The role of digitalisation in driving sustainability and avoiding global crises
Photo: Juho Länsiharju
What digitalisation is today cannot remain the same in 2030. It’s a powerful tool that shapes the future of humanity. We must urgently set a healthy direction and establish clear rules to prevent catastrophe and guide progress responsibly.
Digitalisation is everywhere
Digitalisation is everywhere, profoundly influencing every aspect of our lives. It has transformed how we consume, interact, generate revenue, conduct business, learn, date, and even navigate life’s milestones—like divorcing or paying for services—all through digital means. Digital technology shapes how we operate and live in the physical world, intertwining our lives with the virtual like never before.
Our lives between the physical and digital are intertwined. The growing integration demands a heightened consciousness about the vision, direction, and logic behind the digital world we are creating. Digitalisation doesn’t just reflect our choices; it amplifies them. We’re on a fast-moving train, and the decisions we make now will determine whether we head toward progress or peril.
Digital has amplified new logics and enabled innovations
Let’s refresh our memories a little bit to get a better perspective on the progress of technology, digitalisation and the amplifying effect to the human experience. Digitalisation has evolved through five eras, each profoundly influencing how we live, work, and interact.
The pre-internet era (1950 – 1989): Foundation for the digital revolution and transformation was laid here. Companies focused on shifting outdated processes to digital data and manual work to digital form. The first social networks popped up.
The internet era (1990-2006): The rise of personal computers and the internet connected the world, breaking down silos suddenly enabling global collaboration. This created a need for business transformation and cultural change. Companies started to rethink their customer service, their value propositions and how they could interact with their customers. This is when Google, Amazon and Facebook were born.
The mobile era (2007-2019): Another foundation shift happened with the introduction of smartphones that transformed industries, creating new business models and revolutionising customer experiences. The mobile era opened up a world of possibilities, new business models, and the introduction of new social and mobile channels. This finally spiked digital transformation. Software started to disrupt every industry across the globe, and new software-centric players began to have the upper hand in this new world.
The post-pandemic era (2020-2022): The pandemic accelerated digital transformation, pushing companies to innovate in a contactless and remote world. This pushed many companies to level up their customer experience even to be even better and remold their business models.
The era of Generative AI (2022-Present): We are currently living in the midst of this. Advances in machine learning and tools like ChatGPT are reshaping how we work and interact, driving both progress and ethical dilemmas.
Each era has shaped our wellness, global conflicts, peace, and future in profound and complex ways. Digitalisation is political, social, economic, environmental, legal, and far more than just technological. This multifaceted nature demands that we approach it with a systemic, holistic and intentional approach.
Digitalisation is a double-edged sword
We must be serious about digitalisation’s dual role. It has immense potential to amplify both harm and hope. On one hand, technology can deepen injustice, perpetuate inequalities, and undermine democracy through cyberwarfare, AI-driven propaganda, and surveillance systems. On the other hand, it can revolutionise peacemaking, foster collaboration, and drive sustainable innovation. AI can predict conflicts, blockchain can enhance transparency, and digital platforms can connect stakeholders to find solutions to global challenges.
Digitalisation does not dictate outcomes—it amplifies the directions we choose. Democracies and leaders bear the responsibility to guide it toward equity, sustainability, and regeneration.
Digitalisation for sustainability: yes or no?
We are living in the Anthropocene—an era defined by humanity’s overwhelming influence on the planet, placing us at crossroads. Every choice we make—how we live, consume, and what we value—has profound consequences for the future of Earth and humanity. Yet, the path we are on leads to the sixth mass extinction, accelerating climate change, and the collapse of both human and planetary boundaries. While many claim that our systems are broken, I believe they are not. The systems we’ve built are products of their time, shaped by the needs of “humans as consumers”.
However, these systems are unsustainable—they are dismantling habitats, pushing species to extinction, and even harming human health. The way we operate as a global society is eroding the very foundation of life. The world we’ve constructed is not self-sustaining; it is coming undone. We need new systems—systems that regenerate rather than deplete our world.
Having worked in technology, I’ve witnessed how digitalisation can either guide humanity toward hope or push us toward despair. If we don’t critically examine the long-term impacts of our choices, we risk exchanging sunrises for storms. The systems we build today must not only sustain life; they must restore it.
Building a regenerative future
This is the era when we must seriously ask: how do we ensure that digitalisation becomes a force for regeneration? We can work within current systems and logics, but alongside them, we need to innovate. We must design new, regenerative systems, create services with fresh logics, and develop innovations that prioritise planetary wellness and human vitality.
Leaders, innovators, and individuals must take responsibility for the direction of digitalisation. By aligning technology with sustainability, equity, and innovation, we can create a future where digitalisation regenerates the planet instead of depleting it.