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Digital Economy Report 2024
Shaping an Environmentally Sustainable and Inclusive Digital Future
The Digital Economy Report 2024 turns the attention to the environmental footprint of digitalization. The Report discusses environmental impacts along the life cycle of digital devices and information and communications technology infrastructure with regard to raw material extraction and processing manufacturing distribution; use and the end-of-life phase. The direct effects on natural resources including transition minerals energy and water as well as greenhouse gas emissions and waste-related pollution can be said to constitute the “environmental footprint” of the ICT sector. There are also indirect environmental effects from the use of digital technologies and services in different sectors of the economy and the Report includes a dedicated chapter on e-commerce. The report underlines the need to maximize the positive impact of digitalization while minimizing the negative impacts on environmental sustainability.
E-commerce and environmental sustainability
While the preceding chapters focused on the three phases of the life cycle of digitalization this chapter discusses a specific application of digital technologies namely e-commerce.
End of the cycle? Digitalization-related waste and the circular economy
This chapter focuses on the last stage of the life cycle of digitalization. It describes global trends in digitalization-related waste highlighting that these can represent challenges and opportunities from an economic and an environmental sustainability perspective.
Digitalization trends and the material footprint
The first phase of the life cycle of digitalization is the production of digital devices and ICT infrastructure. This phase covers the extraction and processing of materials manufacturing and distribution of the digital products accounting for the largest share of digitalization's environmental footprint.
Foreword
The digital economy often praised for its virtual and intangible nature has created the illusion of a world unburdened by material waste. However this Digital Economy Report 2024 starkly reveals the fallacy of this perception. The information and communications technology sector’s carbon footprint in 2020 estimated at between 0.69 and 1.6 gigatons of carbon dioxide (CO2) equivalent emissions accounted for 1.5 to 3.2 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions – at the upper range slightly below the entire shipping industry’s contribution to CO2 emissions. The production of a single 2 kg computer requires the extraction of a staggering 800 kg of raw materials.
Note
Within the UNCTAD Division on Technology and Logistics the E-commerce and Digital Economy Branch carries out policy-oriented analytical work on the development implications of information and communications technologies (ICTs) and electronic commerce (e-commerce). The branch is responsible for the preparation of the Digital Economy Report previously known as the Information Economy Report. The E-commerce and Digital Economy Branch promotes international dialogue on issues related to ICTs for development and contributes to building developing countries’ capacities to measure e-commerce and the digital economy and to design and implement relevant policies and legal frameworks. The branch also manages the eTrade for all initiative.
Towards environmentally sustainable digitalization that works for inclusive development
This chapter turns to the policy challenge of fostering environmentally sustainable digitalization that works for inclusive development. It stresses that policy responses at the national regional and international levels are more likely to prove successful if they reflect the involvement of all stakeholders and address digital socioeconomic and environmental goals holistically across the entire life cycle of digital devices and ICT infrastructure.
Digitalization and environmental sustainability
As the evolving digital economy continues to create both opportunities and challenges for trade and sustainable development the Digital Economy Report 2024 for the first time turns its attention to the environmental implications of digitalization.
Acknowledgements
The Digital Economy Report 2024: Shaping an Environmentally Sustainable and Inclusive Digital Future was prepared under the overall guidance of Shamika N. Sirimanne Director of the UNCTAD Division on Technology and Logistics by a team comprising Torbjörn Fredriksson (team leader) Nadira Bayat Laura Cyron Daniel Ker Smita Lakhe Marcin Skrzypczyk Thomas van Giffen and Wei Zhang.
Preface
Digitalization continues to move at warp speed transforming lives and livelihoods. At the same time unregulated digitalization risks leaving people behind and exacerbating environmental and climate challenges.
Overview
The Digital Economy Report 2024: Shaping an Environmentally Sustainable and Inclusive Digital Future highlights the urgent need for sustainable strategies throughout the life cycle of digitalization. From raw material extraction and usage of digital technologies to waste generation the report explores the nature and scale of the sector’s environmental footprint which remains largely unassessed. What is apparent is that developing countries are suffering disproportionately from digitalization’s negative environmental effects as well as missing out on economic developmental opportunities due to digital divides. UNCTAD calls for global policies involving all stakeholders to enable a more circular digital economy and reduced environmental footprints from digitalization while ensuring inclusive development outcomes.
Environmental impacts in the use phase of digitalization
The growing use of rapidly evolving digital technologies and services around the world accounts for an important part of the environmental footprint of digitalization.
Conclusion and recommendations
Chapter VII consolidates the primary insights gleaned from the preceding discussions and present actionable recommendations tailored for member states and the international community. The overarching goal of this section is to equip stakeholders with concrete steps to ensure that data are effectively leveraged as a pivotal instrument for realizing the objectives of the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda.
Data governance
This section delves into the intricate nature of data governance underscoring the importance of the social contract in harnessing data’s value in a fair and mutually advantageous way. The section offers an overview of three national paradigms concerning data governance. The section reflects on the consequences of such varied approaches emphasizing the importance and urgency of establishing universally accepted guidelines for data governance. The section concludes by presenting seven global data governance principles for development.
Understanding the multifaceted nature of data
This section delves into the intricate nature of data. It emphasizes data as products of technological economic and socio-cultural processes reflecting the biases and choices of creators. The role of technology including broadband networks Internet of Things (IoT) devices and mobile phones is highlighted in expanding data’s reach. Data are framed as a context-dependent resource shaped by the systems within which they exist underscoring the importance of governance that considers the interplay between technology data economic and socio-cultural dynamics for sustainable development.
Promises of data for development
Section III provides an overview of how nations can leverage data to achieve the SDGs. This section introduces two perspectives on data that shape the narrative of the subsequent sections. The first perspective views data as an economic input. Data serve as a driving force for development generating economic value and creating new market opportunities. The roles of digital platforms in global entrepreneurship and international trade are discussed in this context. The second perspective sees data as a crucial tool for decision-making offering robust evidence to support effective policies and strategies. This includes its role in improving health and welfare as well as in combating environmental degradation and climate change and advancing scientific research.
Introduction
At a time when digital connectivity defines our lives the importance of data in shaping the trajectory of global development cannot be understated. As economies and societies become increasingly interwoven with digital technologies data emerge not only as an asset but as a catalyst for transformative change. While data-driven insights harbour the potential to spur innovations and foster sustainable development the pathway is riddled with both unparalleled prospects and formidable challenges.