Today (11th of April 2019), the German Advisory Council on Global Change (WGBU) handed over its new report "Our Common Digital Future" to the Federal Minister for Education and Research and the Federal Minister for the Environment in Berlin.

ZIN member Prof'in Sabine Schlacke contributed to development of the report, which calls for a fundamental further development of sustainability concepts and strategies in times of increasing digitalization, as chairwoman of the advisory board. The report stresses the need to think of digital change and the transformation to sustainability together and to prevent negative impacts of digitalization on the environment and climate through active political control. In order to face these challenges, the Council pleas for measures with different time horizons: "In the short term," according to the members of the Council, "digitalization must be brought into line with the global sustainability goals agreed in 2015 (SDGs, Agenda 2030) and with the goals of the Paris Climate Convention” (own translation). It considers the targeted and comprehensive use of new technology as in this context. In the longer term, the council regards the appropriate adaption to the "deep social upheavals" (own translation) that go along with the process of digitalization as indispensable. "All digital changes" - the Scientific Advisory Board concludes - "should be focused on the public interest and to improving people's quality of life" (own translation).

Further information:
On the occasion of the handover of the report the WGBU published a press release that can be found here.
In this interview, Prof'in Sabine Schlacke further explains the report.
Source: WGBU (ed.): Press release “Digitalisierung in den Dienst nachhaltiger Entwicklung stellen”, 11.04.2019.