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Data, Digital Technology, and the Environment

Last updated: 09 Sep 2026

Science | Digital Cooperation

SDG17

More than at any other time of history, humanity is producing an astonishing quantity of data, which is essential to understand the challenges our societies face and find solutions. Yet, crucial gaps remain and the availability of high-quality and transparent data is essential to address the triple planetary crisis and achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Digital technologies can provide some new solutions to these complex problems, yet there also come with an environmental cost of their own. In this context, strengthening the global governance on data and digital technologies is essential step toward to 2030 Agenda. This update lays out some of the challenges and opportunities of the digital revolution, while highlighting the role of Geneva in the global digital agenda.

Data and the SDGs

Transparent and high-quality data is crucial to achieve the 2030 Agenda. Not only is data essential to access progress with regards to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), but it is also a pre-requirement to develop sounds and effective solutions to address planetary challenges. The opportunity to use data to improve real-time decision-making on natural resources could also transform global environmental governance frameworks and multilateral environmental agreements. There is tremendous hope that decisions can be made, monitored and enforced using real-time spatial and statistical data, thereby closing the gap between alarm, action and impact.

However, as highlighted in the report “Measuring Progress Towards Achieving the Environmental Dimension of the SDGs“, there is not sufficient data for 68% of the SDG indicators related to the environment to assess progress. Some areas with limited data include biodiversity, ecosystem health, the concentration of pollution and waste in the environment, and other environmental threats. With limited data to assess the trend at the global level, there is a high risk of receiving fewer policy interventions and investments to improve the state of the environment.

Various organizations are exploring non-traditional data collection methods as traditional methods alone may not be enough to fill these data gaps. These non-traditional data collection methods, such as citizen science initiatives, earth observation, and integration of geospatial information, present advantages including lower cost of data collection, and better use of scientific expertise and indigenous knowledge amongst others.

Learn more about the importance of data for achieving the SDGs through the resources below:

Environmental Impact of Digital Technologies

Despite its seemingly separate existence from the physical world, digital activity has created its own unlikely carbon footprint. In fact, according to a 2019 study by the Shift Project, the world’s collective digital carbon footprint accounted for nearly 3.7 percent of all greenhouse emissions, which is comparable to aviation industry emission levels. Moreover, digital technology’s energy consumption increased by almost 70% between 2013 and 2020.

Though digital technology is often overlooked as a primary carbon producer, its impact on global sustainability is widespread — as are its origin points. Digital activity has become a multifaceted entity, comprising everything from video streaming and online gaming, to cryptocurrency trading and digital banking. These mediums, while often beneficial and progressive in their own right, come with an environmental price. They contribute to a growing influx of data, fueling the data processing cycle and subsequent production of emissions.

For example, a study by the UK’s OVO Energy found that the UK could reduce its carbon output by over 16,433 tons, simply by each adult sending one less email per day. Meanwhile, according to the Shift Project, the average CO2 consumption of streamed online video is more than 300 million tons per year, the equivalent of Spain’s annual emissions. As social media use grows every day among all demographics, the environmental footprint of these activities needs to be seriously considered.

Source: WebFX

Discover more about the environmental footprint of digital technologies and best practice to reduce the impact of your digital:

Digital Technologies for Sustainability Solutions

While digital technologies can have a negative impact on the environment as outlined above, they can also contribute to solutions for more sustainable consumption and production patterns, as well as sound environmental management. The recent advances in technology offer ground-breaking opportunities to monitor and protect the environment, as well as overall planetary health. By harnessing them appropriately, the digital revolution can be steered to combat climate change and advance global sustainability, environmental stewardship, and human well-being.

Examples are multiple, ranging from apps to prevent food waste to the use of blockchain technology, and the application of artificial intelligence and machine learning to a wide range of sustainability and environmental problems. At the most basic level, digital technologies also enable people to connect, communicate and collaborate in ways that were never possible before. Data and information is essential to build awareness of the state of our planet, to influence consumer behaviour, to inform markets and to reform governance systems.

Learn more about the potential of digital technologies to foster sustainability through the resources below:

From Data to Environmental Action | GRID-Geneva Science Day - 17 November 2021

Global Data Governance and Digital Cooperation

Harnessing the potential of digital technologies for better sustainability outcomes requires cooperation among governments, institutions, and other data producers and users. The importance of good governance in the digital arena is recognized in the UN Secretary-General’s Roadmap for Digital Cooperation.

