Meeting on the new PERSYVAL-3 Digital and Sustainability theme

Most experts agree that current trends in the growth of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) are at odds with the Paris Agreement’s goal of keeping global warming well below 2 degrees Celsius compared to pre-industrial levels. To address this, research has so far focused on reducing the environmental impact resulting from the lifecycle of computing equipment, including networks, data centers, and end-user devices. This reduction has been driven primarily by energy optimization during the use phase. However, it is widely acknowledged that efficiency gains are offset by—or even contribute to—the increase in global ICT use (due to numerous, well-known rebound effects). Another particularly active field of research linking ICT and sustainability is the development of digital technologies to reduce the environmental footprint of other economic sectors, notably agriculture and mobility. More generally, current research on the topic almost exclusively focuses on pathways to sustainability through technological development and so-called “green growth,” although the feasibility of decoupling has not been established (see the WGIII contribution to the IPCC AR6).

In contrast, very little research has been done on developing alternatives to our current, unsustainable ICT solutions for other potential scenarios. Such scenarios could, for example, explore digital degrowth, ICT in times of resource shortages, or recurring blackouts… These scenarios would raise new research questions such as how to compute within physical limits (which encompasses low-tech and non-obsolescence issues and raises all kinds of questions related to programming, I/O, operating systems, memory management…), how digital technologies impact the resilience of our societies (and how to reduce potential risks associated with them), etc. Beyond that, there is little knowledge about what ICT could look like in a sustainable future. The objective of the “ICT and sustainability” research axis of PERSYVAL-Lab will be to foster research on these little-explored topics, with an emphasis on clarifying the uncertainties, hypotheses, and trade-offs underlying the scenarios under study.

Such a research agenda is particularly challenging for a variety of reasons. First, it requires a systemic view of the interplay between ICT, the environment, and society across different temporal and geographic scales. This implies the need to place disciplinary research in computer science within a broader interdisciplinary framework that involves, for example, sociology, epistemology, economics, geography, urban studies, and political science. This is particularly evident in scientific topics such as digital commons. Another challenge lies in the pervasiveness of ICT, which makes it difficult to understand the material implications and indirect effects of a given technological choice. Finally, studying the impacts of, and developing solutions for, ICT on the path toward sustainability requires a broad understanding of global stakes. A second objective of this research axis will thus be to build bridges between the computer science research community and other relevant research communities to develop the scientific basis required for a systemic approach to ICT and sustainability.