The Palgrave Handbook of Sustainable Digitalization for Business, Industry, and Society

Digitalization refers to the conversion of information and knowledge obtained in physical form, such as through sensors or printed documents, into a language that can be understood by computers. The phenomenon is central to the digital transformation, which depends on the combined and interconnected use of advanced technologies such as 3D printing, blockchain technology (distributed ledger), the Internet of Things, machine learning, and artificial intelligence. This leads to the generation of large volumes of data known as big data, which necessitates the use of big data analytics approaches (Ertz et al., 2022). The potential to utilize these massive data sets is mostly unexplored, but it has the potential to facilitate the shift towards "more sustainable and efficient smart integrated cities." Upon reviewing previous studies, it is evident that there are three fundamental components in academic research.

The integration of digitalization into sustainability is represented by various concepts such as "sustainable digitalization," "sustainable digital," "smart green," "digicircular," "digitainability," or "smart green digital" (Felice and Petrillo, 2021; Gupta and Rhyner, 2022). Additionally, the focus on using sustainable digitalization for the betterment of society has been referred to as "Society 5.0," "Super Smart Society," or "Smart Green and Resilient Society" by the Japanese Keidanren (Onday, 2019). While these various notions may not be exact synonyms, and there is still some confusion in defining them, they generally share the characteristic of illustrating how digitalization contributes to sustainable development in order to effectively address human needs.

Furthermore, other research studies have explored the role of digitalization in promoting sustainability. These studies have specifically examined how digitalization facilitates cleaner production and the implementation of circular economy principles (Gupta et al., 2021; Luthra et al., 2021). Additionally, digitalization has been found to contribute to the extension of product lifetimes (Ertz et al., 2022). The Smart Green Planet framework states that digitalization plays a crucial role in achieving sustainable development goals. It does so by exerting comprehensive and sustainable impacts on three key areas: the food-water-energy nexus, industry and well-being, and climate and biodiversity (Mondejar et al., 2021). The effects on the food-water-energy nexus are categorized into various sub-domains, such as smart agriculture and food production, universal access to clean water, and intelligent energy systems. Overall, these two aspects, one of a broader nature and the other unique to the industrial sector, highlight the role of digital technologies in advancing important sustainable development goals. Therefore, a more precise word for this phenomenon might be referred to as "digitalization for sustainability" (DFS).

Furthermore, the increased production of e-waste resulting from digitalization poses significant challenges and issues. These include concerns related to governance, data security, cybersecurity, and social problems such as inequality in infrastructure, internet access, and digital education for end-users. These study topics are still in their early stages of development but are growing rapidly. They emphasize that the expansion of opportunities provided by digital technologies has both positive and negative consequences and that a wider range of new problems arising on a larger and more extensive level will need to be addressed in order to assure authentic digital financial services. The second key aspect might be referred to as "responsible digitalization," which emphasizes the need to guarantee that digitalization occurs in a responsible manner to achieve true sustainability.

Editors: Myriam Ertz, Urvashi Tandon, Shouheng Sun, Joan Torrent-Sellens, Emine Sarigöllü

Publisher: Springer International Publishing

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Part of: Springer Professional "Wirtschaft+Technik" , Springer Professional "Technik" , Springer Professional "Wirtschaft"

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