Jekyll And Hyde: The Dual Role Of Disruptive Technologies In Sustainability

Disruptive technologies are a double-edged sword for environmental sustainability, offering both crucial enablers and significant challenges. On the positive side, technology innovations accelerate energy and resource efficiency, aid in climate adaptation and risk mitigation, monitor crucial sustainability metrics, and even help in environmental conservation. However, the necessary compute power, volume of waste, types of materials needed, and scale of implementing these technologies can offset their benefits. In this report, we examine the dual roles of six disruptive technologies and illustrate the beneficial use cases to guide sustainability and technology leaders on how to use them for good.