Wall Street is in a “Goldilocks” sort of mood in recent days, according to a report from Bloomberg. The DJIA is up about 2.5% year to date, and up about 0.9% over the past five. The mood comes from a strong economy in the US and signs that inflation is abating.

Continued investment and development in the world's Digital Infrastructure depends on this sort of optimism. Data has been growing at 25% annually for several years, and has been projected by Cisco research to continue to do so. With several thousand exabytes now processed each year throughout the world, the growth in data centers, networking, and end devices must continue to handle it. Yet a restated Gartner forecast last month showed a projected growth of only 2.4% in enterprise IT spending this year, less than half Gartner's earlier estimate.

All nations must also address their GHG levels. Developing nations in particular face the simultaneous challenge of developing their Digital Infrastructure and the electricity to power them while driving toward Net Zero economies.

EESG Index Addresses the Issues
The inaugural IDCA EESG Digital Readiness of Nations Index addresses the specific challenge each nation faces, overall and across the four areas of Economy, Environment, Social, and Governance. The global economy is generally strong, the environmental challenges massive, and the social and governance structures a mixed bag.

The US itself does not finish among the world leaders, as it has converted less than 20% of its power grid to renewables, and is not rated as highly as neighboring Canada or the much of the EU in have a strong enough social environment and productive government to address its challenges well.

Developing nations include some bright spots in Africa, Latin America, and Asia and perhaps surprisingly modest investment requirements throughout the majority of countries in these regions to build up their infrastructure and minimize emissions.

An investment of 1% of national GDP annually over a period of 20 years, for example, would bring new all-renewables grids that would supply 40% of the per-person power common to the EU to Ghana, Ivory Coast, and Nigeria, for example. The Index has figures available for each of the 147 nations of the world it has under purview. Having investors in the US in a Goldilocks mood is needed to move the needle discernibly and consistently.

Photograph of Accra, Ghana neighborhodd.