Digital technology is shaping history. But there is also the sense that it is running away with us. Where will it take us? Will our dignity and rights be enhanced or diminished? Will our societies become more equal or less equal? Will we become more, or less, secure and safe? The answers to these questions depend on our ability to work together across disciplines and actors, across nations and political divides. We have a collective responsibility to give direction to these technologies so that we maximize benefits and curtail unintended consequences and malicious use.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres | 26 November 2019

There are significant gaps in global digital cooperation, and digital technology issues are too often low on political agendas. Even where there has been cooperation, it is frequently fragmented and lacks tangible outcomes or sound follow-up processes. As a starting point, the Internet Governance Forum must be strengthened, in order to make it more responsive and relevant to current digital issues.

Many countries and citizens are deprived of capacities and skills crucial to the digital era and to attaining the SDGs. The digital technologies that underpin core societal functions and infrastructure, including supporting access to food, water, housing, energy, health care and transportation, need to be safeguarded. A broad and overarching statement outlining common elements of an understanding of digital trust and security, endorsed by all Member States, could help to shape a shared vision for digital cooperation based on global values.

Changing the current trajectory of humanity with regards to sustainability requires transparency, inclusion and accountability. A shift in the global political economy of environmental data is needed to harness the efforts of public and private sectors to jointly generate high-quality data and insights as a global public good while avoiding technology and data monopolies. Many initiatives are conducted by international organizations and partners to promote transparent and collaborative data collection and sharing in support of the SDGs. Discover more through the resources below:

UN World Data Forum 2026

The United Nations World Data Forum 2026 (UNWDF) is convening between 9 and 12 November 2026 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

UN World Data Forum 2021

The United Nations World Data Forum 2021 (UNWDF) was held on 3-6 October 2021 in Bern, providing a space for discussion between data producers and users in support of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The conference saw the adoption of the “Bern Data Compact for the Decade of Action on the Sustainable Development Goals”, which calls on the international community and national governments to ensure that all communities work together in the data ecosystem to secure many aspects related to the SDGs.

Press release: UN World Data Forum in Bern mobilised experts to offer solutions for the 2030 Agenda
Outcomes of the UNWDF2021

Global Digital Compact

On 22 September 2024, world leaders convened in New York for the Summit of the Future, where they adopted a Pact for the Future that includes a Global Digital Compact. The Global Digital Compact is a comprehensive global framework for digital cooperation and governance of artificial intelligence. It charts a roadmap for global digital cooperation to harness the immense potential of digital technology and close digital divides. The Compact recognized the role of digital technologies in unlocking new capabilities and opportunities for advancing environmental sustainability and commits to leveraging them for sustainability while minimizing their negative environmental impacts.

Green Digital Action at UN Climate Change Conferences

Digital technologies are renowned for boosting efficiency, eliminating waste, and reducing carbon footprints across industries and sectors. However, the global digital industry must also take responsibility for its own environmental and climate impact. To address this, the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), alongside over 50 organizations across government, international organizations, business, and civil society worldwide, launched the Green Digital Action initiative to advance sustainability through digital innovation.

Since its launch at COP28 in 2023, Green Digital Action has been working to unite the global digital community in developing practical solutions, boosting industry-wide climate support, and strengthening global frameworks for monitoring and reporting. Through platforms like the ITU’s Partner2Connect Digital Coalition, it has mobilized tangible commitments to accelerate green and digital transitions. In the context of the Green Digital Action Initiative, various workstreams have been initiated:

  • Artificial Intelligence Climate Institute | Recognizing Artificial Intelligence (AI) as a transformative enabler for climate action, a new Artificial Intelligence Climate Institute (AICI) was launched during COP30. Supported by the Brazilian National Telecommunications Agency (Anatel), the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), the initiative aims to strengthen technological capabilities and unlock local innovation in developing countries, so that AI can help address the climate crisis.
  • Green Digital Action Hub | Launched at COP30, this new cooperation platform aims to harness technology innovation against climate change.
  • COP29 Declaration on Green Digital Action | At the first-ever Digitalization Day at COP29, over 1000 members of the digital tech community endorsed the Green Digital Action Declaration.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) and the Environment

