Greening with Digital

Welcome to your course on Greening with Digital!

Digital technologies are both a contributor to environmental impact and a powerful enabler of sustainability across every other sector. This course equips policymakers to manage that dual role: reducing the carbon, e-waste and energy footprint of digital products, while using digital tools to deliver greener outcomes across the African economy.

The curriculum examines the environmental impact of technology and the legislative measures and smart policy mix that hold the agenda together. It then provides the practical toolkit, Extended Producer Responsibility, the Right to Repair, Second-Life and the Digital Product Passport, together with responsible business conduct foundations aligned to the UN Sustainable Development Goals. It closes with global product energy-efficiency policy and a localised course project.

By mastering these concepts, you will be equipped to design a greening-digital plan or a responsible-business framework tailored to your own context.

Learning Outcomes

Upon successful completion of this course, you will be able to:

• Identify the environmental impact of digital technology and the policy levers, such as EPR and a smart policy mix, available to reduce it.
• Analyse Extended Producer Responsibility, Right to Repair, Second-Life and Digital Product Passport policies within your localised context.
• Apply responsible business conduct principles and the relevant UN Sustainable Development Goals to digital-sector policy decisions.
• Evaluate the energy-efficiency policies, incentives and international collaboration required to deliver sustainable digital outcomes.

Who is this course for?

This course is designed for policymakers, regulators, and sustainability officials across Africa. It is highly beneficial for individuals who are:

• Involved in digital-sector policy, e-waste regulation, or sustainable procurement at national or municipal level.
• Seeking to design or implement Extended Producer Responsibility, Right to Repair, or energy-efficiency frameworks.
• Responsible for aligning digital-sector policy with the UN Sustainable Development Goals and continental sustainability agendas.