This event is organised for experts from civil society, academia, and government with knowledge of digitalisation, sustainability, and/or environmental justice. The results will be used to inform an analysis paper for the German Environment Agency.

Organised by IEEP and the Institute for Ecological Economy Research (IÖW) and funded by the German Federal Environment Agency (UBA), this online workshop is meant for experts from civil society, academia, and government with knowledge of digitalisation, sustainability, and/or environmental justice. The central objective is to develop policy ideas for the German government to make digitalisation a driver for sustainability at the EU level.

Tuesday 3 May 2022
13:30–16:00 CET
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Although there is increasing attention to the twin transitions of digitalisation and sustainability, the issues of environmental justice of the twin transitions are underexplored. To address these issues, an online discussion forum was facilitated by IEEP between November 2021 and February 2022. The main outcomes of this discussion forum outlined the views and suggestions of various stakeholders on the application of digital tools to implement green solutions (decarbonisation, energy efficiency, biodiversity conservation) and increase civil society engagement in environmental governance.

Through targeted breakout groups, the workshop will gather inputs on the policy implications at the EU level in relation to the use of digital technologies and practical policy solutions to implement the Sustainable Development Goals, including rigorous attention to environmental justice and systemic inequalities. The discussion will be structured around 3 main topics in 3 breakout sessions:

Agenda

13:30 Welcome and introduction by Dr Steffen Lange, Researcher, IÖW

13:40 Overview and summary of online forum by Thorfinn Stainforth, Policy analyst, IEEP

14:00 Discussions in breakout groups with moderators and participants

• Breakout room 1: Digitalization and effective participation in environmental policymaking
• Breakout room 2: Digitalization and environmental rights: Pollution, human rights and differential environmental effects arising from manufacturing and disposal of ICT products
• Breakout room 3: Environmental justice implications of online platforms and e-commerce

15:00 Break

15:15 Presentation of the breakout groups

15:45 Plenary and open discussion

15:55 Closing remarks

Further details can be found in the programme.

Please note that the meeting will be recorded for internal purposes to help us draft the report. If you have any questions or require additional information about the event, please contact Thorfinn Stainforth at tstainforth@ieep.eu.

This expert workshop is implemented as part of the R&D project “Digitalization and Sustainability at the EU level” (research code: 3720 41 101 0) on behalf of the German Environment Agency (UBA), and financed by the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Nuclear Safety and Consumer Protection (BMUV).