Artificial Intelligence (AI) encompasses technologies that can process information and imitate human thinking. As underscored by the United Nations Environment Programme, AI can be a powerful tool for monitoring the environment, and helping governments, businesses and individuals make more planet-friendly choices, among other applications. To improve the accuracy, relevance, and usability for scientific, policy, and public audiences, the United Nations Environment Programme launched its first public beta chatbot designed to make environmental science easier to access and understand: EnvironmentGPT. Built using a Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) architecture, it draws on a curated library of UNEP and selected partner publications to deliver accurate, cited, and easy-to-interpret answers on key environmental topics. Unlike general-purpose chatbots trained on uncontrolled internet content, EnvironmentGPT relies exclusively on trusted, UNEP-approved sources, ensuring transparency, scientific integrity, and reduced risk of hallucinations. In the future it will be integrated in the World Environment Situation Room (WESR).

Artificial Intelligence can also be problematic for the environment. AI technologies rely on data centres that consume vast amounts of natural resources, such as water and land, electronics, fuelling the need for rare earth elements, which are often mined in environmentally destructive ways and produce hazardous electronic waste. As underscored by the report “Environmental Cost of AI’s Energy Use: Carbon, Water and Land Footprints,” issued by the United Nations University Institute for Water, Environment and Health (UNU-INWEH), the environmental costs of AI and data centres cannot be understood through carbon emissions alone. The authors quantify the carbon, water and land footprints of AI’s electricity use across the globe and highlight the big differences between these footprints in the world’s 20 largest data centre hubs. By 2030, the global data centres powering AI are projected to consume 945 terawatt-hours of electricity. This is nearly triple the combined annual electricity use of Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Nigeria — countries collectively home to more than 650 million people. Their associated water footprint will equal the basic annual domestic water needs of all 1.3 billion people in Sub-Saharan Africa, and their land footprint will exceed 14,500 square kilometres, roughly twice the Jakarta metropolitan area, home to more than 32 million people.

Role of International Geneva in Digital Policy

Geneva is one of the main global hubs where digital policies are debated, evaluated, and adopted. As such, digital cooperation is one of the region’s key areas for international environmental governance activities and for reinforcing synergies among stakeholders in the area. Geneva Environment Network discussions held in preparation for major environmental negotiations and as outreach on their outcomes, aim at fostering action on the triple planetary crisis of biodiversity loss, climate change and pollution that the world is facing, through science-based governance, leveraging data and technology respectful of the environment, and ensuring its access to all, to achieve everyone’s right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment. They involve the numerous stakeholders that are based in the region and specialized in these topics.

AI for Good Global Summit

Every year, since 2017, Geneva hosts the AI for Good Global Summit, the flagship annual conference of the AI for Good Initiative, hosted by ITU in partnership with over 50 UN partners and co-convened with the Government of Switzerland. Connecting AI innovators with problem owners to advance the global challenges, the Global Summit is the leading action-oriented United Nations platform promoting artificial intelligence (AI) to advance the Sustainable Development Goals and connect AI innovators with public and private sector decision-makers to help scale AI solutions globally.

First Session of the United Nations Global Dialogue on AI Governance

Committed to in the Global Digital Compact and established by the UN General Assembly, the AI Dialogue is the United Nations platform where all governments and stakeholders will convene to discuss international cooperation, share best practices and lessons learned, and facilitate open, transparent and inclusive discussions on artificial intelligence governance. For the first time, every country has a seat at the table of AI – to have the meaningful conversation the world needs. The Dialogue will address various thematic clusters, including Respecting, protecting and promoting human rights: transparency, accountability and human oversight. 

The President of the General Assembly has appointed H.E. Ms. Egriselda López (Permanent Representative of El Salvador to the United Nations) and H.E. Mr. Rein Tammsaar (Permanent Representative of Estonia to the United Nations) as Co-Chairs to the 2026 AI Dialogue.

Explore events, resources and more on digital cooperation in Geneva

Organizations

Data for Change; The Paris21 Foundation

The Data for Change Foundation incubates and accelerates innovative data projects to help low- and middle-income countries reduce poverty, advance gender equality, combat climate change, and strengthen data governance and accountability. They accelerate the latest innovations in data and statistics for better lives for all, turning big data, blockchain, satellite imagery and AI into practical deployed solutions tailored to the needs of countries.

