In the context of the 2023 Internet Governance Forum (IGF), EU Cyber Direct and the European Commission's Directorate-General for Communications Networks, Content and Technology (DG Connect) organised a workshop to engage with the multistakeholder community and develop recommendations towards the operationalisation of the Declaration for the Future of the Internet (DFI) commitment to 'cooperate to maximise the enabling effects of technology for combatting climate change and protecting the environment whilst reducing as much as possible the environmental footprint of the Internet and digital technologies'.
In particular, the discussion focussed on the following policy questions:
1. How can policymakers and stakeholders collaborate to develop and implement policies, incentives, and standards that promote the responsible and sustainable use of digital technologies, while maximising the potential of those technologies to combat climate change and protect the environment?
2. What strategies and frameworks can be established to ensure that the deployment of digital technologies (AI, supercomputing, data pooling) addresses environmental considerations consistently and contributes to the global effort to achieve climate neutrality?
3. How can the multi-stakeholder community foster open, transparent and inclusive dialogue between various stakeholders to identify, share, and scale up best practices and innovative solutions for leveraging digital technologies in addressing environmental challenges?
