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Futures Garden – Using speculative design to inspire policy-making
No full textThe EU Policy Lab is experimenting with speculative design as a tool to support innovative policy making. The context and process of the experiment are described including some of its preliminary results. The futures artefacts clearly support futures literacy and co-creation processes, both with citizens as well as policymakers. At the same time more opportunities can be explored reaching deliberative democracy and concrete outcomes in the policy creation process.JRC.S.1 - EU Policy Lab: Foresight, Design & Behavioural Insight
Clean Energy Technology Observatory: Advanced Biofuels in the European Union - 2025 Status Report on Technology Development, Trends, Value Chains and Markets
Get PDFThe EU advanced biofuels sector, defined by the Renewable Energy Directive (RED II) as liquid or gaseous fuels produced from specific non-food and non-feed biomass (Annex IX Part A of the RED II), is key to achieving the legally binding 2030 renewable energy targets. These fuels are essential for the transport sector’s mandated 29% renewables share, contributing to the challenging 5.5% combined sub-target together with renewable fuels of non-biological origin (RFNBOs). Driven by legislative certainty, EU consumption of these preferential fuels has quadrupled, from around 1 Mtoe in 2019 to over 4 Mtoe in 2023. This expansion supports a sector that recorded a turnover of EUR 11.8 billion in 2023 and demonstrates global innovation leadership, generating 66% high-value inventions among patent applications. The EU aims to reduce production costs from 50 EUR/MWh in 2020 to less than 35 EUR/MWh by 2030, despite high prices remaining in mandated sectors such as aviation (starting at EUR 1,500 per ton). Policy interventions are necessary to sustain this growth and industrial competitiveness of the sector. Member States need to accelerate project deployment and protect the domestic market from low-priced imports. The mandatory use of the Union Database for Biofuels (UDB) must be enforced to guarantee traceability and mitigate fraud risks associated with reliance on imported waste feedstocks.JRC.C.2 - Energy Efficiency and Renewable
Spatial and temporal assessment of soil degradation risk in Europe
No full textSoil degradation threatens agricultural productivity and ecosystem resilience across Europe, yet spatially consistent assessments of its intensity and drivers remain limited. In this study, we used Soil Degradation Proxy (SDP), that integrates four key indicators of soil degradation, including erosion rate, soil pH, electrical conductivity, and organic carbon content, to quantify soil degradation risk. Using over 38,000 LUCAS topsoil observations and a machine learning model trained on climate, land cover, topographic, soil parent material properties, and spectral variables, we map annual SDP values between years 2000 to 2022 across Europe. Results show soil degradation risk is highest in southern Europe, especially in intensively managed and sparsely vegetated landscapes. Over the past two decades, approximately 7.1% of land area across the EU and the UK has experienced increasing degradation risk (most notably across Eastern Europe), with rainfed croplands emerging as the most affected land cover type. Land cover is the most influential driver, modulating effects of climatic variables such as precipitation and temperature on SDP. This data-driven framework provides a consistent and scalable approach for monitoring soil degradation risk and offers actionable insights to support targeted conservation and EU-wide policy implementation.JRC.D.3 - Sustainable Supply Chains and Bioeconom
Proceedings of the EU Science for Preparedness Conference
Get PDFThe EU Science for Preparedness Conference – held in Turin from 4 to 6 November 2025 – demonstrated how scientific innovation is an essential cornerstone for strengthening the Preparedness Union (PUS), a strategic framework designed to enhance Europe’s resilience against emerging and future threats. The event was organised by the JRC, DG ECHO and DG DEFIS and, for the first time, merged the annual conferences of the Copernicus Emergency Management Service (CEMS) and the EU Disaster Risk Management Knowledge Centre (DRMKC), which celebrated its 10‑year anniversary this year.JRC.E.1 - Disaster Risk Managemen
The South African Living Planet Index shows the value of a supposedly ‘uninformative’ indicator.
No full textMonitoring the local abundance of wild species is a priority for policy and management. The Living Planet Index (LPI) tracks global trends in the relative abundance of monitored wild vertebrates. However, barring a few exceptions, the LPI's uptake at the national level has been limited. Prominent critiques have not helped the perception that the LPI and its underlying database are inadequate for national application. After developing a national LPI for South Africa, we assert that the process of developing the index is valuable and information-rich, even if the resulting indicator itself is likely of limited accuracy. Specifically, we first calculated three versions of the LPI by applying different weightings to account for taxonomic biases. This demonstrated how incomplete and biased data clouded our ability to determine abundance trends accurately. Next, we recalculated the LPI after supplementing the global database with high-quality information from a long-term aerial census of mammal herbivores. Adding these high-quality time-series had little effect on the LPI, suggesting that the index is less sensitive to the quality of time-series for well-studied taxa than to additional information from poorly studied taxonomic groups. The uncertainties around the South African LPI preclude any confident statements about the average trends in abundance, yet they shine a bright spotlight on knowledge gaps that should be the focus of prioritized monitoring. Therefore, we advocate for other countries to develop their own national LPIs, which are valuable indicators of the state of knowledge (or ignorance) on the abundance of wild species.JRC.D.6 - Nature Conservation and Observation
Engaging citizens in EU Missions - Insights from a six-country experimental survey
Get PDFThis report presents findings from a six-country online survey examining European citizens' attitudes toward societal challenges addressed by EU Missions (Horizon Europe) and their willingness to participate in related citizen engagement (CE) activities. The survey, conducted in Finland, France, Ireland, Italy, Poland, and Romania, explores awareness, interest, and preferences regarding CE methods. Results indicate a strong desire for active involvement in addressing societal challenges, coupled with a need to address barriers such as lack of trust in public institutions and limited access to decision-making processes, and that a diverse mix of engagement methods is needed to engage the public.JRC.S.1 - EU Policy Lab: Foresight, Design & Behavioural Insight
The 2025 EU Industrial R&D Investment Scoreboard
Get PDFThe 2025 edition of ‘The EU Industrial R&D Investment Scoreboard’ monitors and analyses industrial research and development (R&D) investment trends in the context of the EU’s 3% of GDP R&D investment policy target and the related policy initiatives by the Competitiveness Compass.