Geneva Internet Platform (GIP)

GIP is an initiative of the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (FDFA) and the Federal Office of Communications (OFCOM) of Switzerland operated by DiploFoundation. It provides a neutral and inclusive space for digital policy debates, recognized by the majority of global actors as a platform where different views can be voiced.

Geneva Science and Diplomacy Anticipator (GESDA)

GESDA was founded by the Swiss and Geneva governments as an independent foundation to leverage the International Geneva ecosystem to anticipate, accelerate and translate into concrete actions the use of emerging science-driven topics.

Group on Earth Observations (GEO)

GEO is a partnership of more than 100 national governments and in excess of 100 Participating Organizations that envisions a future where decisions and actions for the benefit of humankind are informed by coordinated, comprehensive and sustained Earth observations.

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)

The IPCC is the United Nations body for assessing the science related to climate change. The IPCC provides regular assessments of the scientific basis of climate change, its impacts and future risks, and options for adaptation and mitigation.

International Labour Organization

The 2025 edition of the celebration of World Day for Safety and Health at Work sheds light on how new technologies are transforming Occupational Safety and Health (OSH), including through the automation of tasks, use of smart OSH tools and monitoring systems, extended reality and virtual reality and algorithmic management of work, as highlighted in the recently released report by ILO, Revolutionizing health and safety: The role of AI and digitalization at work.

International Telecommunication Union (ITU)

​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​ITU is the United Nations specialized agency for information and communication technologies – ICTs. ITU supports better use of digital technologies for climate change mitigation and adaptation and energy efficiency. Its work also focuses on protecting human health and the environment from the risks associated with e-waste.

Internet Governance Forum (IGF)

The IGF serves to bring people together from various stakeholder groups as equals, in discussions on public policy issues relating to the Internet. While there is no negotiated outcome, the IGF informs and inspires those with policy-making power in both the public and private sectors. At their annual meeting delegates discuss, exchange information and share good practices with each other. The IGF facilitates a common understanding of how to maximize Internet opportunities and address risks and challenges that arise.

Minamata Convention on Mercury

The Minamata Convention has developed a digital strategy to enable the secretariat of the Convention to organize
and direct its efforts to leverage technology and manage knowledge effectively, in order to achieve the
Convention’s objective of protecting human health and the environment from anthropogenic emissions
and releases of mercury and mercury compounds.

UNEP/Grid-GENEVA

Composed of a team of 20 Environment Data Scientist Global Resource Information Database – Geneva (GRID-Geneva) is a partnership between the UNEP, (FOEN) and the University of Geneva (UniGe), whose main role is to transform data into information and knowledge to support the decision making process related to environmental issues. GRID-Geneva specializes in the design and maintenance of data platforms for supporting UNEP (e.g. with the World Environment Situation Room), Ramsar and many other organisations and environmental conventions based in Geneva.

WIPO Green

WIPO GREEN is an online platform for technology exchange. It supports global efforts to address climate change by connecting providers and seekers of environmentally friendly technologies. Through its database, network and acceleration projects, it brings together key players to catalyze green technology innovation and diffusion.

World Meteorological Organization (WMO)

WMO is dedicated to international cooperation and coordination on the state and behaviour of the Earth’s atmosphere, its interaction with the land and oceans, the weather and climate it produces, and the resulting distribution of water resources. Powerful computers in WMO centres worldwide process the data collected from tens of thousands of land and sea observation instruments and Earth-observing satellites. These data are used in numerical models based on physical laws to produce weather, climate and water-related forecasts, predictions, and information products and services for use in daily lives, long-term decision-making and research.

GEN Events

Digital Innovation for MEAs: Knowledge Platforms and AI | Minamata Online

22 September 2026

Geneva Launch: Green Technology Book EXPO25 Special Edition | Advancing Climate Action Ten Years After the Paris Agreement

10 October 2025

World Wildlife Day 2024 Geneva Celebration | Connecting People and Planet: Exploring Digital Innovation in Wildlife Conservation

4 March 2024

Global Ocean and Coastal Observation: From Science to Decision-Making | Geneva Blue Talks

17 May 2022

From Data to Environmental Action | GRID-Geneva Science Day

17 November 2021

6th Dialogue of the Road to Bern via Geneva: On Environmental Data

19 May 2021

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