Digitalisation and Natural Resources Project
This Action aligns to the following Calls to Action from the Circular Economy Action Agenda for Electronics:
1. Incentivize and support product design for circularity
Ambition
The Digitalisation and Natural Resources project aims at finding out how the actual material and resource requirements of the increasing demand in the ICT sector can be met within a circular approach. It stems from the acknowledgment of how digital solutions are essential to the transition to a circular economy and to the reduction of emissions, and from the question of ‘how the digitalisation megatrend is really sustainable?’.
By providing information on the raw material needs of digitalisation, the results of this project are intended to support the decision-making process.
Objectives
The project – financed by Sitra – has started in December 2020 and ended in June 2021.
Its objective was to examine the mineral resources required for digitalisation and the challenges and solutions related to them, particularly in Finland and the EU. To do so, it has looked at the following areas:
- Definition of digitalisation and characterising the field
- Overview of the need for mineral raw materials related to digitalisation
- Case studies: smartphone and smart TV
- Challenges in the EU and Finland and proposals for measures
Partners
Sitra, GTK, VTT, SYKE
