Digitalization as a driver of transformative environmental innovation

This viewpoint argues for an explicit focus on digitalization as a key driver of transformative environmental change and innovation in the next decade. We hold that digitalization is more than a landscape concern. Our piece suggests three elements of a critical approach to digitalization: to examine its ubiquitous unfolding, to study it as a real socio-material phenomenon 'on the ground', and to analyse how it enables new forms of coordination across sectors. We conclude that EIST scholars must engage critically with the proliferation of digitalization in most or all societal sectors, and with how this sets directions for low-carbon transitions.

Automated summary

The article argues for the importance of digitalization in environmental change and innovation, proposing three critical elements. Researchers need to focus on the widespread presence of digitalization, study it as a real social phenomenon on the ground, and analyze how it enables coordination across sectors.