About us
Why digital sustainability transformation?
Our society is facing two profound changes:
- Digitalization – driven by new technologies, data, and AI.
- Sustainability – driven by the need to live and do business within planetary boundaries.
These two processes are closely intertwined. Digital technologies can support sustainability – for example, through more efficient use of resources, climate data analysis, or the development of new business models. At the same time, new areas of tension are emerging: high energy consumption, questions of social justice, and the risks of algorithmic control.
The challenge is to leverage synergies and understand conflicting goals:
- How can digital and sustainability goals be combined in a way that reinforces each other?
- Where do tensions arise – for example, between efficiency and fairness, innovation and regulation?
- How do these dynamics change over time, space, and social contexts?
The Digital Sustainability Transformation profile initiative addresses these questions.
Our goal
We want to develop a deep understanding of how digital and sustainable transformations can be coordinated and managed in organizations. Our focus is on two perspectives:
- Synergies: Where do digitalization and sustainability reinforce each other?
- Conflicts: Where do they hinder each other, e.g., in energy-intensive AI, regulatory requirements, or organizational decision-making processes?
By making these areas of tension visible, we are laying the foundations for resilient, inclusive, and future-oriented transformations—in science, business, politics, and society.