Greening the super highway: practical steps to sustainability in the information society

Abstract

The EC‐funded Alliance for a Sustainable Information Society (ASIS) was set up to investigate the potential synergy between Information Society Technologies (IST) and sustainable development. While applauding universal access to knowledge and understanding, ASIS warns of the potential “rebound effects” of IST in terms of the environment. Can underlying patterns of lifestyles and behaviour, particularly related to consumption, be reformed? Can IST satisfy our needs at a less material level? Scenario modelling offers some tantalising clues, but points consistently to the need to build a new framework for global consensus.

Citation

Tochtermann, K. (2001), "Greening the super highway: practical steps to sustainability in the information society", Foresight, Vol. 3 No. 2, pp. 113-121. https://doi.org/10.1108/14636680110803049