绿色数字外交：欧盟是时候发挥领导作用了（英）

© European Union Institute for Security Studies, 2021.The views expressed in this publication are solely those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the European Union.BRIEF / 18Sep 2021GREEN DIGITAL DIPLOMACYTime for the EU to leadbyPatryk PawlakBrussels Executive Officer, EUISSFabio BarberoProject Officer for EU Cyber Direct, EUISSINTRODUCTIONIn the second that just elapsed, over 116 terabytes of data were exchanged throughout the internet (1), an amount comparable to ten times that produced by the Hubble Space Telescope in one year (2). Data has become an essential resource for economic growth, job creation and societal progress. It will ‘reshape the way we produce, consume and live’ (3).However, our increasingly digital way of life comes at a cost for the environment. The 2020 speech ‘The state of the planet’ by UN Secretary-General António Guterres made it clear: the world economy needs to transform to embrace a sustainable economic mod-el with cleaner infrastructure, including digital and internet infrastructure (4). It is a global problem that requires a concerted international effort. And yet the environmental impact of new technologies is hardly addressed as a foreign policy issue. The EU–Japan Green Alliance signed in May 2021, despite being rela-tively comprehensive, does not make any reference to the environmental challenges of digital transition (5). The partnership between the European Commission and Breakthrough Energy Catalyst (6) to boost invest-ments in critical climate technologies focuses on green hydrogen, direct air capture, long-duration Summary › To be responsible digital players, states need to address the environmental cost of using digital services that rely on large volumes of data and to promote green so-lutions as part of their international digital engagement strategies. › For the EU’s foreign policy, this means embracing ‘green digital diplomacy’ as one of the priorities and a chance to exercise normative leadership. › Green digitalisation represents a strate-gic opportunity for the EU’s foreign and security policy to exercise influence in times of geopolitical competition and trade tensions. › It is also a means to strengthen the resil-ience and reduce the vulnerability of part-ner countries while at the same time con-tributing to the EU’s own security in the long term.› Concrete objectives for the EU’s green digital diplomacy should include promot-ing globally sustainable data practices, strengthening the focus on sustainability as a shared responsibility, and fostering good practices in ‘green by design’ ap-proaches to digital transition.2PaTRyk Pawlak aND FaBIO BaRBEROenergy storage and sustainable aviation fuels, but not on the information technology sector.This is puzzling given that data centres that power the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) sector generate up to 2 % of global carbon emis-sions, a number comparable to the aviation sector (7). The ICT sector accounts fo