How can we reap the potential of the fediverse? Not feeding surveillance capitalism, defending against digital colonialism, breaking with the dynamics of the attention economy -- the promises could hardly be more appealing. But what does it take to build, invest, and nourish a healthy digital space? In this first impulse, I explore options and... Continue Reading →
Article: The Cost of Global Reach – The DSA’s implications for big online platforms
The Digital Services Act (DSA), which will become applicable by February 2024, has received, and deserves a lot of attention. The digital landscape is about to change substantially. Reading the 100-page copy, I noticed my mind creating an inventory, or maybe more aptly: a running account. This running account could present quite the remarkable bill... Continue Reading →
Article: Your Cheat Sheet for the Digital Services Act: What and for Whom
If you search online for “Digital Services Act” (DSA) you get some 1.62 billion hits. Compared to only 513 million hits for its five years older “policy cousin”, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). All that, is of course a nerdy way of saying: the DSA is the EU’s latest regulation about to change the... Continue Reading →
Op-Ed: Mastodon as a common good alternative: Conditions apply.
Curious about Mastodon? Personally, I'm a big fan of its potential -- just as I'm weary of its bias towards those with privilege. In my latest piece, I explore 3 conditions to ensure the fediverse can provide a common, public good alternative. * diversity and inclusion * training for content moderators * sufficient funding Read... Continue Reading →
Op-Ed: We “pledge” action: The delay and diffuse tactics of climate misinformation
We pledge action. ≠ We act. Most certainly so, when it comes to the climate crisis.In my latest commentary with Observer Research Foundation, I argue that the necessary transformation of our societies is underminded by pervasive climate misinformation. Beyond outright climate change denial, diffuse, distract, and delay tactics are far more widespread than one may... Continue Reading →
Blog: Big Tech & The Climate
Read any highly ambitious climate pledges or reduction targets lately? I’m guessing yes, given the level of attention on corporate responsibility to reduce and mitigate their climate impact. Including —and especially so— Big Tech. However, to do so, all of them must effectively (not just on paper) reduce their emissions. Are they? Here’s the tl;dr... Continue Reading →
Climate litigation just became that much more powerful
161 for -- 8 abstensions -- 0 against🌍🌎🌏On July 28, 2022, the UN General Assembly adopted a historic resolution declaring access to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment, a universal human right. This is huge. And it has been 50 years in the making.There are many reasons to applaud the many people whi tirelessly fought... Continue Reading →
Research: Environmental Impact of Publishing Houses
New research piece: Together with Chris Hartgerink, we look at scholarly publishing houses and their environmental impact in this guest post.TL;DR:1) We need transparent, comparable, machine-readable emissions data. We are in a Climate Emergency — there is no time to hide behind wordy (100 pages) reporting.2) Some of these research publishers are big enough to... Continue Reading →
Blog: The UK’s fight against Greenwashing. And why the Oatly case presents a conundrum.
A short while back, the UK's CMA practically declared greenwashing illegal (by reiterating consumer protection law). One of the recent cases, enforcing these guidelines, was Oatly, an oat milk consumer brand. Their ads are generally designed as advocacy campaigns that raise awareness around the climate crisis, and our dietary choices. We need more companies contributing... Continue Reading →
Series: Understanding the Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) Reporting Landscape
In the three months since I joined Climatiq to build out our approach to "Strategy and Impact", I kept coming back to the need to better understand corporate reporting requirements. As a sustainability practitioner, who spends a lot of time thinking about and working at the intersection of digital rights and climate justice, abbreviations like... Continue Reading →
Cathleen Berger 