the same time. And that can be hard enough sometimes. You have to have the thought that you are going to reduce emissions directly from the digital infrastructure and from digitalization. And then you have to thought that you have to use digitalization as a tool for making the green and digital transformation possible. And being a politician, being reelected, you have also to get the people on board, to be able to have these two thoughts at the same time. So easy to say, maybe a little bit harder to do in practice as well. But a foundation for doing this exercise about two thoughts is knowledge. And I think my colleague here, Jon Avin, mentioned it earlier also. Knowledge is crucial for being able to develop good policies and good plans, good strategies, and ENCOM have now made the lifecycle analysis of emissions from digitalization in Norway. We are the second country in the world. So using that knowledge, the benchmark and the measurements that ENCOM has mentioned, I think it’s crucial for being able to do both at the same time, because we need to have success with digitalization. We need to use AI and other technologies for our healthcare services. We need to use it to make our businesses excel. We need to use it to keep secure and safe and to collaborate across borders internationally as well. So based on the knowledge, which the report and lifecycle analysis from ENCOM, I will use that here in Norway to make good policies. We are now a couple of days, couple of weeks away from launching our new data center strategy. We know data centers uses a lot of energy today, but we’ll use more in the years to come. So make data centers efficient, energy efficient. sustainable is important, but also data center is important for keeping security, digital sovereignty, and so forth. And I think there are some research shown here in Norway, that if you are able to reuse the excess heat from data centers, you will reduce the use of 10% from power, from energy in Norway as well. So making the data center efficient is important for us, but also making the data centers good so that we can have safe digital infrastructures in the years to come.

Natalie Becker Aakervik: Thank you so much for answering that question, Minister, and some very salient points there. So I would like to pose that question to the panel, but keeping in mind that this is not an easy challenge. This is not an easy challenge we’re talking about. This is challenging for real, as somebody said earlier on. So the question then about how can we actually reduce the environmental footprint of digital infrastructure while maximizing the handprint, I would like to pose to the panel if you would like to answer that. The other questions or potentially things that you can touch on inside that is innovation, let’s say in digitalization, including lots of new and emerging technologies such as AI, blockchain, and IoT. What is the link between sustainability and innovation? How do we make that bridge? Also value creation, keeping the idea of net positive in mind. How can we make sure that data centers contribute to societies where they operate and create lasting value? And then the question on data, what gets measured gets done. That we know. So then do we have the right frameworks in place to measure the footprint and handprint? And then awareness. Mindset, what kind of mindset is needed? And values for sustainability leaders to shape digital infrastructure for the next generation? And what roles do the variety of stakeholders? play in ensuring trustworthy, just and sustainable digital innovation? I’m going to go over to you again, Jan, because I know that mindset and stakeholders were potentially things that you wanted to touch upon in answering your question. Please go ahead.

Jon Gravrak: Thank you so much. I think these are big questions and we need to think big thoughts. So, I mean, our sustainability framework is about location, which I spent a lot of time on, then it’s obviously to build, let’s say, data centers which consume as limited energy as possible with the support of the suppliers here. And then we also think around the ecosystem. How can data centers be a good citizen, you know, in a very local ecosystem? And I think the third one is interesting here, because the minister talked about excess heat, right, and our ability to make reuse of that heat. And I think it’s not a new problem, because all power-consuming industries have for 120 years had the same problem, that heat is a byproduct of the core process and it’s released to the atmosphere. But I think our kids, they will not accept that we now build a new industry without making sure we use the energy twice. I think that’s the difference. So we are the ones that have to resolve it, or at least we’re looked upon by our kids that the ones that should resolve it and not leave it to them. And I think it’s a big problem. So, yeah, the easy part is maybe reuse some of that heat in the big cities to heat up apartments and so on. But it’s not really a great solution, because there’s not enough need for heat in the cities. And by the way, the data centers shouldn’t reside next to the big cities. They should reside close to the power in rural areas. So in my opinion, the solution here is to build industrial use of heat. You need to find and stimulate opportunities for other industries that actually need heat. It could be breweries. could be food production, could be protein production, where they co-locate with the big data centers. Then we can solve many problems in one go.

