  Digitalization is a core component of the green transition. Today's focus is
on quantifying and pre-dicting the climate effects of digitalization through
various life-cycle assessments and baseline sce-nario methodologies. Here we
argue that this is a mistake. Most attempts at prediction are based on three
implicit assumptions: (a) the digital carbon footprint can be quantified, (b)
business-as-usual with episodic change leading to a new era of stability, and
(c) investments in digitalization will be delivered within the cost, timeframe,
and benefits described in their business cases. We problema-tize each
assumption within the context of digitalization and argue that the digital
carbon footprint is inherently unpredictable. We build on uncertainty
literature to show that even if you cannot predict, you can still mitigate. On
that basis, we propose to rethink practice on the digital carbon footprint from
prediction to mitigation.
