Collateral transitions. Reassembling societies, data centres and the twin transition

Carsten Horn (Corresponding author), Ulrike Felt

Publications: Contribution to journalArticlePeer Reviewed

Abstract

The so-called ‘twin transition’ is the latest buzzword in the European Union's (EU) policy discourse. It promotes digital technologies as privileged tools to achieve the ambitious goals of the European Green Deal. Much of the literature focuses on implementations of projects that are both ‘digital’ and ‘green’. By contrast, in this paper, we follow an emerging strand of research that takes the ‘twin transition’-discourse seriously as a (European) policy object. We expand this perspective by exploring how the ‘twin transition’-discourse was translated into two the vastly different political contexts of Austria and Ireland. Our argument is that the timing of this translation shapes the function it plays. In Ireland where the digital transition has already become a material reality in the form of increasingly controversial data centers, it becomes a justification that makes these data centers a part of the solution rather than an environmental problem. In Austria, which perceives itself as in need to catch up with regard to the digital transition, the discourse is shaped by data discussions around the COVID crisis and becomes embroiled in debates about the direction the digital transition should take. Our comparative approach renders visible the diverse environmental and societal consequences of the "twin transition", which we refer to as “collateral transitions.” This challenges the language of two intertwining transitions. We argue that to properly assess the full impact of the ‘twin transition’ and its potentials, we need to attend to these underlying, unintended transitions.

Original languageEnglish
Article number104122
JournalEnvironmental Science and Policy
Volume170
Early online date10 Jun 2025
DOIs
Publication statusE-pub ahead of print - 10 Jun 2025

Funding

This research was carried out as part of the research project \u201CInnovation Residues. Modes and Infrastructures of Caring for our Longue-dur\u00E9e Environmental Futures\u201D (INNORES) funded by the European Research Council (ERC) Advanced Grant (2023-2027), grant agreement: 1010545.

FundersFunder number
European Research Council1010545

    Austrian Fields of Science 2012

    • 509017 Social studies of science
    • 509025 Technology studies
    • 509026 Digitalisation research

    Keywords

    • European union
    • Data centers
    • Twin transition
    • Digital solutionism
    • Collateral transition
    • Policy object

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