The role of digital social practices and technologies in the Swiss energy transition towards net-zero carbon dioxide emissions in 2050

Digitalization can be an enabler of new and less energy-intensive lifestyles. However, it can be associated with rebound effects in energy consumption. For example, home office can reduce the mobility demand but increase residential energy consumption. Here, we analyze the role of households' social practices induced by information and communication technologies (ICTs) in Switzerland's transition to net-zero carbon dioxide emissions in 2050. We couple the Swiss TIMES Energy Systems Model with a socio-technical-economic agent-based model (SEED) to perform long-term pathway analysis by accounting for the socio-economic and technical aspects of technology adoption. We find an overall net-positive contribution of digitalization to the Swiss energy transition. A society adopting more digital practices and ICTs requires 10–20% less energy in 2050 than a society with a digitalization rate frozen at 2020 levels. We show that any rebound effects in energy consumption that digital practices can induce are counterbalanced by more efficient technologies and optimized processes enabled by ICTs. While digitalization helps to meet the Swiss energy and climate targets for 2050 and reduces the energy transition costs for society, policy support is necessary to develop the population's digital skills, services' digitalization, and network infrastructures.