Aug 2026· Discover Environment· Vol 4· 0 citations· 37 references
TL;DR
It is argued that achieving a truly green digital transformation requires aligning technological innovation with ecological priorities, strengthening regulatory frameworks, and fostering cross-sector collaboration to ensure that Surakarta’s digital growth contributes meaningfully to environmental resilience and long-term ecological well-being.
Abstract
This study explores the environmental dimensions of Surakarta’s emerging digital ecosystem by examining how digital transformation intersects with sustainability goals. As the city accelerates its shift toward a technology-driven economy, digital infrastructure, smart services, and innovation hubs such as Solo Technopark present significant opportunities to reduce resource consumption, improve environmental monitoring, and support greener urban management. Findings from interviews and document analysis reveal that digital initiatives, ranging from smart mobility systems to eco-efficient business processes, hold strong potential to lower emissions and enhance environmental governance. However, several sustainability barriers persist, including rising energy demand from data-driven operations, limited integration of green standards into ICT development, and gaps in environmental awareness among stakeholders. Additionally, insufficient green infrastructure and uneven technological capacity hinder the transition toward an environmentally responsible digital ecosystem. This study argues that achieving a truly green digital transformation requires aligning technological innovation with ecological priorities, strengthening regulatory frameworks, and fostering cross-sector collaboration. By highlighting both the potential and the obstacles, the research underscores the need for a sustainability-centered digital strategy to ensure that Surakarta’s digital growth contributes meaningfully to environmental resilience and long-term ecological well-being.
The United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are now digitalized. Digital inclusion, which means ensuring that people and communities can access affordable internet, devices, digital skills, and useful content, has become a vital strategy towards accelerating progress toward the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This paper examines how digital inclusion creates sustainable impact across economic, social, and environmental dimensions. It identifies key pathways for transformation, highlights ongoing barriers, and provides recommendations for policy and implementation. Using data from global reports and academic research, this study shows that true digital inclusion is not just a technological issue; it is also a social and governance necessity for achieving the SDGs more quickly. This systematic review consolidates research on digital inclusion and its sustainable impact. It emphasizes transformational strategies to accelerate progress toward the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). It addresses ongoing inequalities in access to technology and digital skills, and supports effective policy formulation. Collaborative, inclusive policy frameworks are essential to ensuring equitable digital access; however, issues of fragmented execution and governance persist. Innovative technologies such as AI, 5G/6G, IoT, blockchain, cloud computing, remote sensing, and fintech have distinct impacts across sectors, including education, agriculture, finance, and governance, thereby advancing several SDGs. However, issues like infrastructure gaps and affordability pose challenges.
Anjali Dixit, Kana Mukherjee, Vivek Kumar et al.· International journal of com...· 0 citations
Globalization is reshaping rural economies through digital transformation and increasing environmental pressures, creating both opportunities and challenges for women-led entrepreneurship. In this context, technological innovation has emerged as a key mechanism for promoting sustainability, competitiveness, and inclusion. The objective of this study is to analyze two emerging global trends—namely inclusive digitalization and climate-smart technologies—and their implications for rural women entrepreneurship within a prospective horizon of 2026–2031. The research adopts a qualitative approach with an interpretative and prospective orientation, based on documentary analysis of academic literature and international institutional reports. The findings reveal that inclusive digitalization facilitates market access, enhances business visibility, and improves productivity by enabling rural women entrepreneurs to overcome structural and geographical barriers. At the same time, climate-smart technologies contribute to strengthening resilience and sustainability in rural production systems by optimizing resource use and improving adaptive capacity in the face of climate change. However, the results also indicate that persistent structural inequalities, particularly in terms of gender, access to technology, and digital capabilities, continue to limit the full potential of these innovations. The study concludes that technological innovation plays a multidimensional role in rural development, simultaneously influencing economic performance, environmental sustainability, and social equity. It also highlights the need for inclusive innovation ecosystems and targeted policies to ensure that technological transformation leads to equitable and sustainable outcomes for rural women entrepreneurs.
Evelyn Guerra· Journal of Business and Eco...· 0 citations
Climate change and global environmental challenges have heightened the urgency for organizations to adopt sustainable practices. In this context, green intellectual capital (GIC) emerges as a strategic resource that supports green innovation and enhances environmental performance. This study discusses how GIC drives green innovation and improves environmental performance. It also identifies implementation challenges across sectors and geographic contexts, with particular attention to developing countries. Using a scoping review framework based on Arksey and O’Malley, 62 articles published between 2022 and 2024 were identified, of which 11 were analyzed in depth using thematic synthesis. The findings reveal that GIC strengthens firms' dynamic capabilities to adopt environmentally friendly technologies and promotes the integration of advanced tools such as artificial intelligence and big data into green innovation processes. Moreover, aligning GIC with green supply chain management significantly improves environmental performance, especially by reducing carbon emissions and increasing energy efficiency. Nevertheless, infrastructural and resource limitations in developing countries continue to hinder the effective mobilization of GIC, limiting its potential contribution to sustainability. This study emphasizes the need for stronger policy frameworks and organizational strategies to support the development of GIC. The study contributes to the literature by clarifying the interrelationships among GIC, green innovation, and environmental performance across different institutional contexts, while also strengthening the theoretical integration between sustainability-oriented perspectives and intellectual capital literature. The findings highlight that effective utilization of GIC can transform ecological challenges into innovation, resilience, and long-term sustainability opportunities.
