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Literaturstudie zu den ökologischen Folgen des E-Commerce

The present literature study describes and structures the state of the on-going international discussion on the environmental implications of e-commerce and illustrates how this discussion is reflected in current scientific literature. First environmental effects of e-commerce are starting to become visible and yield a multifaceted picture of positive, neutral and negative impacts. The studies and assessments so far available show that e-commerce per se is neither beneficial nor harmful to the environment. The environmental effects of e-commerce are thus not intrinsic to the corresponding technologies but rather depend on the design of devices and network infrastructure, on application patterns and on political framework conditions. As one of the key insights the present literature study shows that the environmental consequences of e-commerce do not follow any automatism but depend on variables which may be influenced by the political and economic context. Up to now most positive environmental effects of e-commerce are non-intended random side effects, since e-commerce is primarily used to accelerate business processes, to develop markets and to secure business segments. However, the growing economic and environmental relevance of e-commerce creates the future need to integrate specific requirements into corporate strategies and political agendas. It is thus a matter of identifying and exploiting the potential of e-commerce for positive environmental effects. Conversely, efforts should be made to limit the emerging environmental risks and negative side effects of e-commerce.

• Behrendt, Siegfried; Jonuschat, Helga; Heinze, Michael und Fichter, Klaus (2003): Literaturstudie zu den ökologischen Folgen des E-Commerce. WerkstattBericht Nr. 51. Berlin: IZT – Institut für Zukunftsstudien und Technologiebewertung. Download (725.8 KB)