Since the energy sector is the dominant contributor to global greenhouse gas emissions, the decarbonization of energy systems is crucial for climate change mitigation. Two major challenges of energy systems decarbonization are renewable transition planning and sustainable systems operations. To address the challenges, incorporating emerging information and communication technologies can facilitate both the design and operations of future smart energy systems with high penetrations of renewable energy and decentralized structures. The present work provides a comprehensive overview of the applicability of emerging information and communication technologies in renewable transition and smart energy systems, including artificial intelligence, quantum computing, blockchain, next-generation communication technologies, and the metaverse. Relevant research directions are introduced through reviewing existing literature. This review concludes with a discussion of the industrial use cases and demonstrations of smart energy technologies.