No green without digital: rethinking the twin transition. Evidence from Lithuania
Aelita Skarzauskiene, Monika MačiulienėPurpose
This study examines what actually predicts green digital tool adoption at the population level, testing the EU twin transition framework's assumption that environmental motivation is the primary predictor of adoption.
Design/methodology/approach
A nationally representative face-to-face survey of 1,004 Lithuanian adults measured adoption of six green digital tools alongside sociodemographic variables, digital lifestyle engagement across five domains, AI awareness, and environmental attitudes. Hierarchical regression compared the incremental explanatory power of each predictor block.
Findings
Digital lifestyle variables explain 15.6% of additional variance beyond sociodemographics (37.7%), while AI awareness adds only 0.1% and environmental attitudes add just 0.5%. Non-users and high users differ 5-to-7-fold on digital engagement metrics but only marginally on environmental attitudes (3.25 vs. 3.84 on a 5-point scale), indicating that non-adoption is better explained by digital exclusion than by environmental indifference.
Research limitations/implications
The cross-sectional design precludes causal inference. Findings are based in a single national context, and replication across other EU member states is needed.
Practical implications
Digital inclusion, particularly skills investment for older adults and rural populations, may be a more effective policy lever for expanding green digital tool adoption than environmental awareness campaigns.
Social implications
The EU twin transition risks deepening existing inequalities if green digital tools remain accessible only to the digitally included. These patterns suggest digital inclusion functions as an enabling condition for green digital participation rather than a parallel agenda.
Originality/value
This is the first population-level empirical study of green digital tool adoption across multiple tool categories simultaneously. It demonstrates that the green digital divide is empirically indistinguishable from the digital divide and shows that this weak attitude-behavior association does not strengthen among the digitally capable, indicating a capability gap rather than a motivational one.