Natalie Becker Aakervik: Thank you so much for that. Thank you for that. Daniel, what would you like to touch on in answering that question? And I can repeat the question, it’s how do we reduce the environmental footprint of digital infrastructure while maximizing the handprint? But is there anything in particular that you want to touch on? Do we have the right frameworks, data, value creation, innovation, awareness? Are we aware enough, are we accepting the challenge? How difficult is this, really? Yeah, I think this gets back to what Jan was pointing out.

Daniel Dobrygowski: For a long time, industries that use a lot of energy also generate a lot of waste heat. Why hasn’t that been collected? I think the issue is that the incentives haven’t aligned. In a lot of countries, especially ones that are heavily invested in developing AI and other innovations, electricity is fairly cheap and waste heat is essentially free. How can we realign incentives to ensure that there is the kind of business case you want to see in order to capture that heat, to think ahead about what we’re gonna do for these data centers? Or how do you incentivize more efficient uses of energy? I think in some cases, that takes care of itself because more efficient AI models generally cost less, so therefore the electricity costs less, there’s a cost savings there. But how do you incentivize the use of that sort of heat? I think that’s the big question we need to answer in order to get through the sustainability issues that this raises and maybe increase the handprint at the decrease of the footprint and the nomenclature we’ve been using. Thank you.

Natalie Becker Aakervik: Thank you for that, Daniel. Then also, I’d like to come back to you, Kenneth. How would you like to answer the question and how do you want to dive more deeply into this so that we get to the nitty gritty and have some actionable takeaways?

Kenneth Fredriksen: I think it’s important to keep in mind that this is both a global challenge and also a local. challenge, both in negative and positive terms. I think it’s extremely important that Europe, for example, doesn’t end up over-regulating itself, like we perhaps have done in the past, to kind of handicap ourself in terms of realizing the handprint potential. Because these are two very interconnected things. Unless you are properly doing the footprint job, you cannot realize the handprint potential. But if you are too restrictive on the footprint part, you’re going to limit your handprint opportunities as well. And in order to finance the innovation and continuous development of the handprint, you need to have value creation. And that is on the handprint part. So it’s very connected. And I think we, as Kariana said, we need to be able to have several thoughts in our head at the same time to understand the overall picture and the total picture of this. Because if we only focus on reducing the footprint part, we’re going to limit ourselves a lot on the handprint, especially in the short term. Because I think a lot of the potential will be realized longer down the road. And you need some investments, both in terms of the transition period and, of course, also in terms of money and resources.

Natalie Becker Aakervik: Absolutely. Minister Steng, I’d like you to keep that in mind, that question, as you talk about keeping two thoughts in mind. And, Vanilla, if I may come over to you. Answering that question, how do we minimize the footprint, maximize the handprint, but looking specifically, then, at frameworks as well. Data, for example, what gets measured gets done. Do we have the right frameworks to measure the footprint and the handprint? And to really understand and steer towards this net positive effect that we’re talking about.

Pernilla Bergmark: I think, basically, we have been working on the methodologies and the standards for a long time. So I would say the basic standards are probably there, but it’s also about using them to make claims, but then also to supervising what’s happening, what is the data coming out, and to learn from that. So, as I mentioned in my presentation, of course, we see, when we benchmark companies, that there are leaders that are doing really well, but then it goes all the way down to the bottom, and the sector as a whole is not really where it needs to be. And I think those initiatives, like in Norway, and also previously with ASEP, which, I know quite well from before, I think that those are good, but there are also methodological challenges and learnings to to get from those.

Natalie Becker Aakervik: Thank you. Thank you so much for that. I wanted to hop over to to to Anton from from Google and just also to to ask about that question, how do we do this for real? It’s a challenge, obviously. And do you want to bring in a strand around innovation as well and to answer it with that? Yeah, I think it’s really about collaboration.

