Embracing Sustainable Digitalization Responsibly: Ecotheological and Ethical Perspectives on Technology, Ecology, and Biotic Well-Being

Abstract

The accelerated adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) and digital technologies is transforming both society and ecosystems. While digitalization is often promoted as a tool for sustainability, critics point to its significant environmental footprint, including energy-intensive data centers, rare resource extraction, and electronic waste. Noreen Herzfeld (2025) emphasizes that AI and digital infrastructures are not ethically neutral: their design, deployment, and scale have profound ecological consequences that require careful scrutiny. This paper explores how ecotheology can serve as a critical lens for analyzing these developments. Drawing on Herzfeld’s insights and relevant papal documents – Laudato si’ (2015), Antiqua et nova (2025), and Pope Francis’s 2024 World Day of Peace message – the paper argues that ethical and spiritual reflection is essential for evaluating the ecological implications of AI and digitalization. Laudato si’ provides a framework of integral ecology, emphasizing the interconnectedness of technological progress, environmental responsibility, and human well-being, while Antiqua et nova highlights AI’s dual potential: supporting sustainability efforts but also imposing significant environmental costs. Guided by this framework, the paper addresses the fol-lowing research questions: How can ecotheology provide an ethical frame-work for evaluating the ecological impacts of AI and digital technologies? In what ways can moral and spiritual reflection guide sustainable AI practices while minimizing environmental costs? How can ecotheological principles, such as those highlighted in Laudato si’, inform responsible design, deployment, and governance of digital infrastructures? How can a relational and ethical perspective help move beyond polarized narratives that present digitalization as either destructive or salvific for the planet? Finally, what normative criteria and practical guidelines can ecotheology offer to align techno-logical innovation with care for creation and human well-being? By integrating ecotheological critique with technological analysis, the paper moves beyond simplistic dichotomies toward a nuanced understanding that considers relational, ethical, and ecological responsibilities. Ecotheology offers normative criteria and reflective tools to guide sustainable AI practices, fostering alignment between technological innovation and care for creation. Ultimately, this approach underscores the indispensable role of ethical discernment in shaping a digital future that genuinely supports ecological sustainability.