Abstract Novel technologies are continually being developed every day. Lessons from the past show that some resulted in unintended harm to the Earth’s system. The challenge for organizations working at the interface of the environment, technology, and society is, therefore, how to best harness the environmental benefits from new technologies while minimizing their potential adverse effects. Here, we identify some of the emerging technologies that the international development community needs to consider as it seeks to take advantage of new technologies to promote sustainable development. There are several innovations – such as blockchain, nanotechnology, synthetic biology, cellular agriculture, and gene editing techniques that could either positively or negatively affect the environment, food security, human health, and the transition to clean energy. Some of their benefits and potential environmental and socio-economic concerns are discussed. We further suggest actions that can be taken by organizations involved in sustainable development, such as the United Nations and other global and regional bodies, to exploit the benefits from novel technologies and mitigate their risks.

中文翻译：

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新实体和技术：环境效益和风险

摘要 新技术每天都在不断发展。过去的教训表明，有些对地球系统造成了意外伤害。因此，在环境、技术和社会的界面上工作的组织面临的挑战是如何最好地利用新技术带来的环境效益，同时最大限度地减少其潜在的不利影响。在这里，我们确定了国际发展界在寻求利用新技术促进可持续发展时需要考虑的一些新兴技术。有几项创新——例如区块链、纳米技术、合成生物学、细胞农业和基因编辑技术，可能会对环境、粮食安全、人类健康、以及向清洁能源的过渡。讨论了它们的一些好处和潜在的环境和社会经济问题。我们进一步建议参与可持续发展的组织（例如联合国和其他全球和区域机构）可以采取的行动，以利用新技术带来的好处并降低其风险。