Anton Aschwanden: We have now a significant present with with infrastructure here in Europe, too. And like not a single company or a single actor or sector can do that alone. So I think it’s about like sharing best practices as well. I was mentioning that that we are about to deepen our roots here in Norway with with an upcoming data center in and she in in in the telemark country. But we already have other data centers in the region. I mean, I’m in Finland and like thinking about like, how can you better cool the infrastructure to like in this case with water cooling and then also share those best practices? I think this is this is this is one element in this really pursuit of increase the efficiency of of of those infrastructures. And and we’re doing our part there. And then it’s also collaboration in the sense of having access to to better data. I was mentioning some cases with the eco routing previously in my speech. But there are also platforms like environment inside Explorer where like local communities, cities can get more data on where they can improve their their their own system, for example, heating or transport. So I think this this is really. And that’s why we’re so so so happy that that the Norwegians are taking the lead here, that that’s in the true multistakeholder spirit to to exchange solutions and best practices. And again, I can only invite you to come to our booth afterwards where we have some of the tools I mentioned before.

Natalie Becker Aakervik: Thank you, Daniel. And we do invite you to visit all of the booths outside. We had a fantastic exhibition outside and it’s going to be there all week, so I hope you have time. The word data keeps popping up, so what gets measured gets done. Do we have the right frameworks? Do we really understand and steer towards what it takes?

John Eivind Velure: I’m going to pose that question to you, Jan Eyvind. What do you have to say on that? I think I’m the first to admit that this is a challenging task. It’s difficult. And also as a traditional regulator, we are not used to actually put this high on the agenda. We have done so in the last couple of years and now we are starting to see some results, putting in some effort. But I think that is a key issue that regulators, governments need to put this high on the agenda to start. And then you also need to seek knowledge because our start here with this analysis, of course we have used a methodology, but we need more. We need to learn from each other, we need to share data and we need to develop this so that we have a common basis. The politicians need this to also take decisions. And I think we have just started here and this needs to be developed further. And we are too small to do this by ourselves. So by meeting here, I think that is also spreading the word. It’s very important. And to initiate further collaboration, that is the key to succeed, I think.

Natalie Becker Aakervik: Thank you so much, Jan Eivind. And then coming over to you, Minister Thang. I knew there were potentially several things you wanted to respond to, so to give you the opportunity, do you want to start? do so and also in terms of awareness and accepting the challenge how aware are Norway and other nations and companies when it comes to achieving this net positive digital sustainability?

Karianne Tung: Thank you. Norway has high ambition when it comes to digitalization but also cutting emissions and to be sustainable and we want to lead the way. So we are doing a couple of things already. I just want to mention them quickly. First we are demanding from industries also new data centers that they have to do analysis on how they can reuse their heat already to try to move over from just wasting heat and to reuse it in neighborhoods or for new industries as well. So that is one thing we have to do better when it comes to the circular economy because today most emission from digitalization is not from data centers but they are from mobile phones, iPads and like hardware. So to be able to keep your hardware longer to fix it if it’s broken and so forth to work with the citizens and their mindset on how they use things are important. And also we are now trying to prohibit mining of cryptocurrency in Norway because we can see that mining is not energy efficient. So that’s what we are trying to do so that we can keep the data center that we really need in the future for making digitalization possible in our society. So we are getting there. We are doing some hard action and some more soft actions but we need to do more to be sure that we are able to get that positive in the future. Thank you so much, Minister Tung. And on that note I would like to say thank you so much to our esteemed panel and thank you to our audience also for joining us.

Natalie Becker Aakervik: We truly appreciate it. wondering if there was anyone in the panel who wanted to contribute just a 60 second kind of wrap-up or 30 to 60 second wrap-up final final thoughts if not we’ll wrap up but I’m going to give you the opportunity to do so.

Jon Gravrak: Yeah I’ll take my chance. I think my wrap-up is simply that we’re still we have to accept that we’re still at a very humble beginning of what we’re building now of digital societies and my encouragement is that to think about that as an integrated part of our energy system and to do our kids a favor and make this one a sustainable one. Thank you so much please go ahead. I’m gonna be

Kenneth Fredriksen: short I think in order to solve any challenge you need to continue to innovate and the best way of innovating is to make sure you have proper competition so I think innovation and competition is going to be a key solution to these challenges. Thank you. Daniel. I guess I’ll just contribute to

