A Digital Circular Economy for SDG 11 and SDG 12

Abstract

Due to the population growth, cities and metropolitan areas contribute about 60% of global GDP, but they generate about 70% of global carbon emissions and account for over 60 % of resource use and increasing urban energy consumption and pollution. Worldwide consumption and production also increase the use of the natural environment and resources in a way that continues to have destructive impacts on the planet. This article is to study the Sustainable Development Goal 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities and Goal 12: Sustainable Consumption and Production, to study the role of digital technology and digital transformation in Circular Economy, and to investigate how digital based applications can contribute to sustainable cities and communities. Documentary study and literature review were used for data collection. Moving towards circular economy is a challenge due to the lack of connections and accurate information sharing, complication in developing circular business, product, and process models as well as inability to access information and education among consumers. The result shows that digital technologies including big data, analytics, IoT, AI, blockchain, etc. can play a vital role in connecting different sources of information, processing data, providing more access to information, and easing out the complication in designing, production, and service. It can also be used as a tool in managing congestion, risks, and environmental impacts in cities and communities.