38796 research outputs found
Sort by
Rethinking organic efficiency: A dynamic analysis of resource trade-offs in Italian agriculture through the FWEE nexus
No full textThis paper evaluates whether converting to organic farming delivers resource efficiency once cross-domain trade-offs are measured within the Food–Water–Energy–Environment (FWEE) nexus framework. Using 53,804 Italian crop-farm observations (2015–2022) from FADN, the analysis applies a dynamic difference-in-differences estimator for reversible conversion. Findings show that total energy intensity per euro of adjusted output rises overall, with pronounced and persistent penalties in permanent crops and volatile, only partly reversing spikes in annuals. Irrigation burdens per adjusted output increase during conversion, evidencing tighter water-energy coupling under yield dips. Environmental gains are non-automatic: biodiversity and nitrogen proxies show no consistent improvements, while crop-protection burdens per output often rise. Results imply nexus-aware, system-specific technical support, technology integration,conversion payment mechanisms, and moving beyond input reduction alone to address system heterogeneity, yield gaps, and momentaryinefficiencies through coordinated soil-water-energy management strategies to convert temporary trade-offs into durable synergies for Farm-to-Fork implementation.JRC.D.4 - Economics of Food System
Foreign Investment Bulletin, January-June 2025
No full textThis note presents the trends of foreign direct investment into the EU27 for 2025H1, focusing on non-EU (i.e. foreign) investors. It looks at merger and acquisition (M&A) deals and other equity investments of at least 10% of capital of an EU target company, as well as at greenfield projects. A detailed overview of deals and projects corresponding to the first half of 2025 is provided, including half year and yearly comparisons.JRC.B.1 - Economic and Financial Resilienc
Industrial Prosumerism: Integrating RES Systems
No full textThe decarbonisation of energy-intensive industries (EIIs) – including sectors such as refining, steel, cement, and chemicals – is essential to achieve the EU’s climate-neutrality by 2050. Facing high thermal and electrical loads and substantial process-related CO₂ emissions, these sectors must leverage renewable energy sources (RES) and electrification to curb both direct and indirect emissions.
This study develops a bottom-up modelling framework to identify cost-optimal RES deployment strategies for industrial sites. The approach reconciles detailed plant-level data with top-down energy projections to ensure alignment with EU decarbonisation trajectories. We evaluate a spectrum of interventions, such as the procurement of grid-based renewable electricity and the deployment of dedicated generation assets and assess enabling technologies such as battery storage.
A representative EU refinery case study demonstrates the application of the methodology developed. The analysis quantifies emissions reductions, cost implications, and grid impacts for various pathways, including scenarios where facilities can operate as prosumers by exporting surplus power. The result is a data-driven, site-specific decarbonisation roadmap that highlights the trade-offs between energy resilience, system-wide optimisation, and economic viability, providing useful insights for industry and policymakers.JRC.C.7 - Energy Transition Insights for Polic
Green EUROMOD: the environmental extension of the EU’s tax-benefit microsimulation model
No full textThis article introduces Green EUROMOD, the environmental extension of the EU’s tax-benefit microsimulation model EUROMOD. It provides a novel framework for evaluating the distributional, environmental, and fiscal impacts of green policy reforms across the 27 EU Member States. The model captures both direct greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions - such as those arising from household fuel combustion for heating and private transport - as well as indirect emissions occurring along value chains. Indirect emissions are further disaggregated into those embodied in domestically produced goods and services, and those embodied in imports from other EU Member States and the rest of the world. This granularity, combined with the capacity to simulate environmental and tax-benefit policies jointly and consistently across countries, makes Green EUROMOD a unique tool for the design and assessment of environmental policy reforms, with a particular focus on their distributional effects. The article outlines the model’s components and methodological framework, followed by a demonstration of its capabilities through two applications. First, we present the estimated household carbon footprints from consumption across the income and GHGemissions distribution, for the 27 EU countries. Second, we assess the extent to which GHG emissions are already implicitly priced by existing value-added and excise taxes. This provides new policy insights regarding the current baseline which future carbon pricing policies need to consider, as well as the relative performance of Member States in balancing green and fair objectives with their current consumption tax structures.JRC.B.2 - Fiscal Policy Analysi
