In light of Russia's aggression against Ukraine, Europe is accelerating its embrace of climate and digital global leadership, with eyes firmly on key challenges, from energy and food, to defence and cutting-edge technologies.
The Commission has today adopted the 2022 Strategic Foresight Report – “Twinning the green and digital transitions in the new geopolitical context”.
As we prepare to accelerate both transitions, the report identifies ten
key areas of action with the objective of maximising synergies and
consistency between our climate and digital ambitions. By doing so, the
EU will strengthen its cross-sector resilience and open strategic
autonomy, and be better prepared to face new global challenges between
now and 2050.
Maroš Šefčovič, Vice-President for interinstitutional Relations and Foresight said: “To
reach climate neutrality by 2050, we need to unleash the power of
digitalisation. At the same time, sustainability must be at the heart of
the digital transformation. That is why this Strategic Foresight Report
takes a deeper look at how to best align our twin objectives,
especially as they take on a significant security dimension due to the
current geopolitical shifts. For instance, from 2040, recycling could be
a major source of metals and minerals, inevitable for new technologies,
if Europe fixes its shortcomings in the area of raw materials.
Understanding this interplay between the twin transitions, while
striving for open strategic autonomy, is the right way forward.”
The green and digital transitions are at the top of the Commission's political agenda set out by President von der Leyen in 2019. In light of Russia's aggression against Ukraine, Europe is accelerating its embrace of climate and digital global leadership, with eyes firmly on key challenges, from energy and food, to defence and cutting-edge technologies. From
this perspective, the 2022 Strategic Foresight Report puts forward a
future-oriented and holistic analysis of the interactions between the
twin transitions, taking into account the role of new and emerging
technologies as well as key geopolitical, social, economic and
regulatory factors shaping their twinning – i.e. their capacity to
reinforce each other.
Technologies essential for the twinning towards 2050
On one hand, digital technologies help the EU achieve climate
neutrality, reduce pollution and restore biodiversity. On the other
hand, their widespread use is increasing energy consumption, while also
leading to more electronic waste and bigger environmental footprint.
Energy, transport, industry, construction, and agriculture
– the five biggest greenhouse gas emitters in the EU – are key for a
successful twinning of the green and digital transitions. Technologies
will play a key role in reducing these sector's carbon footprint. By
2030, most reductions in CO2 emissions will come from
technologies available today. However, achieving climate neutrality and
circularity by 2050 will be enabled by new technologies currently at the
experimental, demonstration or prototype phase....
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