Digital Sustainability: Key Definitions and Concepts: Key Definitions and Concepts

Current market dynamics require organisations to compete in a hypercompetitive environment that is constantly reshaped by digital transformation. At the same time, organisations face growing pressure to implement more sustainable practices in their day-to-day operations and contribute to the UN Sustainable Development Goals. This has led to two discrete research fields in the wider sustainability domain, namely research that explores and addresses (1) the environmental impact of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) themselves (Green IT), and (2) the design and promotion of applications of ICTs to reduce adverse environmental impacts of ICTs (Green IS). While these fields have been typically explored separately in the academic literature, recent studies have proposed the idea of ‘digital sustainability’ which highlights the presence of potential valuable synergies between them. This chapter aims to define what we mean by digital sustainability and discusses some of the main trends, themes and concepts related to digital sustainability before discussing the different topics covered in the remainder of the book.