Amrie Firmansyah· International Journal of Ent...· 0 citations
This study explores the dynamic relationship between digital development and ecological sustainability across 37 Organization for Economic Co‐operation and Development countries from 2007 to 2022. Applying the two‐step system Generalized Method of Moments (SYS‐GMM), the analysis provides robust evidence that digital economy significantly reduces ecological footprint, reinforced by both direct effect and nonlinear characteristics. Observably, enhanced digital infrastructure, particularly through expanded broadband access and digital connectivity, facilitates the deployment of smart technologies, real‐time environmental monitoring, and automation across sectors, thereby improving resource efficiency and lowering ecological pressures. This empirical pattern advances Ecological Modernization Theory by demonstrating that the environmental dividends of digitalization are not automatic but emerge as digital systems evolve from foundational infrastructure and market penetration toward intelligent ecosystems that enable systemic efficiencies, renewable integration, and circular resource flows. Additionally, the findings emphasize the transformative role of energy transition as the principal pathway through which digitalization translates into tangible environmental gains, enabling smarter energy systems, accelerating the shift toward renewables, and amplifying the ecological benefits of digital innovation. However, it uncovers a notable tension: intensified fiscal environmental governance can significantly dampen the positive influence of digitalization on renewable energy transitions, reflecting mismatches between regulatory rigidity and the rapid innovation cycles of digital technologies. Therefore, the study concludes that the ecological benefits of digital transformation are contingent on surpassing developmental thresholds within adaptive institutional and policy environments that align digital expansion with green innovation systems, thus preventing technological lock‐in and ensuring that digital economies evolve into active enablers of sustainability.
Francis Tang Dabuo, Lingyan Xu, Beverlley Madzikanda et al.· Natural resources forum (Pri...· 0 citations
Green innovation is vital for tackling climate change and promoting sustainable development, especially in least developed countries like Nepal, which faces unique socioeconomic and environmental hurdles. Despite commitments under the Nationally Determined Contributions, there is a significant gap between the development and practical implementation of green innovations. This study analyses the factors contributing to this gap and proposes a green growth framework that balances economic, social, and environmental priorities. Employing qualitative methods, the research involved content analysis of semistructured interviews with six experts during the OCEM Second International Conference on Green Technologies and Sustainability for a Sustainable Future.
Key findings indicate that the practical application of green innovations is hindered by weak policy enforcement, limited institutional coordination, inadequate financial incentives, and poor linkages among research institutions, educational systems, and industry. Although there is growing awareness of environmental sustainability and increased individual adoption of green practices, systemic barriers such as outdated curricula, lack of technical standards, and insufficient knowledge dissemination impede large-scale implementation. The study also highlights the underutilisation of indigenous knowledge and locally adapted, low-cost solutions as missed opportunities to bolster resilience and sustainability, particularly in rural areas.
The findings, informed by political ecology and socio-technical transition theory, suggest that the main challenges stem from structural and governance-related issues rather than technological shortcomings. The study concludes that fostering green growth in Nepal requires integrated policy frameworks, enhanced institutional capacity, inclusive governance, and collaboration among academia, industry, communities, and policymakers to bridge the gap between innovation and practice, thereby supporting equitable and context-sensitive development
Manufacturing firms in emerging economies face growing pressure to address environmental challenges while adopting digital technologies. However, how digital transformation translates into sustainability improvements remains unclear. Drawing on stakeholder theory and dynamic capability theory, this study examines a capability–innovation pathway linking digital transformation to sustainable performance. Data from 286 Vietnamese manufacturing firms were analyzed using partial least squares structural equation modeling. The results show that digital transformation is not directly associated with green innovation or sustainable performance but is positively associated with AI capability and corporate social responsibility (CSR). AI capability is associated with sustainable performance indirectly through green innovation, indicating that technological capabilities may need to be translated into environmentally oriented innovation to create sustainability benefits. Green innovation shows the strongest direct association with sustainable performance, while CSR and green organizational culture are associated with stronger sustainability outcomes by promoting responsible behavior and embedding environmental values into practices. These findings clarify how digital transformation supports sustainability in emerging economy manufacturing firms.
B. Truong, P. Van Nguyen, D. Vrontis et al.· Business Strategy and the En...· 0 citations
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