Evie Ioannidi

A green and digital ‘twin transition’ is underway but can both targets be met? What can the communications industry do to assure future sustainability? Are policies sufficient to achieve the targets, what regulations and structures are needed, and who should pay?

Abstract:
The digital and green transitions are transforming the way we structure society, challenging our values, and unlocking opportunities we could not have imagined a few decades ago. Taking place in parallel as they are, those transformations have the potential to reinforce each other by accelerating the development of sustainable technologies and safeguarding our digital infrastructure from climate change. This is recognised by the term ‘twin transition’ which has been coined to represent this dynamic of interdependency. However, this essay sets out that, despite linking them discursively in reports and whitepapers, the success of both transitions can only be achieved by truly linking them in practice by joined-up policymaking. This will then also need creative approaches to the problem of how we pay for it.