TechPlus+

Digital Technologies and Sustainable Development: The Missing Link

12 November 202213 November 2022

Raul Zambrano

Climate Change, Economics, Governance, Human Development, ICTD

Context Nowadays, digital technologies occupy most interstices of society. While the global pandemic exposed glaring gaps, especially in developing countries, avoiding their mantra seems torturous. Undoubtedly, their rapid diffusion in the last 30 years is historical (Comin & Mestieri, 2018). Read more

ICTs and Emissions – IV

5 November 20229 November 2022

Raul Zambrano

Climate Change, Economics, Governance, Human Development, ICTD

Environmental Footprints As previously mentioned, data centers (DCs) depend not only on energy consumption but also require plenty of water for survival, just like humans. We thus have increasing competition for a critical resource, especially when droughts and wildfires are Read more

ICTs and Emissions – III

27 October 20229 November 2022

Raul Zambrano

Climate Change, Economics, Governance, Human Development

The Abode is a Humongous Shopping Mall As some pundits have observed, data centers (DCs) are the backbone of the digital realm – hiding in plain sight, I would add. However, they do not live alone in their noisy, albeit Read more

ICTs and Emissions – II

20 October 202222 October 2022

Raul Zambrano

Climate Change, Economics, Governance, Human Development, ICTD

Cyberspace Mansions In 2009, amid the Global Financial Crisis, the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) announced plans to create a 1.2 billion dollar data center (DC) in Utah. Indeed, surveillance once again proved it is immune to economic disasters, regardless Read more

ICTs and Emissions – I

1 October 202212 October 2022

Raul Zambrano

Climate Change, Economics, Governance, Human Development, ICTD

Digital technologies’ social ubiquitousness is indisputable. Indeed, escaping their mantra seems unreal, almost dystopic, regardless of location or connectivity. The TINA (there is no alternative) principle appears to be entirely at work here. It is thereby paradoxical new ICTs are Read more

RegTech is Here!

20 September 20221 October 2022

Raul Zambrano

Artificial Intelligence, Blockchain, Economics, Governance

Modern FinTech saw the light of day with the launching of ATM machines in the late 60s. A few years later, NASDAQ was born, credit cards exploded and banks started to deploy mainframes and minicomputer computers to support their operations. Read more

Economic Growth and Sustainable Development

10 September 202226 September 2022

Raul Zambrano

Climate Change, Economics, Human Development, ICTD

In a previous entry, I explored the connections between digital technologies, economic growth and the environment, using the concept of Sustainable Development (SD) as analytical reference. The figure below depicts yet another way to see the three development outcomes that Read more

More Carbon Inequality

1 September 202211 September 2022

Raul Zambrano

Climate Change, Human Development, Inequality

IPCC reports usually include an annex containing a climate glossary where key terms are succinctly defined. The latest report is no exception, providing an extensive dictionary consuming over 30 pages of text – yet less than 1% of the report’s Read more

More Light on Financial Inclusion

20 August 202226 September 2022

Raul Zambrano

Blockchain, Economics, Human Development, ICTD, Innovation

In a couple of recent posts, I briefly traced the history of financial inclusion and its links to the emergence and diffusion of digital technologies. A recently published book by Nick Bernards tackles the same issue more comprehensively while taking Read more

Carbon Inequality

10 August 202226 September 2022

Raul Zambrano

Climate Change, Governance, Human Development, Inequality

My previous post highlighted a gap between the Glasgow CoP26 mitigation targets and GHG emissions data. The best example here is the selection of methane as a priority while the big elephant in the room, CO2, mentioned in passing, escaped Read more

Net-zero Emissions and Developing Countries – II

1 August 202219 August 2022

Raul Zambrano

Climate Change, Governance, Human Development, Inequality

As discussed in the previous post,  low-income and most low-middle-income countries play almost no role in methane emissions. Therefore, embarking on related targets and projects will not make a dent on a global scale. Instead, it might end up increasing Read more

Net-zero Emissions and Developing Countries – I

20 July 202214 August 2022

Raul Zambrano

Climate Change, Governance, Human Development, Inequality

If Climate Change rings to many of us as an almost insurmountable global challenge, then net-zero has recently emerged as its apparent universal solution. The coin has finally been imprinted with two clearly defined sides, in constant and inseparable opposition. Read more