The search for sustainability through transformative technology

The pace of technological change makes it a challenge to assess the real-world impact and negative trade-offs in sustainability initiatives

Sustainability requires a transformation in the technologies we use – but it is greater than the raw mechanics of decarbonisation. Each new technology we use has implications for sustainable development that go beyond the pursuit of net zero.

At a panel discussion hosted by Lingnan University at the 2024 THE Global Sustainable Development Congress in Bangkok, Xi Chen, dean of the School of Interdisciplinary Studies at the university, argued that students needed to be taught to think more deeply about the technologies they used and the choices they made as consumers and in the workplace.

“When we are talking about sustainability, it is not just carbon,” Chen said. “Water is perhaps more important to some developing countries. We need to prepare students for various aspects of technology so that they can have more options, more choices – then they will look at the problem more broadly in their jobs.”

Some stubborn economic realities remained for decarbonisation, he added. For example, no new technology was perfect and fossil fuels remained the cheapest source of energy. The demand for electric cars might attenuate society’s carbon emissions but it comes at a price. Water consumption associated with the lifetime cycle of electric cars was about 15 times higher than that of petrol cars, he said. Lithium and rare metals needed for the construction of electric cars would inevitably put pressure on the sustainability of the mining industry. In urban centres, Chen added, there would be a struggle to build capacity for energy storage needs.

The panel said education would be key for producing the next generation of sustainability champions who possessed the skills and knowledge to deliver real-world innovations.

“The pedagogy that goes into teaching and learning drives innovation at our school,” said Sawaros Thanapornsangsuth, faculty and director of the Social Innovation Lab at Chulalongkorn University. “We encourage students to get hands-on practice using design thinking and thinking about going through the community to really understand the underlying problems that are the root cause of these social and environmental issues,” said Thanapornsangsuth. “Then, with the design process, they come up with ideas and address these with innovations.”

Those innovations will inevitably involve AI. Chen described it as an accelerator for sustainability innovation, allowing us to revolutionise our systems and processes, such as wastewater management. AI could be used to map out carbon emissions, enabling policymakers to coordinate a targeted response, he explained.

“We could track some of the most distributed emissions from cars and planes and whether the plane companies could reduce their emissions by using more energy-saving engine technologies,” Chen said. More fundamentally, AI would help us predict the future direction of technology’s evolution. The ability to achieve sustainability goals might rest upon the human ability to exploit cutting-edge technology.

“It requires a lot of efforts from universities and companies to dive into this field to accelerate its development,” said Liangliang Zhu, associate professor in the School of Chemical Engineering at Northwest University in the United States. “In a lot of fields, it requires the collaboration of many partners.”

Thanapornsangsuth said she encouraged her students to make partnerships with their local communities. Only then could they fully appreciate the impact of sustainable development, steering it to deliver maximum benefit to those who needed it most.

The panel:

• Xi Chen, dean, School of Interdisciplinary Studies, Lingnan University
• Jay Liu, chief engineer, Green Carbon Research Institute
• Sawaros Thanapornsangsuth, faculty and director of the Social Innovation Lab, Chulalongkorn University
• Hang Xiao, assistant professor, School of Interdisciplinary Studies, Lingnan University (chair)
• Liangliang Zhu, associate professor, School of Chemical Engineering, Northwest University

Find out more about Lingnan University.