Daniel Dobrygowski: one one of the words we talked about a little bit was justice. We might refer to it as fairness in the forums framework and I’m sure there’s some Rawlsian legal philosophers is like oh they’re the same thing I see you but the that’s the point of this right to talk to to innovate in an unsustainable way it’s not fair it’s not just to people aren’t sitting here to people who are not born yet to future generations really need to put this in the context of what’s fair and what’s just and work together in order to create both the incentives and the measurements in order to have a sustainable innovation society going forward. Thank you so much for those parting words. Daniel. Just to add of

Natalie Becker Aakervik: course foster innovation make business cases but perhaps you also need some

Anton Aschwanden: regulation. There we go. I saw you raise your finger. Anton. Yes very grateful for this discussion. I think it’s crucial to look at the footprint but let’s also put things into perspective like right now the data set consumption worldwide according to the International Energy Agency is 1.5 percent. of global electricity. So I’m talking of everything, not our operations. Obviously it’s a challenge, it’s increasing, we need to work on it. But let’s not forget about like, this is the foundation of like all economies, society and all the potential solution. So my request would really be to see the opportunities of AI for good, also within the UN system. Now we have IGF this week, and in two weeks AI for good in Geneva, really see what’s happening and what potential solutions are out there.

Natalie Becker Aakervik: Thank you so much Anton. Minister Karianne Tung.

Karianne Tung: Yeah, and to follow up on Anton as well, I often say, and people remember, I think that one plus one is more than two, because it’s about cooperation. The government can do it alone, parliaments can do it alone, business sector can do it alone, citizens can’t do it alone. We all have to do it together within the framework of cooperation, but I also believe in the framework of regulation. Regulation which is not tight or too tight, but regulation that can define and make innovation possible. Thank you so much, Minister Tung

Natalie Becker Aakervik: And thank you so much to our esteemed panelists, our great speakers from all around the world who have made time to be here and have these very important conversations that affect all of us, that affect all of us. So thank you so much, our audience here, our audience globally. Let’s give our panelists a warm round of applause. Thank you so much for joining us. Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you so much. Okay, then you might have to come down.

Agreement points

Multi-stakeholder collaboration is essential for digital sustainability

Speakers

– Natalie Becker Aakervik
– John Eivind Velure
– Daniel Dobrygowski
– Karianne Tung

Arguments

Multi-stakeholder approach needed across public and private sectors

Governance requires knowledge-based approach, innovation stimulation, and international partnerships

Multi-stakeholder collaboration essential as no single actor can solve challenges alone

Need cooperation across sectors and borders with clear goals and standardization

Summary

All speakers agree that digital sustainability challenges cannot be solved by any single entity and require coordinated efforts across public and private sectors, regulators, innovators, and international boundaries.

Topics

Legal and regulatory | Development | Infrastructure

Knowledge-based governance with proper measurement frameworks is crucial

Speakers

– John Eivind Velure
– Nicolai Lovdal
– Daniel Dobrygowski
– Karianne Tung

Arguments

Governance requires knowledge-based approach, innovation stimulation, and international partnerships

Norway conducted full lifecycle analysis as foundation for evidence-based policy

Need better reference points and measurements to guide decision-making

Need cooperation across sectors and borders with clear goals and standardization

Summary

Speakers consistently emphasize that effective governance must be grounded in solid data and evidence, with proper measurement frameworks to guide policy decisions and create common reference points.

Topics

Legal and regulatory | Infrastructure | Development

Innovation and efficiency improvements are key to sustainability

Speakers

– Kenneth Fredriksen
– Anton Aschwanden
– Jon Gravrak

Arguments

Innovation and competition are key solutions to sustainability challenges

AI models now 100 times more energy efficient than earlier generations

Need industrial co-location solutions for heat reuse beyond urban heating

Summary

Industry representatives agree that continuous innovation and technological efficiency improvements are fundamental to achieving digital sustainability goals.

Topics

Infrastructure | Economic | Development

Strategic location of data centers near renewable energy sources

Speakers

– Jon Gravrak
– Anton Aschwanden
– Karianne Tung

Arguments

Location of data centers matters – should be near renewable energy sources in northern regions

Digital sustainability must address both ecological and social aspects

Norway requiring new data centers to analyze heat reuse opportunities

Summary

Speakers agree that data center placement should be strategic, considering proximity to renewable energy sources and opportunities for energy efficiency and heat reuse.

