The Green and Digital Transition with Equity: Why This Is the Most Urgent Issue of Our Time - OPINION - DEC 8, 2025

Ana Cunha-Busch
Dec 7, 2025
5 min read

The Green and Digital Transition with Equity: Why This Is the Most Urgent Issue of Our Time

BY CLAUDIA ANDRADE

For some time now, I have been carefully studying a concept that, although it may seem technical at first glance, directly affects the lives of every person, every community, and every organization: the Green and Digital Transition with Equity.

The more I delve into this analysis, the more I understand that this is not just a new term on the international agenda—it is, in fact, a civilizational milestone. A watershed moment between the world we are leaving behind and the world we still need to build. It is also an invitation—and, in a way, an ultimatum—for us to rethink how we live, produce, innovate, and coexist.

Given this, I can hardly see this issue separated from what I have witnessed in the field over all these years: the inequalities that cut across territories, the climate emergency that no longer fits into reports, the digital exclusion that silently widens social distances, and the challenges of communities that still struggle for the basics while the rest of the world discusses artificial intelligence, decarbonization, and hyperconnectivity.

When we talk about "green transition," we are referring to a set of profound changes: clean energy, efficient resource management, emissions reduction, circular economy, and ecological restoration.

The "digital transition," on the other hand, leads us to another set of transformations: automation, AI, big data, connectivity, digitization of services, new forms of work, and knowledge production.

For a long time, we treated these two transitions as parallel. But, as the World Economic Forum points out, "there will be no successful green transition without a digital transition to enable it—and there will be no just digital transition without an intentional social lens."

Ultimately, they are two sides of the same process.

And what connects them — or separates them — is equity.

Without equity, all innovation becomes a frontier. Every solution becomes a privilege. Every transition leaves someone behind.

And this is where the question that plagues me every day arises:

Who is being included in this transition? And who is being erased?

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) reminds us of something we should repeat like a mantra:

“Climate crises are crises of inequality.”

Science has already shown us: it is the most vulnerable populations that suffer the most from droughts, floods, heat waves, water insecurity, and economic instability.

Similarly, these are the populations that have less access to digital education, less technological infrastructure, and fewer conditions to adapt to the new demands of the market.

In other words: if we don't put equity as our compass, the green and digital transition will not only be insufficient — it will be unjust.

And when I think about this, I remember every territory I've been to.

I remember the quilombos (settlements of escaped slaves) where the lack of sanitation still defines the limits of possibilities.

I remember rural communities where a simple internet signal decides whether or not a child will have access to digital education.

I remember places where there is no potable water, but there are global conversations about smart cities and generative artificial intelligence.

These contradictions are not just data.

They are lives.

And how we deal with them defines the kind of society we are building.

Often, when we discuss AI, data lakes, automation, blockchain, or connectivity, the conversation stays in the technical field.

But, as researcher Ruha Benjamin says, “Technology is not neutral. It amplifies what already exists.”

If inequality exists, technology amplifies it. If racism exists, technology replicates it. If exclusion exists, technology automates it.

That's why, when I hear the term "digital transition," I think first of "human transition."

Because what is at stake is not the tool. It's the purpose.

It's not the data. It's who has access to it.

It's not the algorithm. It's who programs it — and who it serves.

At the same time, the transformative potential is immense.

Technology can democratize rights, facilitate access, unlock opportunities, reduce historical inequalities — if and only if it is guided by principles of social justice.

There is no possible neutrality when we talk about the future.

The green transition needs the digital transition — and both need the social transition.

Today, a structured understanding is growing among experts from the WEF, the World Bank, the OECD, and Brazilian institutions:

There will be no sustainable development without human development.

And there will be no human development without equity.

A green energy system will only be efficient if it reaches vulnerable populations.

A connectivity program will only be transformative if it guarantees real access, not just coverage.

A sustainable city model will only be sustainable if it is also inclusive.

An innovation chain will only be fair if it generates distributed benefits.

Equity is not the "end point" of the transition.

It is the "starting point."

After so many years living with communities of different realities, I have learned something simple, but powerful:

The transitions that "work" are those built with people, not for them.

When a community participates in a process, it internalizes it.

When a community chooses, it takes responsibility.

When it understands, it transforms. When it recognizes itself, it cares. And there is no green transition without care. There is no digital transition without belonging. There is no innovation without connection.

What I see in the field is that the territories already carry intelligence, traditional solutions, ancestral sustainable practices, solidarity networks, and authentic forms of adaptation that are often made invisible by urban and corporate discourses.

Transition with equity is not about bringing "the new" to those who are far away.

It is about recognizing that the new also arises from where it is least expected.

The question we need to ask now,

In light of all this, the question that accompanies me is:

Are we building a future that expands lives or a future that expands inequalities?

And, more than that:

Who is sitting at the table when this future is being designed?

If the green and digital transition does not include Indigenous peoples, Quilombola communities, riverside dwellers, rural workers, marginalized youth, women who lead communities, small producers, traditional peoples, children, and young people—it is not a transition; it is reorganized privilege.

To move forward, we need a global and local ethical pact.

A pact I affirm with conviction:

There is no sustainability without social justice.

There is no technology without humanity.

There is no innovation without sensitivity.

There is no development without equity.

The green and digital transition cannot be merely a "technical project."

It needs to be a human project.

A project that illuminates instead of excluding.

That connects instead of deepening silences.

That democratizes instead of segregating.

That strengthens instead of accelerating inequalities.