Towards sustainable digital futures, a two-day symposium
Towards Sustainable Digital Futures: a two-day symposium
14 – 15 May 2025, The Edge, 34 Endcliffe Crescent, Sheffield, S10 3ED, UK
Over the past decades, digitalisation and sustainability have emerged as two of the most significant global trends, yet they have largely developed independently. Digitalisation is proposed as a solution to address global sustainability challenges such as climate change, environmental pollution, and biodiversity loss (United Nations 2018; Dwivedi et al. 2022). Nevertheless, technologies such as AI are partial and deceptive solutions to planetary crises if their sustainability is not addressed.
Alarming figures from scientific research have highlighted the detrimental environmental effects of digitalisation and datafication. The environmental impacts of digitalisation are significant and growing, with rising electricity consumption, water usage, and emissions from devices, networks, and data centers (Gelenbe, 2023; Lange et al., 2023; Li et al., 2023). Moreover, the extraction of critical minerals for digital devices as well as planned obsolescence and poor recycling cause severe ecological harm, particularly in the Global South (Lange et al., 2023).
Although societies want digital technologies to serve the social good, there has been far more focus on environmental harms of digital technologies than sustainable alternatives. In this symposium, we ask what a sustainable digital society looks like and how we get there. What kind of research is needed to make the digital future more sustainable?
The interdisciplinary symposium will include a keynote talk by Dr. Sebastián Lehuedé (King’s College London), eight panels of paper presentations of ongoing research on digital sustainability, and three workshops.
- When: 14-15 May 2025.
- Where: The Edge, 34 Endcliffe Crescent, Sheffield, S10 3ED.
- Participation fee: £120, or £90 for PhD students. The fee covers symposium attendance, refreshments, lunches and an evening meal on the first day. Travel and accommodation are not covered.
Registration is now closed
For questions and more information: please contact minna.vigren@lut.fi.
The symposium is a collaboration between the ESRC Digital Good Network and the Imagining Sustainable Digital Futures project (Research Council of Finland, 2022-2025).
Organising committee: Minna Vigren, Dorothea Kleine, Preeti Raghunath, and Thomas Wright
Programme
14 May
9.15-9.45 Arrivals
9.45-10 Opening words
10.00-11.15 Keynote talk by Dr. Sebastián Lehuedé (King’s College London): Hubris in the Amazon:
The Politics of AI Environmentalism
11.15-11.45 Coffee
11.45-13.00 Parallel Panels 1
13.00-14.00 Lunch
14.00-15.15 Parallel Panels 2
15.15-15.45 Coffee
15.45-17.15 Workshops
Workshop 1: Rebound Archetype Workshop
Workshop 2: Embedding Sustainability Concepts into Critical Digital Studies
Pedagogy
19.00 Dinner at Cambridge Street Collective
15 May
9.00-9.30 Morning coffee available
9.30-9.45 Reflections from day 1
9.45-11.00 Parallel Panels 3
11.00-11.30 Coffee break
11.30-13.00 Parallel Panels 4
13.00-14.00 Lunch break
14.00-15.30 Workshop 3: The Future of Digital Sustainability Research
15.30-16.00 Coffee break
16.00-16.45 Next steps and closing of the symposium
Keynote
Dr. Sebastián Lehuedé (King’s College London): Hubris in the Amazon: The Politics of AI Environmentalism
In the debate over AI and sustainability, techno-optimists—particularly Big Tech—often highlight ‘positive’ use cases in which AI is deployed in service of the environment. However, a critical analysis of such projects reveals that an underlying hubris is keeping them from addressing the main drivers of climate change and biodiversity loss. This is evident in Colombia, a biodiversity hotspot where environmental degradation is deeply tied to political violence and the criminalisation of peasants. In that country, projects such as Microsoft’s Guacamaya initiative against deforestation and a plant conservation experiment in the High Andes have envisaged strategies to make ‘AI work’ by containing the highly contested arenas in which they operate. Notably, in the case of the High Andes initiative, participatory AI is functioning both as a strategy of containment and as a catalyst for critical reflection on the project’s broader political impact. Drawing on political ecology and ethnographic research, this talk argues that while AI promises to ‘see’ what humans cannot, it often fails to bring humans into focus in environmental initiatives.