Topics

Infrastructure | Development | Economic

Similar viewpoints

Both Norwegian officials present a unified approach to digital sustainability measurement, emphasizing the need for comprehensive frameworks that account for both positive and negative impacts of digitalization.

Speakers

– John Eivind Velure
– Nicolai Lovdal

Arguments

Net positive means handprint benefits minus footprint costs, adjusted for rebound effects

Developing open-source dashboard for measuring digital sustainability impact

Topics

Infrastructure | Legal and regulatory | Development

Industry representatives from major technology companies share optimistic views about the handprint potential of digital technologies, emphasizing significant positive impacts that can outweigh negative footprints.

Speakers

– Kenneth Fredriksen
– Anton Aschwanden

Arguments

ICT solutions can deliver 10x improvement in other industries vs ICT emissions

AI can help mitigate 5-10% of global greenhouse gas emissions through optimization

Topics

Economic | Infrastructure | Development

Both researchers present critical assessments of current progress, highlighting gaps between expectations and reality in both public trust and corporate performance on sustainability targets.

Speakers

– Daniel Dobrygowski
– Pernilla Bergmark

Arguments

Trust in AI low with only 44% comfortable with business AI uses

Only 20% of assessed companies are on track to meet emission targets

Topics

Economic | Legal and regulatory | Infrastructure

Unexpected consensus

Need for regulation that enables rather than restricts innovation

Speakers

– Kenneth Fredriksen
– Karianne Tung
– Anton Aschwanden

Arguments

Risk of over-regulation limiting handprint potential in Europe

Need regulation that enables innovation rather than restricts it

Digital sustainability must address both ecological and social aspects

Explanation

Surprisingly, both industry representatives and government officials agree on the need for balanced regulation that facilitates rather than hinders innovation, showing alignment between private and public sector perspectives on regulatory approach.

Topics

Legal and regulatory | Economic | Infrastructure

Acknowledgment of current inadequate progress despite technological advances

Speakers

– Pernilla Bergmark
– Anton Aschwanden
– John Eivind Velure

Arguments

Current sector performance shows emissions not declining as required

Data centers consume 1.5% of global electricity but provide foundation for all economies

International collaboration essential for developing common standards

Explanation

Despite representing different perspectives (critical researcher, industry advocate, and regulator), speakers unexpectedly converge on acknowledging that current progress is insufficient and more coordinated effort is needed.

Topics

Infrastructure | Economic | Development

Overall assessment

Summary

Strong consensus exists on the need for multi-stakeholder collaboration, knowledge-based governance, strategic infrastructure placement, and balanced regulation that enables innovation while ensuring sustainability.

Consensus level

High level of consensus with speakers from different sectors (government, industry, research, international organizations) aligning on fundamental principles. This suggests a mature understanding of digital sustainability challenges and broad agreement on solution approaches, which bodes well for coordinated action and policy development.

Different viewpoints

Regulatory approach to digital sustainability

Speakers

– Kenneth Fredriksen
– Karianne Tung
– Anton Aschwanden

Arguments

Risk of over-regulation limiting handprint potential in Europe

Need regulation that enables innovation rather than restricts it

Need investment in subsea cables and connectivity for underserved regions

Summary

Kenneth warns against over-regulation that could handicap Europe’s ability to realize handprint potential, while Minister Tung advocates for specific regulatory measures like prohibiting cryptocurrency mining and requiring heat reuse analysis. Anton suggests some regulation may be needed alongside innovation.

Topics

Legal and regulatory | Economic | Infrastructure

Priority focus between footprint reduction and handprint maximization

Speakers

– Kenneth Fredriksen
– Pernilla Bergmark

Arguments

ICT solutions can deliver 10x improvement in other industries vs ICT emissions

Current sector performance shows emissions not declining as required

Summary

Kenneth emphasizes the significant handprint potential and warns against being too restrictive on footprint, while Pernilla focuses on the concerning reality that the sector is not meeting emission reduction targets and questions handprint claims.

