Person:
Schmelzle, Frieder

Profilbild

ORCID

Nachname

Schmelzle

Vorname

Frieder

Affiliation

Forschungsvorhaben

Organisationseinheiten

Filter

20251

Einstellungen

Suchergebnisse

Gerade angezeigt 1 - 1 von 1
  • Vorschaubild
    Veröffentlichung
    Digital sufficiency: A new perspective on digitalisation as a driver for sustainability?
    (2025) Hielscher, Sabine; Schmelzle, Frieder; Institut für Ökologische Wirtschaftsforschung (IÖW); Umweltbundesamt; Beckert, Barbara
    The world is entering a digital era that changes everyday business practices and lifestyles. Digital technologies are said to support sustainable development and create untapped potentials in many areas, for instance, by reducing energy and resource consumption. However, social and ecological drawbacks have become much more apparent where digitalisation has not lived up to its ascribed potentials. Over the past years, voices have become louder advocating for a green and digital twin transition. Similarly, the European Commission has supported the twin transition by setting it as a priority in line with the European Green Deal. This report presents project findings on how to support the twin transition through a concept of digital sufficiency. A premise of sufficiency as a guiding principle for the digital transformation is that technological innovation alone cannot solve societal problems. Unsustainable practices and behaviours must be either reduced or replaced by sustainable alternatives. The aim of this report is to support the German government’s position in EU debates and to formulate recommendations for priorities for action, which the government can link to the activities of the European Commission. This is done by drawing on an analysis of the role of the German Council Presidency in supporting the twin transition in Europe, both an online survey and an expert workshop on digital sufficiency as well as a literature analysis to deepen some of the expert discussions. Our analyses find that although digital sufficiency has potentials to bring new perspectives into existing debates, work on the concept is still in its infancy. Future work needs to frame the concept and link it to existing policy debates to make it relevant for policy. This report provides the first building block towards carrying out this work and outlines policy recommendations towards supporting the twin transition through digital sufficiency.