Twinning the Green and Digital Transitions in the New Geopolitical Context
The Commission has 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 maximizing synergies and consistency between the 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 digitalization. At the same time, sustainability must be at the heart of 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 defense 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.
Download Report Here
(European Commission)
