Enabling a Sustainable Digital Transformation

The digital age has arrived. The fourth industrial revolution, a fusion of cutting-edge technologies (for example, blockchain, artificial intelligence [AI], metaverse, internet-of-things, hyper-automation, digital twins, and big data) is blurring the boundaries between the physical and digital worlds. Thanks to the great accelerator of the COVID-19 pandemic, digitalization is increasingly ubiquitous in our daily life, defining how we work and radically disrupting how we do business. But such digital transformation carries its own risks and opportunities. The World Economic Forum estimates that digital technologies have the potential to save up to 20 percent of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 2050. Yet, the rapid proliferation of digitalization has far-reaching negative impacts on the environment and society. The ever-growing carbon footprint of the digital sector (for example, hardware, software, networks, and data centers) is now larger than that of the aviation one. Similarly, the digital era has introduced a new wave of societal and ethical concerns arising from the adoption of such technologies. Further understanding of such risks is imperative to make digitalization sustainable in the future. This course introduces students to the sustainability challenges associated with digital technologies. We explore the environmentally and socially responsible use of digital technologies. Course topics include the evaluation of digital carbon footprints, the promise of clean AI, the need for energy-aware computing, the unsustainable role of digital assets (for example, cryptocurrency), the deepening of the digital divide, and the rising tide of climate change disinformation. The course also examines the taxonomy of digital justice, with a focus on ethical issues of emerging technologies. The course draws on case studies and contributions from active practitioners. Throughout the course, students take part in a live learning experience with peer learning opportunities in addition to individual activities.