Digital Technology in the Service of the Ecological Transition

Maison Suger is pleased to host the eighth session of the seminar organised by GRETS: "Digital technology at the service of ecological transition. Overview of social science research", with Sylvain Parasie, Medialab, Sciences Po & Sébastien Shulz, centre internet et Société, CNRS. 

The session will be introduced by Cécile Caron - GRETS, EDF R&D.

The seminar will be held in French

As environmental criticism of digital technology grows significantly, a wide range of stakeholders—including institutions, businesses, activists, and scientists—aim to harness digital technologies to advance the ecological transition. By mobilizing computing infrastructure to optimize industrial production and reduce pollution; by equipping environmental policies with tools to measure biodiversity, carbon emissions, or air pollution; by establishing digital platforms that connect consumers and producers of agricultural goods through short supply chains, and that promote carpooling or other less polluting practices.

At first glance paradoxical, this “greening through digital technology” raises a set of questions to which this presentation will attempt to provide answers based on social science research: to what extent can digital technology contribute to reducing environmental damage? With what epistemological, political, and social implications? What forms of ecological transition in our economies are driven by these technology-based approaches?

• Sylvain Parasie is a full professor of sociology at Sciences Po Paris and director of the Médialab. A graduate of the École Normale Supérieure and holder of the agrégation, he served as an associate professor and then a full professor at the University of Paris Est/Marne-la-Vallée before joining Sciences Po in 2019. His work focuses on how digital technologies are transforming the ways in which people obtain information, engage in debate, and participate in the public sphere. He has taken a particular interest in data journalism and the dynamics of influence between the media, politicians, and platforms. His publications include *Computing the News. Data Journalism and the Search for Objectivity (Columbia University Press, 2022), and Sociologie d’internet (Armand Colin, 2016 and 2019, with J.-S. Beuscart and E. Dagiral). 
• Sébastien Shulz is a research fellow in sociology at the CNRS within the Center for Internet and Society. His work focuses on the political, economic, and environmental implications of digital technologies. He is particularly interested in the transformations of digital capitalism, as illustrated by the conflict surrounding the right to repair smartphones. He has published *Culture en partage* (FYP éditions, 2022) as well as numerous articles in the *Revue Française de Science Politique*, *Politix*, *Public Administration Review*, and *tripleC: Communication, Capitalism & Critique*. 

   

• Cellard, L., Marquet C. (2025), “Matérialités environnementales du numérique”, RESET [Online]
• Parasie S., Shulz S. (2024). Le numérique au service de la transition écologique ? Un panorama des recherches en sciences sociales. Réseaux, 244(2), 11-45. 
• Edwards P. N. (2010), A vast machine: Computer models, climate data, and the politics of global warming, Cambridge, Mass., MIT Press.