EpCAM–PSMA: Potential predictors of treatment outcomes for PSMA-targeted alpha therapies in metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer
No full textTargeted radionuclide therapy and targeted alpha therapy directed at prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA) represent emerging treatment modalities for metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC). However, therapeuticresistance remains a significant barrier to their clinical success. We discovered that dynamic changes in cell surface levels of epithelial cell adhesion molecule (EpCAM) and PSMA can serve as predictive biomarkers in late-stage mCRPC patients treated with the beta-minus-particle-emitting [177Lu]Lu-PSMA-617, in combination with the alpha-particle-emitting [225Ac]Ac-PSMA-617, and we further explored the underlying molecular mechanisms. Using flow cytometry to profile EpCAM and PSMA on circulating tumor cells (CTCs), we observed that Nonresponders displayed significantly higher EpCAM and lower PSMA levels than Responders, both at baseline and after the first treatment cycle. Over subsequent cycles, both markers declined in Nonresponders, whereas Responder CTCs maintained EpCAM expression but progressively lost PSMA. Transcriptome analysis identified upregulation of hub genes involved in the regulation of key pathways such as enhanced DNA-damage repair, anti-apoptotic activity, increased tumor cell growth, and altered surface marker trafficking and recycling, potentially driving EpCAM-PSMA dynamics and contributing to therapy resistance. Ultimately, integrating surface-marker-driven treatment response predictions with novel treatment strategies may help to overcome treatment resistance in mCRPCJRC.G.5 - Nuclear Science and Innovation for Energy and Healt
CEMS Hydrological Data Collection Centre – Annual Report 2024
No full textThe Copernicus Emergency Management Service (CEMS) Hydrological Data Collection Centre (HDCC) is responsible for the collection, quality control, harmonisation and internal distribution of hydrological observations (river discharge and water level; reservoir inflow, outflow, water level and stored volume) for both the CEMS European Flood Awareness System (EFAS) and the Global Flood Awareness System (GloFAS). The Joint Research Centre (JRC) of the European Commission is the entrusted entity for the management, technical implementation and evolution of CEMS EFAS and GloFAS. Ghenova Digital is the designated contractor responsible for implementing the operational functionalities of the CEMS HDCC.
This report contains an analysis of the hydrological data collected throughout 2024 and of the previously stored data, alongside a description of the data-collection and quality-control protocols employed. In 2024, the CEMS HDCC welcomed 4 new data providers of near real-time data, and it expanded the number of stations providing hydrological data for the European domain (CEMS EFAS). In total, 55 data providers contributed with near real-time discharge and/or water level data to CEMS EFAS, for a total 3,471 hydrological stations, covering 34 countries and 57.3% of all European water basins. Reservoir data collection within the European domain continued in 2024: 9 data providers contributed with historical and/or near real-time reservoir data, for a total of 545 reservoir stations. Collection of historical discharge data for the global domain (CEMS GloFAS) was enhanced by the inclusion of 5,979 new stations, for a total of 8827 stations.JRC.E.1 - Disaster Risk Managemen
JRC Nuclear News 5
No full textFifth edition of the JRC Nuclear News, showcasing some of the most significant nuclear milestones over the past few months: The 45th anniversary of the European Commission Support Programme to the IAEA in the field of nuclear safeguards, 60 years of´cooperation with the French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission (CEA), significant advances in the JRC’s decommissioning programme, particularly at its Ispra site, the relocation of the Surface Science Laboratory station to Prague and the recent release of the 1st Clean Energy Technology Observatory (CETO) report on nuclear power in the EU.JRC.G.9 - Euratom Coordinatio
Observing the Future
No full textThis technology foresight report documents the process and findings of a horizon scanning exercise conducted in the context of FUTURINNOV (FUTURe-oriented detection and assessment of emerging technologies and break-through INNOVation), a collaboration between the European Innovation Council (EIC) and the Joint Research Centre (JRC). The exercise aims to support the EIC’s strategic intelligence through foresight and other anticipatory methodologies.
