Apology of Green Digitalization in the Context of Information and Climate Feedback Theory

TL;DR

This paper introduces the information and climate feedback (ICF) theory to model how digitalization impacts climate, highlighting risks like digital overheating and proposing sustainable metrics and policies for greener digital infrastructure.

Contribution

It presents a novel nonlinear ICF model incorporating delays and sensitivity parameters, linking digitalization processes with climate feedback mechanisms.

Findings

Identified critical regimes such as digital overheating and infrastructural collapse.

Developed a formal differential equations model with delays and stability analysis.

Proposed metrics and an international Green Digital Accord for sustainable digitalization.

Abstract

Amid accelerated digitalization, not only is the scale of data processing and storage increasing, but so too is the associated infrastructure load on the climate. Current climate models and environmental protocols almost entirely overlook the impact of information and communication technologies on the thermal and energy balance of the biosphere. This paper proposes the theory of information and climate feedback (ICF) as a new nonlinear model describing the loop of digitalization, energy consumption, the thermal footprint, the climatic response, and the vulnerability of digital infrastructure. The system is formalized via differential equations with delays and parameters of sensitivity, greenness, and phase stability. A multiscenario numerical analysis, phase reconstructions, and thermal cartography were conducted. Critical regimes, including digital overheating, fluctuational instability, and infrastructural collapse in the absence of adaptive measures, were identified. The paper concludes with the proposal of an international agreement titled the Green Digital Accord and a set of metrics for sustainable digitalization. This work integrates climatology, information technologies, and the political economy of sustainability.