Topics

Development | Infrastructure | Economic

Assessment of current progress and future potential

Speakers

– Anton Aschwanden
– Pernilla Bergmark

Arguments

AI models now 100 times more energy efficient than earlier generations

AI-driven companies increased operational emissions by up to 150%

Summary

Anton highlights significant efficiency improvements in AI technology and emphasizes the 1.5% global electricity consumption perspective, while Pernilla presents data showing AI-driven companies have dramatically increased their operational emissions.

Topics

AI and Emerging Technologies Impact | Infrastructure | Economic

Unexpected differences

Perspective on current AI energy consumption impact

Speakers

– Anton Aschwanden
– Pernilla Bergmark

Arguments

Data centers consume 1.5% of global electricity but provide foundation for all economies

AI-driven companies increased operational emissions by up to 150%

Explanation

This disagreement is unexpected because both speakers are presenting data-driven perspectives, yet they reach different conclusions about the urgency of the AI energy consumption problem. Anton emphasizes the relatively small percentage and foundational importance, while Pernilla highlights the dramatic increase in emissions from AI companies.

Topics

AI and Emerging Technologies Impact | Infrastructure | Economic

Overall assessment

Summary

The main areas of disagreement center on regulatory approaches (market-driven vs. policy-driven solutions), the balance between footprint reduction and handprint maximization, and assessments of current progress versus future potential in AI energy efficiency.

Disagreement level

Moderate disagreement with significant implications. While speakers share common goals of achieving net positive digital sustainability, their different approaches could lead to conflicting policy recommendations. The disagreements reflect broader tensions between industry perspectives emphasizing innovation and efficiency gains versus regulatory/academic perspectives emphasizing the need for immediate emission reductions and stronger oversight.

Partial agreements

Similar viewpoints

Both Norwegian officials present a unified approach to digital sustainability measurement, emphasizing the need for comprehensive frameworks that account for both positive and negative impacts of digitalization.

Speakers

– John Eivind Velure
– Nicolai Lovdal

Arguments

Net positive means handprint benefits minus footprint costs, adjusted for rebound effects

Developing open-source dashboard for measuring digital sustainability impact

Topics

Infrastructure | Legal and regulatory | Development

Industry representatives from major technology companies share optimistic views about the handprint potential of digital technologies, emphasizing significant positive impacts that can outweigh negative footprints.

Speakers

– Kenneth Fredriksen
– Anton Aschwanden

Arguments

ICT solutions can deliver 10x improvement in other industries vs ICT emissions

AI can help mitigate 5-10% of global greenhouse gas emissions through optimization

Topics

Economic | Infrastructure | Development

Both researchers present critical assessments of current progress, highlighting gaps between expectations and reality in both public trust and corporate performance on sustainability targets.

Speakers

– Daniel Dobrygowski
– Pernilla Bergmark

Arguments

Trust in AI low with only 44% comfortable with business AI uses

Only 20% of assessed companies are on track to meet emission targets

Topics

Economic | Legal and regulatory | Infrastructure

Key takeaways

Net digital sustainability requires achieving net positive outcomes where the handprint (positive impacts) exceeds the footprint (negative impacts) adjusted for rebound effects

Knowledge-based governance is essential – Norway’s lifecycle analysis provides a foundation for evidence-based policy and common reference points

Multi-stakeholder collaboration across sectors and borders is critical as no single actor can solve sustainability challenges alone

Digital infrastructure location matters significantly – data centers should be positioned near renewable energy sources, particularly in northern regions

Innovation and competition are key drivers for solving sustainability challenges, but must be balanced with appropriate regulation

AI and emerging technologies present both challenges (increased energy consumption) and solutions (potential to mitigate 5-10% of global emissions)

Waste heat reuse from data centers represents major untapped potential, requiring industrial co-location solutions beyond urban heating

The digital divide (2.6 billion people offline) must not become an AI divide, requiring sustainable infrastructure development globally

Current sector performance is insufficient – emissions are not declining at the required 45% rate by 2030, with only 20% of companies on track

Resolutions and action items

Norway will launch a new data center strategy requiring heat reuse analysis for new facilities

