October 4, 2021
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Vimeo Description
“Two powerful forces are shaping human destiny: global environmental change and the digital revolution. Anthropogenic environmental change around the world – including, for example, climate change, biodiversity loss, and land degradation – is driving systemic shifts that are already beginning to destabilize human and planetary health. Meanwhile, society is also experiencing global transformations driven by the digital age, with both massive opportunities for positive change and the threat of systemic risks to the achievement of the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
From 2018-2020, the Sustainability in the Digital Age initiative – a partnership with Future Earth – collaborated with over 250 experts from around the world to develop the Digital Disruptions for Sustainability (D^2S) Agenda.
The report explored how digitally-enabled disruptions have the potential to drive transformations to sustainability and equity – but only if there is a conscious and collaborative effort to steer them in that direction. Through this work, we realized that a number of initiatives are exploring how to leverage the power of the digital age to foster societal transformations to sustainability.
This SRI 2021 session, moderated by Éliane Ubalijoro (Future Earth Global Hub Director for Canada & Executive Director of Sustainability in the Digital Age), brings together Dirk Messner, President of Umweltbundesamt/German Environment Agency (UBA); Alice Sharp, Artistic Director of Invisible Dust; David Jensen, Coordinator of the UNEP Digital Transformation Task Force, UN Environment Programme; Shannon Olsson, Director of the echo network; and Pauline Koelbl, Founder and CEO of AfriProspect and ShEquity, to discuss perspectives on sustainability in the digital age, with an eye towards common actions that might be delivered by the public and private sector, among others.
Our intent in this gathering is to start a broader discussion on developing a framework for the unconventional collaborations and potential post-2030 targets needed to leverage the digital age in service of sustainability and equity.”