Adopt Norms and Standards

While the pace of digital innovation is dynamic, and although several international standards are emerging, there are only a few nascent normative and ethical frameworks in place to guide its direction at the global level. Many of these frameworks lack clear principles and norms linked to environmental and social sustainability or climate action. In this context, it is critical to develop a global set of standards and guidelines for the sustainable production, use and adoption of digital technologies based on specific, measurable, achievable and time-bound indicators. Additionally, it is critical to set a global standard methodology for assessing and measuring the net impact of digital technologies on sustainability and climate change.

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It is noted that standardization in this domain has been ongoing for a decade or more, so any effort in this direction should start from existing standardization process as well as the emerging field of Corporate Digital Responsibility. Efforts in this direction will also need to cover the governance of data that is being used to fuel digital transformation and has become one of the new factors of production, alongside land, labour and capital.