Digital solutions for sustainable development
Track 21
Track chairs
Marc-Fabian Körner
SnT, University of Luxembourg
Juuli Lumivalo
Faculty of Information Technology, University of Jyväskylä
Kenan Degirmenci
Queensland University of Technology
Track description
As the climate crisis accelerates, there is an urgent need for innovative strategies and digital solutions to decarbonise, adapt, and build environmental, social, and economic sustainability. Information Systems (IS) research is central to this endeavor, informing the design, implementation, and transformation of digital solutions that shape pathways toward sustainable development (Fuldauer et al., 2022; Boh et al., 2023). The IS community plays a pivotal role, not only by reducing the environmental footprint of information systems, but also examining how digital technologies can serve as critical enablers of sustainable solutions in business, society, and the public sector (Melville, 2010; Watson et al., 2010; Gholami et al., 2016).
Designing and implementing innovative and effective solutions for sustainability is a scholarly, societal, and moral imperative. Advancement towards the holistic objectives of sustainability demands rigorous understanding and actionable insights into the challenges and opportunities presented by rapid digitalisation (Soergel et al., 2021; Seidel et al., 2017). While no single discipline can solve these Grand Challenges alone (Gholami et al., 2016), IS research is uniquely positioned to offer substantive contributions by bridging knowledge, theory, and practice (Elliot, 2011; Melville, 2010).
This track recognises the significant and dynamic role IS can play in enabling sustainable outcomes, not only by lessening its own environmental footprint but by driving transformation at multiple levels and across industries. Digital innovations, platforms, and data-driven decision support can shape sustainable business models, energy and mobility transitions, and collaboration across sectors. There is a timely opportunity to uncover how micro-level IS-enabled choices aggregate into macro-level sustainability impacts and vice versa. A key challenge lies in understanding how individual behaviours, decisions, and perceptions interact with system-level dynamics to shape sustainability outcomes. This includes examining feedback loops, temporal and social trade-offs, and the role of digital technologies in mediating decision-making under uncertainty.
The track is closely aligned with AIS Special Interest Group on Green IS (SIG Green), recognising our dual responsibility to minimise the environmental impact of IS and catalyse change across sectors. We welcome contributions spanning the spectrum of IS research, including foundational theory, methodology, case studies, and cross-disciplinary collaborations. Hence, this track invites contributions that extend the boundaries of IS research for sustainability. Empirical research drawing on diverse organisational, societal, and geographical contexts (including often overlooked regions (Boh et al., 2023)) as well as drawing on local and Indigenous perspectives, will enrich our understanding of how sustainability objectives are enacted in practice. Submissions that foster our understanding of collaborative value co-creation, green digital innovation, and systemic trade-offs are encouraged, as are those illuminating real-time feedback, behavioral change, and long-term transformation.
Through this track, we call for submissions that are conceptually innovative, empirically robust, methodologically rigorous, and that engage substantively with the IS discipline. By situating IS at the intersection of societal, environmental, and ethical considerations, this track offers a platform for research that is capable of driving meaningful scholarly and societal impact.
Topics of interest
- Design and implementation of information systems for ecological and social challenges
- Green IS innovations in energy, mobility, and infrastructure sectors
- Value co-creation, sufficiency policies, and sustainable business model transformation via IS
- Emerging IS technologies (e.g., AI, IoT, blockchain) for climate action and SDG advancement
- Power, transparency, and accountability in digital sustainability systems
- Micro-to-macro perspectives: IS-enabled behaviour change and systemic sustainability impacts
- Agentic AI and decision support for sustainable behaviour
- Adoption paradoxes in sustainable technologies (e.g., solar, EVs, VPPs)
- Human–AI interaction in sustainability contexts
- Platforms, digital ecosystems, and data-sharing for sustainability
- Circular economy models and closed-loop systems enabled by IS
- How IS design, implementation and use can move us from sustainable to flourishing societies
- How local and Indigenous knowledge perspectives can improve understanding and action with respect to digital sustainability
- Digital technology as a mediator in the human-nature relationship and implications for sustainability
- Mitigating negative consequences of digital technologies in shaping sustainability representations, e.g., greenwashing
Associate editors
Philipp Staudt
Karlsruhe Institute of Technology
Jiyong Park
University of Georgia
Julia Zeller-Lanzl
University of Hamburg
Robert Keller
Kempten University of Applied Sciences, Germany
Adela Chen
Colorado State University
Magnus Mähring
Stockholm School of Economics
John Rios
University of Georgia, USA
Chadi Aoun
Carnegie Mellon University, Qatar
Claris Chung
University of Auckland, New Zealand
Aymeric Hemon-Hildgen
University of Nantes, France
Oliver Werth
OFFIS
Harri-Oinas Kukkonen
University of Oulu
Jenny Elo
University of Tampere
Anika Schröder
IT University of Copenhagen
Sarah Cherki El Idrissi
University of Toronto Mississauga
