The European Union envisages intertwining two major developments in one overall process to address the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals in a so-called twin transition. On the one hand, digitalization is expected to increasingly permeate most areas of everyday work and life in the European Union. On the other hand, the need for a transition towards sustainability is widely recognized, which will require a fundamental shift in production and consumption systems. Digital technologies can support sustainable transitions. However, they have their own environmental and social impacts.

Drawing upon a document analysis, an online forum, online surveys, expert workshops, literature reviews, and a final event in Brussels, the research project “Digitalisation and sustainability at EU level: opportunities and risks of digitalization for the implementation of the 2030 Agenda at EU level” aimed to examine ways to move towards a twin transition. Its empirical analysis has shown that current policy work does not often intertwine digitalization processes with sustainability goals. Looking more deeply at three themes: digital circular economy, digital sufficiency, and environmental justice, the project team developed policy recommendations to strengthen the governance of digitalization towards sustainability at the European Union and German level in three in-depth studies. Towards the end of the project, it became apparent that the term twin transition should be questioned, as it implies equal importance described to a tool (digitalization) and an objective (sustainability). The research results suggest that the notion of environmental and social justice could form a suitable narrative to pave the way for a reconfiguration of policy designs and instruments that enable a digital and sustainable future for all.

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