The workshop, held online on 12 November 2025, focused on the identification, evaluation, and prioritisation of emerging technologies and breakthrough innovations across all technology readiness levels (TRLs) in the field of ocean observation. Signals were collected through expert inputs, literature review, and text and data mining of patents, scientific publications, and EU-funded research and innovation projects.
These signals were subsequently assessed by a multidisciplinary group of experts, leading to the prioritisation of eight key observation technologies: autonomous eDNA and eRNA samplers; lab-on-chip systems; cost-effective and modular sensors; data fusion between Earth observation and in-situ measurements; distributed acoustic sensing; AI-enhanced passive acoustic sensing; deep learning-enabled imaging; and flow cytometry and particle-based high-frequency observations of plankton. In addition, four enabling technological and innovation fields were identified as critical for advancing ocean observation capabilities: expanding in-situ observation infrastructures; data interoperability and integration; autonomous surface and underwater vehicles; and artificial intelligence.
The brief also highlights a range of contextual factors shaping the development and uptake of ocean observation technologies across social, technological, economic, environmental, and political and regulatory dimensions. These include challenges related to data standards and taxonomic expertise, tensions between budget constraints and increasing monitoring demands, the need for real-time detection in the face of accelerating environmental change, and geopolitical dynamics influencing international cooperation and the governance of dual-use technologies.
The outcomes of this exercise can inform future EIC Challenges and other European Commission funding calls, contribute to EIC and EC strategic reports, and support broader EU policy initiatives related to marine and ocean governance, environmental monitoring, and sustainable blue economy objectives.JRC.S.1 - EU Policy Lab: Foresight, Design & Behavioural Insight
Regionalising bioeconomy indicators through the integration of subnational and firm-level data
No full textThis article develops an approach for estimating employment and value added in bio-based activities for EU NUTS2 territorial units. This method integrates regional statistics with firm-level data to increase the granularity of regional economic information, thereby enabling a more accurate identification of bio-based activities. A case study of Italy reveals a heterogeneous territorial distribution of bio-based activities, as well as substantial differences in region-specific bio-based shares across manufacturing sectors that are not captured by conventional approaches. Overall, the proposed approach represents an improvement in the measurement of the regional bioeconomy, which is essential for policy evaluation and monitoring.JRC.D.4 - Economics of Food System
Cross-border and emerging risks in Europe
Full text linkIn this report, the Joint Research Centre (JRC) expands its exploration of complex disaster risks that transcend national borders and introduce novel challenges to the European Union. Taking stock of previous JRC flagship reports on understanding risks (Science for Disaster Risk Management Book Series and the Recommendations for National Risk Assessment Versions 0 and 1), this document addresses the multi-faceted nature of cross-border and emerging risks in Europe. The report collects the contributions from expert teams across 8 JRC directorates and external partners. It analyses the current landscape of risks characterized by their potential for widespread impact across the continent, necessitating a coordinated European response. The work leverages historical data and recent scientific advances that address both cross-border risks such as natural disasters and anthropogenic crises, and emerging risks that include technological and socio-economic challenges.
This comprehensive assessment helps in understanding and managing cross-border and emerging risks, including environmental, health, and technological threats. It emphasizes the importance of integrated approaches and improved data sharing to better anticipate and prepare for potential disasters. The findings advocate for the incorporation of transboundary considerations in risk management strategies to effectively handle the interconnected and complex nature of today's risks. Emerging from an increased need for an integrated approach in disaster risk management (DRM), this report underscores the importance of the EU's continued research on understanding the root causes of risks and in adaptation and mitigation strategies to enhance resilience.JRC.E.1 - Disaster Risk Managemen