- English
The effects of climate change and digital transformation on resource systems and infrastructure have
raised concerns about their combined influence on international cooperation and patterns of uneven
development. Digital capability can moderate climatic disruption through monitoring, early warning,
resource management and infrastructure coordination. Its benefits, however, depend on reliable
energy, finance, technical capacity, institutional coordination and access. Digital expansion also
requires electricity, water and critical minerals, and may concentrate control over data, standards and
infrastructure while transferring environmental costs to resource-producing regions. Here we review
evidence from scholarly literature, policy documents, datasets, technical reports and historical sources
concerning climate cooperation, critical minerals, energy, food and water systems, transregional
connectivity, Arctic passages and subsea cable networks. We find that their convergence produces
thickened terrains in which climatic exposure, infrastructure concentration, resource dependence,
digital capability and institutional capacity accumulate and interact. Where ownership, finance and
technological capability are distributed, these formations can strengthen resilience, service continuity
and local value retention. Where control remains externally concentrated, they deepen dependence,
exclusion and infrastructure lock-in. Our findings indicate that the emerging global order is shaped
not only by control of resources, but also by the capacity to connect, coordinate and retain the gains
from development.
- English
