Digital cooperation for sustainability on Internet & Internet governance

NetMission Ambassador Blog Posts

Written by Tahmina Akter Supti, and Dziadatul Raudhah (Edited by Guntur Ramadhan and Jenna Fung)

Sustainability in Internet Governance

“Without a stepped up, smart and responsible use of technology, we will fail to reach the SDGs and we will miss opportunities to prevent conflict and sustain peace.”-    António Guterres

What is Sustainability?

Sustainability means meeting our own needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. In addition to natural resources, we also need social and economic resources. Sustainability is often defined as sustainability governance is the governance of organizations that is both lawful and which promotes a good life for all, now and far into the future. There are laws that promote sustainability, laws that are neutral, and laws that permit unsustainable behavior and governance. The interconnection of social connection, economic well-being, and a healthy environment.

As for the Internet, sustainability is mostly related to the environmental impact of Internet usage, including the Internet of Things (IoT). Each activity is done through the Internet by browsing pages, watching videos, and downloading photos using data. The production and storage of data require energy transmission. The more Internet activities done, the more Internet activities done and the larger amount of heat released to the environment which is less sustainable.

Diversity in Internet Governance

Diversity is a concept that encompasses acceptance and respect. It helps in recognizing and understanding each individual’s uniqueness and differences. Diversity includes a broad spectrum of demographic and philosophical differences, such as age, gender, race, and ethnicity. Diversity will create a success-oriented, cooperative, and compassionate society that will draw intellectual strength and build new solutions from the synergy of its members. Diversity plays a significant role in Internet governance. Since the Internet is used by everyone, it is important for diversified stakeholders to have a say on how the Internet should operate in the IG.

Diversity and digital cooperation in IGF

According to the Internet Governance Forum website, the Internet Governance Forum (IGF), convened by the United Nations Secretary-General, is the global multistakeholder forum for dialogue on Internet governance issues. IGF brings people together from various stakeholder groups as equals to discuss public policy concerning the Internet. IGF held annual meetings to discuss, exchange information, and share good practices with each other. Diversity can be seen through the involvement of diverse multi-stakeholders in IGF and Multistakeholder Advisory Group(MAG).

The IGF gives stakeholders from developed and developing countries the opportunity to engage in the debate on Internet governance and it contributes to capacity development and is necessary for advancing dynamic public policies in Internet governance.

Other than that, the Multistakeholder Advisory Group(MAG) is appointed by the UN Secretary-General to advise on the program and schedule of IGF annual meetings or intersessional activities. It consists of 40 members from governments, the private sector, civil society, and academic and technical communities, from all five UN regional groups (Africa, Asia-Pacific, Eastern Europe, GRULAC, WEOG).

Apart from that, there are some efforts towards building digital cooperation in IGF, that involve all multi-stakeholders. Digital cooperation is defined as ways of working together to address the social, ethical, legal, and economic impact of digital technologies that maximize benefits and minimize harm (Home | Internet Governance Forum, n.d.).

In July 2018, the UN Secretary-General appointed a High-level Panel to consider the issue of digital cooperation. In the June 2019 Report, the panel highlighted the need for strengthened digital cooperation to address challenges and provide opportunities for all and outlined three possible architectures/models for such cooperation. One of the models created is the IGF Plus. Meanwhile, in June 2020, the Secretary-General published a Roadmap for Digital Cooperation, building on the Panel’s report. Several measures intended to make the IGF more responsive and relevant to current digital issues are outlined:

  • Creating a strategic and empowered multi-stakeholder high-level body, building on the experience of the existing multi-stakeholder advisory group, which would address urgent issues, coordinate follow-up action on forum discussions and relay proposed policy approaches and recommendations from the Forum to the appropriate normative and decision-making forums;
  • Having a more focused agenda for the Forum based on a limited number of strategic policy issues;
  • Establishing a high-level segment and ministerial or parliamentarian tracks, ensuring more actionable outcomes;
  • Forging stronger links among the global Forum and its regional, national, subregional and youth initiatives;
  • Better integrating program and intersessional policy development work to support other priority areas outlined in the present report;
  • Addressing the long-term sustainability of the Forum and the resources necessary for increased participation, through an innovative and viable fundraising strategy, as promoted by the round table;
  • Enhancing the visibility of the forum, including through a stronger corporate identity and improved reporting to other United Nations entities.

Mozilla’s Climate Commitments

A sustainable internet is built to sustain economic well-being and meaningful social connection, just as it is mindful of a healthy environment. The internet has a significant carbon footprint of its own — data centers, offices, hardware, and more require vast amounts of energy. The climate crisis will have lasting effects on infrastructure, connectivity, and human migration. These affect the core of Mozilla’s business. Resilience and mitigation are therefore critical to our operations.

In this world, and looking toward desirable futures, sustainability is a catalyst for innovation. Mozilla is firmly committed to being carbon-neutral. In March 2020, Mozilla officially launched a dedicated Environmental Sustainability Programme. Mozilla will explore approaches to develop, design, and improve products from a sustainability perspective, including seeking collaborations to further amplify impact. To embark on this journey towards environmental sustainability, they’ve set three strategic goals:

  • Reduce and mitigate Mozilla’s operational impact;
  • Train and develop Mozilla staff to build with sustainability in mind;
  • Raise awareness for sustainability, internally and externally.

They are currently busy conducting our Greenhouse Gas (GHG) baseline emissions assessment, and we will publish the results later this year. This will only be the beginning of our sustainability work. We are already learning that transparently and openly creating, developing, and assessing GHG inventories, sustainability data management platforms, and environmental impact is a lot harder than it should be, given the importance of these assessments.

Google

Sustainability has been a core value for Google since its inception. They were the first major company to become carbon neutral in 2007 and the first major company to match energy use with 100 percent renewable energy in 2017 — and have continued to do so every year since. Google has been carbon neutral each year since 2007, which means that it offsets the emissions it generates from burning fossil fuels by investing in renewable energy projects or other initiatives that draw carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere and into storage. Google just made one of Big Tech’s most ambitious environmental commitments: it will work to run its operations purely on carbon-free energy by 2030.

To embark on this journey towards environmental sustainability, they’ve taken some steps-

  • Google Energy LLC
  • Carbon-Carbon-intelligent Computing
  • Water-Water Positive Replenishing more water than consumed
  • Circular Economy-Zero Waste to Landfill

EU’s digital rights and principle for sustainable development 

The European Commission, in a global first, proposed a set of digital rights and principles that aim to protect people’s rights, support democracy and ensure a fair and safe online environment. The work of the European Union on internet governance is strongly related to the overarching themes and policy initiatives around economic integration, the single market, and the four fundamental freedoms of the Union: the free movement of goods, capital, services, and people. Those rights and principles also cover digital devices, ensuring that the products support the bloc’s sustainability and green transition goals, with details provided on their environmental impact and energy consumption. 

A set of principles for a human-centered digital transformation. This European Declaration on Digital rights and principles would be a reference framework for people and a guide for businesses and policy-makers. 

The European digital principle shall guide action and assess for all to the internet. Secure online space, the right to learn digital skills, and protest for children online.

References

Working groups. (n.d.). IETF. Retrieved February 20, 2022, from https://www.ietf.org/how/wgs/