Development of an open-source dashboard for measuring digital sustainability impact in Norway

Prohibition of cryptocurrency mining in Norway due to energy inefficiency

Continued international collaboration through multi-stakeholder forums like IGF

Industry commitment to sharing best practices and developing common standards

Focus on circular economy approaches for device lifecycle management

Unresolved issues

How to create proper business incentives for waste heat capture and reuse when electricity is cheap

Balancing innovation needs with sustainability requirements to avoid over-regulation limiting handprint potential

Developing accurate methodologies for measuring handprint effects across different sectors

Addressing the challenge of cherry-picking in sustainability studies and avoiding double counting

Scaling local solutions to continental and global levels while maintaining sovereignty

Creating frameworks that account for rebound effects in sustainability calculations

Establishing trust in AI technologies when only 44% of people are comfortable with business AI uses

Suggested compromises

Regulation should enable innovation rather than restrict it – finding the balance between necessary oversight and innovation freedom

Thinking about digital and energy systems as integrated rather than separate – treating them as ‘digital energy’

Accepting that multiple thoughts must be held simultaneously – reducing direct emissions while using digitalization as a tool for broader sustainability

Focusing on both ecological and social aspects of sustainable digital development to address global inequities

Balancing short-term footprint concerns with long-term handprint potential, recognizing that investments are needed for transition periods

So if you add a handprint, subtract the footprint and adjust for the rebound effect, only then can we know if we achieve a net positive result worth celebrating.

Speaker

Jan Eivind Velure

Reason

This comment introduced a crucial mathematical framework for understanding net digital sustainability by clearly defining the three components needed for true measurement. The inclusion of the ‘rebound effect’ – where efficiency gains lead to increased usage – was particularly insightful as it challenges simplistic calculations of digital benefits.

Impact

This framework became the conceptual foundation for the entire discussion, with subsequent speakers referencing footprint vs handprint throughout. It elevated the conversation from vague sustainability goals to concrete measurement methodology and influenced how other panelists structured their presentations.

I by that challenge a bit the previous speakers by saying that the handprint is not only about avoiding emissions in other sectors but it can also be adding emissions in other sectors so that’s an important thing to remember.

Speaker

Pernilla Bergmark

Reason

This was a critical intervention that challenged the prevailing optimistic narrative about digital technology’s positive impacts. By pointing out that digital solutions can also increase emissions in other sectors, she introduced necessary nuance and skepticism to the discussion.

Impact

This comment shifted the tone from predominantly celebratory to more analytically rigorous. It forced other participants to acknowledge the complexity of measuring true impact and led to more honest discussions about the challenges of achieving net positive outcomes.

But I think our kids, they will not accept that we now build a new industry without making sure we use the energy twice. I think that’s the difference. So we are the ones that have to resolve it, or at least we’re looked upon by our kids that the ones that should resolve it and not leave it to them.

Speaker

Jon Gravrak

Reason

This comment powerfully reframed the sustainability challenge in generational and moral terms, moving beyond technical solutions to ethical responsibility. It personalized the abstract concept of sustainability by invoking intergenerational justice.

Impact

This shifted the discussion from technical feasibility to moral imperative, adding urgency and emotional weight to the conversation. It influenced subsequent speakers to consider not just what’s possible but what’s necessary from an ethical standpoint.

History has taught us that we cannot innovate, at least not over the long term, if we lose trust. That means we need to do better about how we ensure that people’s expectations guide our decisions around technology.

Speaker

Daniel Dobrygowski

Reason

This comment connected sustainability to the broader issue of digital trust, introducing the crucial insight that technical solutions alone are insufficient without public acceptance. The reference to historical precedent added weight to the argument.

Impact

This broadened the discussion beyond environmental metrics to include social acceptance and governance, leading to more nuanced conversations about stakeholder engagement and the need for transparent, participatory approaches to digital sustainability.

Unless you are properly doing the footprint job, you cannot realize the handprint potential. But if you are too restrictive on the footprint part, you’re going to limit your handprint opportunities as well.