The 2025 Scoreboard analyses the world's top 2 000 industrial R&D investors, responsible for over 90% of R&D performed by the business sector globally, based on the financial information in the latest published audited accounts of firms. Following the introduction, chapter 2 analyses the main global trends and benchmarks the EU’s top R&D investing companies against global competitors. Chapter 3 provides details by sector, and chapter 4 does a deep-dive on a subsample of the EU’s top 800 R&D investing firms. Chapter 5 analyses R&D internationalisation and chapter 6 key green technologies.JRC.B.6 - Industrial strategy, skills and technology transfe
The Fraction of Carbon in Soil Organic Matter as a National-Scale Soil Process Indicator
No full textSoil organic matter (SOM) is an important component of ecosystem carbon stocks. Generally, SOM found in mineral and organo-mineral soils can be categorised into two fractions: particulate organic matter (POM) and mineral-associated-organic matter (MAOM), both of which contain soil organic carbon (SOC). Understanding the relationship between SOC and SOM fractions provides insight into SOM decomposition and SOC storage potential. Here we show an intriguingly tight relationship between the fraction of SOC in SOM (denoted as \$\$ {f}\_{\mathrm{OC}} \$\$), habitat and soil physical properties, as well as SOC stored in POM and MAOM. This opens up new ways to predict spatial variations in the distribution of POC and MAOC using more widely available \$\$ {f}\_{\mathrm{OC}} \$\$ data as a covariate. By compiling 14 datasets and 9503 measurements from across Europe and globally we analysed \$\$ {f}\_{\mathrm{OC}} \$\$ across mineral and organic soils, which fell between 0.38 and 0.58, consistent with variation in carbon of major plant components. \$\$ {f}\_{\mathrm{OC}} \$\$ followed a habitat gradient with lowest median values in Seagrass sediments (0.36 ± 0.09) and Permafrost habitats, followed by croplands (0.47 ± 0.08) and a maximum in semi-natural habitats (e.g., neutral, acid and calcareous grasslands) (0.56 ± 0.07), with differences between broadleaved (0.50 ± 0.087) and coniferous woodlands (0.53 ± 0.07) which were driven by overall organic matter content. The data show a tight link between vegetation carbon and the contents of SOC and SOM across various habitats, which could be used to inform agricultural soil management, improved land-use planning (e.g., woodlands), and tracking climate-related SOC targets.JRC.D.3 - Land Resources and Supply Chain Assessment
Atlas of Migration - 2025
No full textThe Atlas of Migration is a reference book providing a snapshot of migration and a knowledge base for policymakers, stakeholders, businesses, researchers and the general public. The Atlas has 3 sections: migration in EU, migration in non-EU countries, and a thematic Section on “Conflicts and displacement”. The Atlas of Migration is built on the conviction that accurate data can inform a more detailed understanding of trends, patterns and differences in migration over time and from place to place. As has been widely noted, public perceptions tend to over-estimate the scale of migration. People’s views are based on a range of factors, from their own experiences to their access to different sources of information and concerns about broader social, economic and cultural change. The Atlas aims to be a reliable source of information, promoting the accurate understanding of migration and mobility that have been and will remain a defining feature of Europe’s society, economy and politics for decades.
The Atlas of Migration 2025 guides policymakers by offering a comprehensive, data-driven analysis of migratory movements across the 27 EU Member States and 171 countries and territories worldwide. This year’s edition deepens its exploration of the intricate linkages between conflicts and displacement — a topic of urgent relevance given the escalating humanitarian crises and forced displacement driven by violence, fragility and systemic instability. The third chapter of this year’s Atlas provides an examination of the drivers, dynamics and human consequences of conflict-induced displacement, shedding some light on trajectories of mobility and immobility, as well as the decisions, constraints and data behind them.JRC.E.5 - Demography and Migratio
Place-based determinants of housing prices in Europe
Get PDFThis study investigates place-based determinants of housing prices across the EU, looking at factors such as housing supply constraints, demographic trends, short-term rentals (STRs), accessibility, household income, geographical advantages, and other factors at municipal scale resolution. Key findings indicate that higher prices correlate with supply and demand imbalances (high demand driven by socioeconomic dynamics an limited supply elasticity). STRs, particularly in urban areas, have association with elevated sales prices, but the data does not allow to establish causality. STRs constitute only 1.2% of EU dwellings and are unlikely to generate widespread impact on the housing sector. The analysis reveals a nearly 20% stock of housing in 2021 which are not used as primary residence (either complete vacant or used ocasionally or seasonally), exacerbating supply shortages especially in areas in high demand for housing. Policy recommendations emphasize addressing structural barriers to housing supply, improving data on vacant properties, and a high subsidiarity in the management of STR, to better balance benefits and risks. The study supports the EU’s housing affordability agenda.JRC.B.3 - Territorial Developmen