1. The digital sustainability paradox
It’s 2020 which means that we have 10 years left to lift the 17 UN Sustainability Goals if we want to reach the deadline set up in 2015 when the agenda was agreed. Even though this has been a topic the last years, I think the debate and the focus will heat up in the year to come, and it will be hard to find companies that haven’t taken a stand on this going forward. Because you have to if you want to survive.
The digital and technological area is particularly interesting here. Because it is both a fundamental part of the problem but at the same time it is the necessary lever and steppingstone for us to reach the goals. Most of the technologies that will be in focus in 2020 have the possibility of creating major sustainable impact: AI will help us point at solutions in health and climate issues and remove language barriers. CRISPR will eradicate critical diseases, IoT will help create more sustainable cities and additive manufacturing will introduce new sustainable production methodologies.
But digital progress is a double-sided sword, that we need to handle. Because there are always two sides to the story. Smartphones are fantastic, but what happens to the 1.5 billion phones that get scrapped every year? And for how long can we keep extracting the rare minerals needed for its electronic components? E-commerce is super convenient, and we love it. The revenue of Singles Day back in November exceeded $ 30 billion. But think about the enormous amount of packaging created when 2.600 parcels are shipped every second! Or the amount of empty space shipped around inside the boxes. Forbes predicts that 61 million containers of empty space travel the world every year due to e-commerce.
We have to solve these problems while we keep developing new and sustainable digital solutions and technologies to conquer the world’s biggest challenges. And I predict that this will be one of the main topics for the year to come.