Speaker

Kenneth Fredriksen

Reason

This comment articulated a key tension in digital sustainability policy – the balance between regulation and innovation. It highlighted the interconnected nature of environmental impact and technological advancement, challenging binary thinking about regulation vs. innovation.

Impact

This comment influenced the policy discussion by introducing the concept of regulatory balance. It led Minister Tung and others to discuss ‘smart regulation’ that enables rather than constrains sustainable innovation, shifting the conversation toward more sophisticated governance approaches.

So I think this is, when talking about sustainable digital development, we also need to think on how we can assure that this current digital divide is filled with sustainable infrastructure, obviously, but that we also make sure that this digital divide doesn’t suddenly become an AI divide.

Speaker

Anton Aschwanden

Reason

This comment expanded the sustainability discussion to include global equity and justice, connecting environmental concerns to social sustainability. The concept of preventing an ‘AI divide’ was particularly prescient given current technological developments.

Impact

This broadened the scope of the discussion from primarily environmental concerns to include social justice and global equity. It influenced subsequent conversations about the need for inclusive approaches to digital sustainability that consider both developed and developing nations.

Overall assessment

These key comments fundamentally shaped the discussion by introducing critical complexity and nuance to what could have been a superficial conversation about ‘green tech.’ The mathematical framework established early on provided structure, while subsequent challenges and expansions prevented the discussion from becoming overly optimistic or narrow. The conversation evolved from technical presentations to a more sophisticated dialogue that balanced environmental, social, economic, and ethical considerations. The interplay between these comments created a multi-dimensional understanding of digital sustainability that acknowledged both opportunities and challenges, ultimately leading to more realistic and actionable insights about governance needs and stakeholder responsibilities.

How can we actually measure the handprint effectively, given its complex and uncertain nature?

Speaker

Nikolai Lovdal

Explanation

Lovdal acknowledged that measuring handprint is more challenging than footprint due to uncertainty and different methodological approaches, indicating this as an area requiring further development

How can we ensure that handprint studies avoid cherry-picking, double counting, and over-generous extrapolation?

Speaker

Pernilla Bergmark

Explanation

Bergmark highlighted methodological issues in current handprint studies and emphasized the need for more rigorous, comprehensive approaches to measuring positive impacts

How can we prevent the digital divide from becoming an AI divide?

Speaker

Anton Aschwanden

Explanation

Aschwanden raised concerns about ensuring equitable access to AI technologies globally, not just digital infrastructure, as a sustainability and justice issue

How can we create proper business cases and incentives for capturing and reusing waste heat from data centers?

Speaker

Daniel Dobrygowski and Jon Gravrak

Explanation

Both speakers identified the need to realign economic incentives to make heat reuse financially viable, as current cheap electricity costs don’t incentivize efficiency

How can we develop international collaboration frameworks for sharing the Norwegian dashboard methodology?

Speaker

Nikolai Lovdal

Explanation

Lovdal expressed interest in international collaboration and sharing their open-source dashboard approach, but specific frameworks for this collaboration need development

What are the most effective regulatory approaches that enable innovation while ensuring sustainability?

Speaker

Multiple speakers including Minister Tung and Anton Aschwanden

Explanation

The balance between regulation and innovation was discussed but specific regulatory frameworks that achieve both goals need further exploration

How can we better integrate digital infrastructure planning with energy system planning at continental or global scales?

Speaker

Jon Gravrak

Explanation

Gravrak emphasized the need to view digital and energy systems as integrated, but specific mechanisms for this integration at large scales require further research

What methodologies can accurately account for rebound effects in handprint calculations?

Speaker

Pernilla Bergmark

Explanation

Bergmark noted that rebound effects are often omitted from studies despite having substantial real-world impact, indicating a need for better methodological approaches

How can we develop standardized international metrics that align with existing frameworks like EU and ITU standards?

Speaker

Nikolai Lovdal and Jan Eyvind Velure

Explanation

Both speakers emphasized the need for common reference points and standardized approaches, but specific harmonization mechanisms need development

What are the most effective approaches for building industrial ecosystems around data center waste heat utilization?

Speaker

Jon Gravrak

Explanation

Gravrak suggested co-locating heat-using industries with data centers but specific strategies for creating these industrial ecosystems need further research