ID: 1647
Presenting Author: Dean Slocum
Session: 550 - (Re)building trust and transparency to navigate complex energy transitions
Status: approve
This session explores how digital justice principles can rebuild trust, protect privacy, and promote equity amid growing disinformation, data insecurity, and ethical risks in technology.
Climate justice and hard-fought wins in the energy transition are becoming increasingly dependent on digital justice. In our daily practice as SIA specialists worldwide, we observe growing mistrust and polarization, fueled by digital disinformation, data insecurity, and a zero-sum mindset that views others’ progress as a personal or collective loss. According to Edelman’s 2025 Trust Barometer, nearly half of respondents and a majority of young adults support some form of hostile activism to push for change, highlighting a climate of increased grievance and social division.
Using a person-in-environment perspective, this session’s case studies explore how practitioners can navigate these dynamics by balancing transparency and data security, and by leveraging the emerging principles of digital justice. It considers the ethical implications of emerging technologies like AI and quantum computing, including risks of surveillance, bias, discrimination, and human rights violations that impact both individuals and their broader social settings. Participants will engage in dialogue and share strategies to enhance integrity, rebuild trust, and protect privacy while promoting inclusive and equitable social impact practices in a time of increasing and interconnected digital, social, and environmental risks.
Dean is the founder of Acorn International, a sociologist, and a human rights expert.
Coauthor 1: David Reynolds