Sebastián is a Lecturer in Ethics, AI and Society at the Department of Digital Humanities, King's College London. His research looks at the intersection of AI and environmental justice with a focus on Latin America. Sebastián's previous project examined resistance against data centres and critical minerals extraction, and he is currently exploring Big Tech and smaller-scale environmental projects utilising AI. Sebastián has also written about digital technology in connection with sovereignty and coloniality. Sebastián is member of the Tierra Común academic-activist network and the International Panel on the Information Environment (IPIE).
Panels and workshops
14 May
1a) Representing Sustainabilities
Alison Powell (London School of Economics): Which Stories are Sustained? Countering Deceptive
Narratives in Sociotechnical Systems
Klaus Bruhn Jensen (University of Copenhagen), Ece Elbeyi (University of Copenhagen), Kiran
Kappeler (University of Copenhagen), Dechun Zhang (University of Copenhagen) & Yang Yang
(University of Copenhagen): Framing Futures: A Comparative Analysis of News Coverage of IoT and
Sustainability in Europe, the U.S., and China
Jake A Allcock (University of Sheffield): Ranking Cultures of Climate Change: A Multimodal Analysis
Beyond the Global North
1b) Concepts and Approaches for Digital Sustainability
Nicolas Zehner (TU Berlin), Rainer Rehak (Weizenbaum Institute and WZB Berlin Social Science
Center) & Jana Pannier (Weizenbaum Institute and WZB Berlin Social Science Center): Towards
“Informational Sustainability”: Sketching out a Research Agenda
Berit Wolff (Karlsruhe Institute of Technology): A Social Practice Approach to Sustainable Use of
Digital Technologies
George Pór (Future HOW): Beyond Sustainability: Steps Toward an AI-Assisted Wisdom Society
2a) Prefiguring Sustainable Technologies
Elisavet Christou (Lancaster University), Divya Jyoti (Lancaster University) & Craig Jones (Lancaster
University): Organisational Character and AI Ethos for Sustainable Digital Futures
Federica Lucivero (University of Oxford), Gabrielle Samuel (King’s College London), Mary Pitt
(King’s College London) & Marcia Tavares Smith (Lancaster University): Balancing Complexity and
Simplicity in Sustainable Practices in Digital Health: The Green Virtual Care Tool
Peter Craigon (University of Nottingham): Co-Creating Sustainable Digital Futures for the Wool
Industry
2b) Sustainable Digital Practices
Alex Potiguara (University of Sheffield): Indigenous Peoples and Digital Good Living
Vidya Pancholi (Lancaster University): Examining resistance for transformative adaptation: a case
study of digital adaptations initiatives in Bihar, India
Minna Vigren (LUT University): Fostering Eco-Digital Agency and Imagination for Sustainable Digital
Futures
15 May
3a) Degrowth, Re-use, and Technological Sustainabilities
Noam Bergman (University of Sussex): Degrowth and Sustainable Digital Futures
Jeanette D’Arcy (University of Liverpool), Rebecca Harris (University of Liverpool), Simeon Yates
(University of Liverpool), Emma Stone (Good Things Foundation) & Natasha Early (Good Things
Foundation): Exploring Circular Approaches: Reuse/Donation of IT Resources for Social Good
within the UK Public Sector
Gabrielle Samuel (King’s College London), Federica Lucivero (University of Oxford), Mary Pitt
(King’s College London) & Manjulika Vaz (King’s College London): Imagining through Practice: How
the Case of India’s Informal E-waste Sector Allows Us to Imagine Alternative Futures for Digital
Sustainability
3b) Regulatory Landscapes and Mapping the Field
Felippa Amanta (University of Oxford): Twin Transition: Policy Innovations for a Sustainable Digital
Future
Yiğit Soncul (University of the Arts London) & A.R.E. Taylor (University of Exeter): Nostalgia, Digital
Media, and the Climate Crisis
Sarah Hartley (University of Exeter), Aleksandra Stelmach (University of Exeter), Katie Ledingham
(University of Exeter) & Ernesto Schwarz-Marin (University of Exeter): A Critical Examination of AI for
Environment
Julin Huang (University of Sheffield): Returning to the Village: The Commodification of Rural
