Changing our Understanding of Sustainability: The impact of ICTs and the Internet

The report examines how ICTs and the Internet impact the core pillars of sustainable development: economic prosperity, social equity, and environmental protection. It distinguishes between direct (first-order) negative environmental impacts, such as e-waste and greenhouse gas emissions, and indirect (second-order) positive potentials like 'smart systems' for energy efficiency. The authors argue that the most significant impacts are third-order societal changes—including the virtualization of goods and shifts in governance—which are often ignored by international policy frameworks. The report critiques the Rio+20 summit for failing to substantively address these technological shifts, suggesting that a paradigm gap exists between the ICT sector and the sustainable development community. It concludes by calling for a move away from large-scale UN summits toward more adaptive, multistakeholder dialogues and the integration of environmental sustainability into ICT design and standards.

• The ICT sector is a rapidly growing source of environmental harm, specifically through electronic waste and greenhouse gas emissions, with the latter contributing approximately 2.25 per cent of total global emissions as of 2008, growing at a compound annual rate of around 6 per cent.
• ICTs can enable 'smart systems' that reduce carbon emissions in sectors like energy, transport, and construction, but the adoption of these systems depends on decisions made by managers outside the ICT sector, often based on commercial viability rather than sustainability.
• The 'rebound effect' can negate the environmental gains of ICT efficiency; for example, reduced commuting time via teleworking may lead to an increase in vehicle use for leisure activities.
• Third-order (societal) effects of ICTs are the most significant for long-term sustainability, involving structural changes in global labour markets, the virtualization of cultural goods, and the shift toward automated financial markets that increase volatility and risk.
• The Rio+20 summit and its outcome document, 'The Future We Want,' largely ignored the systemic impact of the information revolution, treating ICTs as incidental tools rather than fundamental drivers of societal change.
• A significant 'paradigm gap' exists between the ICT community and the sustainable development community, where the former often views technology as a solution and the latter views it as a tool, leading to a lack of integrated policy and discourse.
• The short life cycle of ICT devices, typically two to three years, creates massive environmental pressure through embedded carbon and toxic waste, a challenge the industry has yet to effectively address.
• ICTs have fundamentally altered the relationship between citizens and the state, increasing transparency and the ability to organize (as seen in the Arab Spring), while simultaneously expanding the capacity for government surveillance and consumer profiling.
• The transition to IPv6 is critical for the technical sustainability and scalability of the Internet, yet adoption has been slow, with many Internet Service Providers failing to implement it despite the exhaustion of IPv4 address space in February 2011.
• Sustainable development in the information age requires a shift from 'exogenous' thinking—viewing ICTs as external shocks—to an 'endogenous' perspective that recognizes the recursive, systemic interaction between technology and society.

APA

Souter, D., & MacLean, D. (2012). Changing our Understanding of Sustainability: The impact of ICTs and the Internet. International Institute for Sustainable Development. https://www.iisd.org/system/files/publications/changing_our_understanding_of_sustainability.pdf

Chicago

Souter, David, and Don MacLean. Changing our Understanding of Sustainability: The impact of ICTs and the Internet. International Institute for Sustainable Development, 2012. https://www.iisd.org/system/files/publications/changing_our_understanding_of_sustainability.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Souter |first1=David |last2=MacLean |first2=Don |title=Changing our Understanding of Sustainability: The impact of ICTs and the Internet |publisher=International Institute for Sustainable Development |date=December 2012 |url=https://www.iisd.org/system/files/publications/changing_our_understanding_of_sustainability.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{souter2012changing, author = {Souter, David and MacLean, Don}, title = {{Changing our Understanding of Sustainability: The impact of ICTs and the Internet}}, institution = {International Institute for Sustainable Development}, year = {2012}, month = dec, url = {https://www.iisd.org/system/files/publications/changing_our_understanding_of_sustainability.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }