Together with the Alliance for the Strengthening of Digital Infrastructures in Germany, eco has published a position paper on the German Digital Policy Agenda for the Environment. German Federal Environment Minister Svenja Schulze presented the agenda, which had been worked out jointly by politics, administration, industry and science, in March this year. Among the more than 70 planned measures for sustainable digitalisation in Germany, there are also numerous signposts pointing the way to EU policy.
eco and the Alliance for the Strengthening of Digital Infrastructures, which was founded in 2018 under the umbrella of the eco Association, regard the Federal Environment Ministry’s initiative as a successful start to driving forward sustainable digitalisation. At the same time, the Association of the Internet Industry and the Alliance, consisting of digital infrastructure operators, consider further consultations and measures on the following key issues to be indispensable:
- Strengthening research and development
- Development of a cadastre of data centres
- Increasing the energy efficiency of data centres
- Strengthening national and European energy efficiency standards
- Strengthening and expansion of training and further education offers
Furthermore, within its EU Council Presidency, Germany should use the Digital Policy Agenda for the Environment as a working basis for shaping new measures, paths and standards for sustainable digitalisation in Europe. eco and the Alliance have developed a separate catalogue of demands and, with the support of the Vodafone Institute and the Borderstep Institute, a study on the subject.
Download the position paper on the environmental digital agenda
