Sustainability Conference 2025: Will new technology help or harm the planet?

About the Event

The news is awash with articles about how technology will make our lives easier and help us become more environmentally, socially and financially sustainable. Our suppliers and business partners beat an ever-louder drum about how sustainable their products are and how they can help us save carbon emissions.

Technological revolutions have historically provided us with inventions aiming to assist us in carrying out our daily work. The enthusiasm for process automation, machine learning and AI augment this objective for a digital age; mundane routines, repetitive tasks and more are to be relegated to bots and artificial intelligence. To help us achieve this technology companies are investing like never before in digital infrastructure. But what does this mean for sustainability?

We are increasingly concerned with the environment, and organisations are more intensely looking to reduce carbon emissions in the race towards their Net Zero deadlines. The past year has seen a sharp focus on financial sustainability across HE and FE and we are ardently discussing the impact of artificial intelligence on our societies and our work roles, driven by the uptake in GenAI offerings.

We want to query the increasing employment of digital technologies, and the race towards an AI future, in the context of sustainability at the 3rd UCISA Sustainability Conference 2025.

To save your travel carbon miles we are convening this year's conference on-line!

Highlight of topics for SUG25:

• Do we suffer from over-optimism about technology?
• Will AI save emissions or cost you more?
• Social responsibility and AI - are we forgetting ourselves?
• How can we help our financial sustainability, with sustainability?

You will hear from inspirational speakers in the sector as well as knowledgeable experts from the industry as they explore digital sustainable topics pertinent to us. You will be joined by colleagues from across the sector with an equal passion for making the world a greener place. The conference aims to motivate and embolden your sustainable journey. The topics will challenge you and may raise further questions, but the intention is to inspire and enlighten you to tackle these challenges with confidence.

Have a great example of a sustainability driven technology project? How AI assisted your organisation in becoming more sustainable? Share your story with colleagues by presenting (15-20 mins) at the conference - complete this short form.