Influencers on Chinese Short-Video Platforms
4a) Digital Infrastructures
Boxi Wu (Oxford Internet Institute): Frictions in the Cloud – An Ethnographic Case Study of Local
Data Centre Contestation of the Havering Data Centre Campus in East London
Zhuolin Li (University of Leicester): Sustainable Digital Archives: Embodiment, Labour, and the
Material Challenges of Sound Heritage
Paulan Korenhof (Wageningen University & Research): Destination Earth or Europe? Boundary-
making in Socio-Technical Imaginaries of Europe's Digital Twin of the Earth
4b) Sustainable Digital Pedagogies
Kim R. Sylwander (London School of Economics and Political Science): Children’s Visions of
Sustainable Digital Futures
Susan Lechelt (University of Edinburgh), Luis Soares (University of Edinburgh) & Mary Michel
(Ostrero): Exploring Sustainable Computing Education with Schoolteachers
Giota Alevizou (King’s College London) & Rob Gallagher (King’s College London): A Speculative
Syllabus: From Futuristic Histories of the Digital to Designing Sustainable Digital Futures
Workshops
Workshop 1
Laetitia Bornes, Marcia Tavares Smith (Lancaster University) & Oliver Bates (Lancaster
University and fractals co-op): Rebound Archetype Cards workshop
During this workshop we will present 'Rebound Archetypes', a tool to help designers consider
rebound effects in their design process. By 'rebound effect' we mean any unintended consequence
resulting from an intervention (digital innovation, digital product or service, etc.) that goes against
the original intention or has negative social or environmental impact(s). The Rebound Archetypes
card-based tool has been developed to help designers facilitate workshops on rebound effects
with 'well-intentioned' stakeholders, such as mission-driven companies, NGOs and public sector
representatives. The tool enables participants to identify potential rebound effects, reflect on the
associated risks, and collectively decide what action to take, such as (a) cancelling or redefining
the intervention, (b) attempting to mitigate potential rebound effects, or (c) accepting the risk and
monitoring it.
The Rebound Archetypes cards were developed as a collaboration between the PARIS-DE project
and PhD research, and the development methodology was published in a paper at the RSD13
conference. They are licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 and are available online.
The workshop includes:
- Welcome participants & quick theoretical introduction to rebound effects
- Presentation of Rebound Archetypes cards using Vinted as an example
- Instructions and comprehension questions
- Group practice using the example of a digital service (e.g. Blablacar)
- Feedback and discussion
- Take-away and questionnaire
Workshop 2
Güneş Tavmen (King's College London): Embedding Sustainability Concepts into Critical
Digital Studies Pedagogy
We know that digital infrastructures—from AI to smartphones—are among the primary contributors
to environmental degradation and climate change. At the same time, many solutions to these
crises also depend on digital technologies. Given this paradox, this workshop invites participants
to reflect on teaching practices that critically engage with these complexities. How can we move
beyond a superficial focus on sustainability or development goals toward an ecologically aware
critical pedagogy (Freire, 1970)? Participants will explore the challenge of acknowledging digital
technologies’ role in the climate crisis while simultaneously relying on them. Furthermore, we will
consider how to cultivate an active, engaged pedagogy that fosters equitable, just, and sustainable
digital futures. To this end, participants will be encouraged to share their experiences, practices,
and the obstacles they face in pursuing this vision.
Workshop 3: The Future of Digital Sustainability Research
In the closing workshop of the symposium, we will collectively and in small groups reflect on where
we are currently at in digital sustainability research, what are the research gaps, and where should
go next.