Climate Change: What is Computing’s Responsibility? (Dagstuhl Perspectives Workshop 25122)

Abstract

This report documents the program and the outcomes of Dagstuhl Perspectives Workshop 25122 "Climate Change: What is Computing’s Responsibility?" The workshop brought together global experts from computing, environmental science, and policy to explore the detrimental impacts of computing technologies on the environment, particularly with respect to climate change. These harms were considered alongside possibilities for computing technologies to facilitate climate mitigation and adaptation, as well as on balance with the social benefits delivered by computing technologies. Key topics of discussion included the role of computing in enabling a safe and just transition to a sustainable society, methodological challenges in estimating environmental impacts (beneficial and detrimental; direct and indirect), and matters of accountability and governance. Through discussions, participants converged on a vision for a paradigm shift that would align computing with climate goals, and detailed fundamental premises and commitments by computing professionals within this new paradigm.