“This report addresses the question of the role of digital technology, and more specifically digital data, for a sustainable future. Among the data that allow us to measure progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the ESG data (Environmental, Societal, Governance) produced by the private sector is the perfect example of capture by a monopolistic group of actors to the detriment of the rest of the stakeholders and a global effort. This configuration symbolizes the effect of ‘platformization’ and privatization of crucial information for the implementation of the SDGs by companies. If digital is at the origin of this asymmetry, it is also the bearer of virtuous systems such as digital commons.”
« Our house is burning, and we are leaving the thermometer in a few hands»
We are convinced that a ‘Green – Digital New Deal’ is possible if we create a digital common for ESG data, managed by the UN, to fully benefit from the potential of big data and open data.
This ambition aims to create the conditions for trust necessary to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) through the triptych:
- SHARED INFRASTRUCTURE : replace the manufacturing of information asymmetry between providers with a non-proprietary technological solution that is reasoned and painless for all actors (coordinated by the World Intellectual Property Organization – WIPO).
- COLLECTIVE GOVERNANCE : rely on the governance of a community of trustworthy operational actors at the global level (to ensure the involvement of stakeholders in this mission of general interest).
- TRUSTED DATA : guarantee access to a global registry of “raw” extra-financial data (data non-intermediated/biased via an Open Source Software Forge).
