Kerstin Fritzsche, Kai Andreas Ingólfsson, Dr Thomas Müller and Alberto Jimenez Mendoza
Rising CO2 emissions, toxic pollutants contaminating soils, plastic garbage pouring into the oceans – modern production and consumption patterns have devastating effects on our environment. Digital technologies do not only offer ways to collect environmental data along global value chains and individual behaviour, they enable, through Artificial intelligence and machine learning, innovative approaches to environmental governance for public and private entities. But how much decision power should we lend the machine in order to retrieve a natural equilibrium? Bringing together experts from economics, civil society and academia, our panel sheds light on ground-breaking datafication and sustainability management solutions manifesting today as well as plausible future developments for environmental governance. We will present and critically discuss new digital governance tools as well as pilot projects testing their implementation for individuals, communities and companies. Together, our experts and the audience will explore how digital technologies can contribute to solving some of the most pressing environmental challenges — thus paving the way towards sustainable modes of production and consumption — and discuss the ethical and normative questions raised by AI-based environmental governance and decision-making. Our panellists are: • Kai Andreas Ingólfsson, CTO, Earth Intelligence System (EIS) • Kerstin Fritzsche, Senior Research Associate, Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies (IASS) and consultant for the European Autonomous Environmental Governance Initiative • Dr. Thomas Müller, human-machine mediator, founder of HuMM (Human-Machine Mediation) The panel discussion will be moderated by: Alberto Jiménez Mendoza, journalist and author.
