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7 September 2024

A Sustainable Future Within Reach: The Promise Of Digital Transformation – OpEd

Armida Salsiah Alisjahbana and Zhaslan Madiyev

The development paradigm has shifted to ‘digital by default’ as a norm, reshaping societies and economies. As a hub for digitally driven innovations, Asia and the Pacific is well positioned to leverage the transformative potential of digital technologies to accelerate progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals. Emerging technologies are enabling smarter climate action, building more disaster-resilient cities and optimizing urban development. Artificial intelligence is helping improve the accuracy of early warning systems for disasters by providing the right information that reaches all the right people at the right time. Digital finance is more inclusive – expanding access especially for marginalized groups – while digital government platforms likewise enable public services to reach all citizens more effectively and efficiently.

The Asia-Pacific Digital Transformation Report 2024, which will be launched this week, demonstrates how digital innovations have enabled more sophisticated climate mitigation and adaptation measures across infrastructure, governance, mobility, industry and trade, disaster risk reduction, and agricultural and biodiversity ecosystems. Drawing from International Energy Agency data, the deployment of digital technologies and big data could save $80 billion per year or around 5 per cent of total world annual power generation costs, while digitalization can help the integration of renewables by enabling smart grids to better match energy demand.

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