DEMO

The EU is betting its future on the twin digital and green transition. The European Green Deal refers to the green and digital “twin transition” and defines digital technologies as “a critical enabler for attaining the sustainability goals of the Green Deal”.

The general objective of DEMO is to understand the impact of digital practices on the green transition, and the imaginaries that underpin the digital transition in the energy and agri-food sectors. With that in mind, while carrying this project out we pursue three specific objectives:

– O1: Generate empirical knowledge about the imaginaries and practices of digitalisation of the energy and agri-food systems in Spain, through a mapping of existing initiatives and actors and the in-depth study of four case studies.

– O2: Building new, evidence-based theory on Digital Environmental Governance based on the empirical material and drawing on existing theories of geography, agrarian and energy studies, STS, and environmental governance and policy.

– O3: Based on the results of O1 and O2, developing policy tools and recommendations in order to improve the sustainability of digital practices in environmental governance and promote the co-production and implementation of sustainable digital policies, with particular attention to interactions with COVID-19 measures and regulations.

These objectives are articulated through three transversal research questions:

– RQ1: To what extent and how is the digital turn in the governance of energy and agri-food systems re-writing sustainability imaginaries and practices?

– RQ2: What are the economic, ecological, social and political dynamics that shape the implementation of digital technologies in energy and agri-food systems, and in turn, how does digitalisation redefine governance practices?

– RQ3: How should programs and regulations promoting digitalisation in the energy and agri-food sectors be designed and implemented to contribute to long-term social and environmental sustainability?