Role of technologies for info-communications and the Internet in sustainable development

Abstract

The challenge of sustainability and the perspectives of information and communications technology are at the centre of current thinking on the development of global economies and societies. On the one hand, from the 1990s, the ICT and the Internet has been playing an increasingly important role in the everyday life of organisations, individuals and governments. On the other hand, from roughly the early 1980s, the environmental consciousness of different organisations and also of individuals has been continuously rising. There is a wide range of relationships between these tendencies. Economic, social and environmental forces define the global, sustainable development process and drive innovation in the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) sector. At the same time, ICTs will play a critical enabling role in meeting the challenges of sustainability.
In this article it is shown how ICT policies impact on sustainable development and the growth of the green economy. A literature review is offered in order to identify opportunities for creating strategic synergies between digital and green economy strategies.
Based on the studies referred in this article, we can determine the some specific dimensions of the mutual influence of green and digital economies: the level of impact (global, national, local; organisations, communities, individuals), the method (directindirect), time period (short-term or long-term), certainty/assurance (predictable - non-predictable), measurement (measurable - non-measurable) and direction of the impact (positive-negative). The investigation of opportunities for greening and digitalising the economy at the same time must involve the exploration of these dimensions.