Abstract
The Net Zero transition presents significant challenges as well as opportunities for businesses to lead the industrial transformation towards a sustainable future. Current understanding of the role of digital technology in enabling the Net Zero transition, and its potential contribution to sustainable development, remains largely superficial. Specifically, topics such as the role of the Net Zero context, exposure to Net Zero transition risks, and links to technology readiness, remain under-researched. Applying the lens of sustainability and ‘just transition’, this study presents a systematic literature review of over 2,508 articles exploring the current state of knowledge about the use of digital technologies for Net Zero, by industry sector, technology type and country/region. The analysis confirms uneven utilisation of digital technologies for the Net Zero transition, linked to the maturity of the political, economic, social and regulatory factors for Net Zero. The project will develop a categorization of approaches to Net Zero transition depending on context and technology readiness maturity. We also discuss avenues for future research.