Umweltbundesamt
Click to enlargeUBA together with UNDP, UNEP, Future Earth, ISC, ITU and Kenya is championing the Coalition for Digital Environment Sustainability – CODES, which brings together science community, governmental institutions, UN Bodies, tech companies, and civil society.
Digitalisation creates new opportunities for implementing the 2030 agenda and the UN's sustainability goals - and thus also for environmental and climate protection. Aim of the CODES initiative is to accelerate global action for „A Sustainable Planet in the Digital Age“ under the umbrella of the UN Secretary General‘s Roadmap for Digital Cooperation.
The Coalition for Digital Environmental Sustainability (CODES) was founded in 2021 as a response to the UN Secretary-General’s roadmap for digital cooperation.
The UN Secretary-General’s report, Our Common Agenda further develops the Roadmap for Digital Cooperation and calls for a new landscape of digital governance and collaboration through a Global Digital Compact. CODES serves to bring this landscape to life by setting priorities for a sustainable planet in the digital age in global fora and related communities of practice, and by cultivating action through the broader CODES network.
The aim of the joint initiative CODES is to embrace the opportunities of present and future digital solutions to reach the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030 and beyond. This requires designing adequate infrastructural and institutional settings of local and global governance for sustainable digital societies, improving our research capacities in this newly emerging field of digital sustainability and sustainable digitalisation, and developing capabilities for better and equitable implementation and multi-actor partnerships. It is further necessary to renew the discussion on the ethical transition to a sustainable planet in the Digital Age based on the principles of human rights and – in accordance with the obligation of the Member States of the UN – leaving no one behind.
The CODES Action Plan supports the UN Secretary-General's Roadmap for Digital Cooperation. It helps to underpin the priorities for the Global Digital Compact proposed in the Our Common Agenda report.
Its aim is to define a common vision, priority areas for action and objectives that have been co-designed by the CODES community.
The action plan, the result of an extensive consultation process, outlines three systemic shifts and 18 strategic priorities that are needed to harness the digital transformation as a driving force for environmentally and socially sustainable development.
The results of accompanying research on CODES are presented below. The research was conducted by Konnektiv, the SUPERRR Lab and the Green Web Foundation and examines the interface between digitalization and sustainability at the global governance level. The aim was to identify pathways for a fair and sustainable digital transformation and to discuss international and national implementation options. The resulting analyses and recommendations for action are intended to contribute to the further development of the CODES approach and provide impetus for sustainable digital policy.
The project resulted in four key outputs:
1. Policy Paper: Towards a Just and Sustainable Digital Transformation for People and the Planet
The impact of both digital technologies and the climate crisis is not shared equally across the world. Marginalised communities are most affected by both the digital divide and the climate crisis and lack decision-making power within global governance bodies. This policy paper discusses the need for a just and sustainable digital transformation within global governance and examines what is currently happening at the intersection of digitalisation and sustainability on a global governance level. Various policy arenas focus on either digital transformation or sustainability, but only a few look at these issues together, and even fewer with a focus on equity and justice. The paper maps these efforts and identifies three policy fields and arenas that could be amenable to CODES’ mission, Sustainable Development (UNCTAD & UNDP), Science and Culture (ISC & UNESCO) and Labour and Shifting Economic Patterns (ITC, World Bank and ILO). Read the policy paper here.
2. Implementation Pathways Towards a Just and Sustainable Digital Transformation for People and the Planet
Building on the research conducted for the paper “Towards a Just and Sustainable Digital Transformation for People and the Planet” fifteen implementation pathways were designed offering a wide array of implementable action points for the CODES Community and other interested actors. The implementation pathways connect to different transnational and international policy areas. They identify leverage points, the most important relevant stakeholders and recommendations for future engagement including suggestions on where the narrative needs changing, for instance in regards to including sustainability as a dimension in the ethical AI discourse. Some of the pathways connect the dots between actors, topics or policy areas, like setting global emissions reduction targets for digital services, and others suggest elevating new voices to have a say in policy arenas such as the climate action hubs. The pathways are intended as conversation starters and are an invitation to connect with CODES and the actors involved in the CODES community. Read the implementation pathways here.
3. Contributions to a Framework Approach for Sustainable Digital Infrastructures
The third paper produced as part of the project is a contribution to the CODES Impact Initiative 5. Sustainable Digital Infrastructure. Aim of Impact Initiative 5 is to create an international science-based framework to enable standardization and harmonization of sustainable procurement principles and green digital infrastructure criteria across governments, corporations and other stakeholders. The paper discusses current technological and policy developments as well as potential leverage points for a framework approach for sustainable data centers and hardware. Read the framework here.
4. German impulses for a fair and sustainable digital transformation
The aim of the final paper is to present practical, implementable solutions based on previous normative approaches and to provide ideas for German impulses in world politics. As the results of the previous research in this project have shown, there are hardly any nations in the global scope of action that are coherently thinking about a fair and sustainable digital transformation. Germany can seize this political window of opportunity to take a pioneering role both internationally and transnationally for a fair and sustainable digital transformation. Read the German impulses here (in German).
We hope these publications will provide a valuable contribution to the current discourse and resources for other stakeholders. We look forward to continuing debates and further developing the ideas put forth in these papers.
The UBA’s motto, For our environment (“Für Mensch und Umwelt”), sums up our mission pretty well, we feel. In this video we give an insight into our work.
Unfortunately, we are currently not available by telephone.There may currently be delays in answering enquiries. We ask for your understanding.
