DIGITAL DISRUPTIONS FOR SUSTAINABILITY AGENDA (THE D^2S AGENDA)
RESEARCH, INNOVATION, ACTION

Two powerful forces are shaping human destiny: global climate change and the digital revolution. Both are human creations that pose systemic risks to society. The changing climate is driving systemic shifts that threaten to destabilize the health and wellbeing of humankind. Big data, digital platforms, and artificial intelligence are rapidly transforming society in ways that pose systemic risks to the global social fabric. But fortunately, the digital age also presents systemic opportunities for driving the large-scale societal transformations needed to build a climate-safe and equitable world.

The Digital Disruptions for Sustainability Agenda (the D^2S Agenda) highlights opportunities and challenges for leveraging the digital revolution to drive transformative systems changes for a sustainable and equitable world. Through focused collaboration among researchers, tech innovators, policy and business leaders, civil society, and citizens, we believe we can steer the digital disruptions already underway towards the climate-safe and equitable world we want.

The four digital disruptors identified in the D^2S Agenda are already driving transformations in social and economic systems. It is unclear where these transformations will lead society. They pose many risks for humanity and the planet. They may also hold the power to help society achieve a sustainable and equitable path to net-zero emissions. But this can only happen if researchers, tech innovators, policy and business leaders, civil society, and citizens collaborate together to consciously steer these digital disruptions to drive transformations to a sustainable, climate-safe, and equitable world. Ensuring the ability of the disenfranchised to influence the design of the digital disruptions for inclusivity would be a big step in risk mitigation.