38796 research outputs found
Sort by
Transitional Initiatives supporting the change towards the phasing out of animal testing in chemical safety assessment
No full textThe European Commission is committed to phasing out animal testing for chemical safety assessments, as highlighted in its response to the European Citizens’ Initiative ‘Save cruelty-free cosmetics – Commit to a Europe without animal testing’. To achieve this goal, the Commission has been developing a roadmap, in collaboration with EU agencies and stakeholders. The roadmap aims to accelerate many activities contributing to the replacement or reduction of animal use in regulatory testing across a range of sectors. In this paper, we explain how these activities can be conceptualised as Transitional Initiatives, each of which produces outputs leading to outcomes that potentially contribute to the final impact of phasing out animal testing. The Commission’s Joint Research Centre (JRC) has established a dynamic online catalogue of these initiatives which will help to inform strategy and avoid duplicative efforts during the implementation phase of the roadmap. All stakeholders are invited to inspect the catalogue and notify the JRC of any relevant initiatives of their own. This paper explains the rationale behind Transitional Initiatives along with practical details of the notification process.JRC.F.3 - Systems Toxicolog
Informal long-term care in the context of demographic change and intergenerational fairness in the EU
No full textThe demographic change currently underway in Europe, with older people living longer and fewer children being born, is expected to both rise the demand for long-term care and reduce the availability of informal caregivers. This trend could lead to imbalances in intergenerational social transfers by increasing the burden on caregivers, reducing the quality of life for older people and increasing pressure on formal care systems, with implications for public finances.This science-for-policy brief explores the differences in caregiving and care-receiving patterns across generations in the context of an ageing population.
Our results show that changes in the age structure of the population have shifted the balance of care responsibilities across generations, with fewer available informal caregivers for the present generations than in the past. In the future, this trend is likely to worsen. Younger adults today are likely to face a higher caregiving burden when they reach their 50s and 60s compared to previous generations, while also being at risk of receiving less informal care in their older age.
Achieving intergenerational fairness in informal long-term care requires redistributing care responsibilities and more support for caregivers. Labour market policies need to enable people to combine informal caregiving with paid work, protect caregivers’ wellbeing and reduce gender and socio-economic inequalities. At the same time, it is important to expand and diversify formal services and to integrate them more effectively with informal care and other social and health services. A person-centred approach should be adopted to ensure that care is coordinated and tailored to each individual’s evolving needs throughout their life.JRC.E.5 - Demography and Migratio
Compositing high-resolution SDGSAT-1 nighttime light data by ranking of structural image features
No full textTo unlock the potential of high-resolution nighttime light (NTL) data, robust compositing methods are required. We present an automatic and scalable method for high-resolution NTL data compositing, demonstrated using SDGSAT-1. It operates at the pixel level by ranking structural image features across a temporal stack and selecting the observation acquired under the most favourable conditions. Unlike workflows that rely on external cloud masks and physical atmospheric correction models, it uses only internal image characteristics and stationarity metrics to mitigate contamination from clouds, haze, moonlight reflection, and sensor artefacts. The resulting composites show strong agreement with established VIIRS annual products used as independent external benchmarks (correlation up to 0.95, R² consistently > 0.80), while retaining a spatially crisper signal than VIIRS at a common aggregated scale (e.g. 800 m). The method also improves SDGSAT-1 usability by suppressing acquisition-dependent artefacts, including scene anomalies and inter-band RGB misregistration, and by improving spatial alignment: mean positional error is reduced from more than 340 m in the input data to 19.2 m in the composite. Internal geometric consistency improves markedly, with mean inter-band RGB misregistration decreasing from 47.6 m to 3.6 m. The workflow introduces a taxonomy combining NTL brightness, temporal stationarity, and built-up area presence. For the Po Plain (Italy), the stationary NTL domain covers ~10% of the area yet contains ~60% of total light emissions; within it, 73.6% originate from built-up areas and 26.4% from non-built-up infrastructure (lit roads). Overall, the method supports integration of SDGSAT-1 into global monitoring frameworks.JRC.E.1 - Disaster Risk Managemen
Mapping the transition of the EU aluminium industry to carbon neutrality
Full text linkThis factsheet provides an overview of sectoral emission sources, emissions breakdowns, decarbonisation trajectories, and estimated technology-specific CO₂ abatement costs. It further examines the evolution of decarbonisation technology maturity (from research and innovation to demonstration and deployment) in the timeline from 2025 to 2050 and evaluates the extent to which this evolution aligns with relevant policy targets and objectives.JRC.C.7 - Energy Transition Insights for Polic
Workshop report: scoping for the development of a proposal for an OECD guidance document on fish vitellogenin assessment
No full textThis report summarizes discussions of an international workshop in May 2024, aiming to scope the development needs of a proposal for an Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) Guidance Document on vitellogenin (VTG) analysis and assessment. Vitellogenin, an egg-yolk precursor protein in oviparous species, is an informative marker of possible chemical-induced endocrine activity (particularly estrogenicity). Vitellogenin measurement is included in several standardized test guidelines published by the OECD and USEPA for the assessment of endocrine activity of chemicals in fish (and one in amphibians). However, in vivo VTG data across and within fish species can be highly variable and influenced by both technical and biological factors, affecting the reliability and interpretation of results. This poses a challenge for regulatory decision-making and can trigger potentially unnecessary vertebrate studies or prevent necessary further investigations. The workshop brought together 42 experts from different sectors and geographies to discuss three key aspects regarding VTG assessment: (1) technical/laboratory factors and VTG quantification, (2) data handling and statistics, and (3) interpreting the biological relevance of VTG responses. The workshop participants discussed the development and needs of a guidance document to provide harmonized recommendations, best practices, quality assurance criteria, and minimum reporting standards for VTG assessment in regulatory studies across the different test guidelines. Several areas were identified where further work and discussion are needed to inform on the development of the guidance document, such as the use of historical control data, the identification of potential outliers, the presentation of data, and analysis of case study examples. Provision of such a guidance document will further support the use of VTG as a relevant marker for a key aspect of endocrine activity assessment for regulatory decision-making. A formal project was subsequently accepted into the OECD Test Guideline workplan in April 2025.JRC.F.3 - Systems Toxicolog
Digital co-assessment of public services and policies: a step forward or a trade-off too far?
No full textDigital co-assessment introduces new ways for citizens to engage in assessing, evaluating, and monitoring public services and policies through emerging technologies, ranging from mobile apps and digital platforms to AI-driven sentiment analysis, real-time dashboards, and blockchain-based transparency. While these tools expand participation, they raise concerns about algorithmic bias, data privacy, digital exclusion, and the institutional burden of processing feedback. This chapter classifies digital co-assessment models by citizen involvement and technological complexity, identifying key trade-offs among participation and institutional capacity, automation and deliberation, and transparency and surveillance. It discusses how governance choices can shape the opportunities and impact of digital co-assessment, depending on how participation is structured and institutionalised.JRC.T.1 - Digital Economy and Societ
Banning Mobile Phones in Schools: A Comprehensive Analysis of Media Coverage Across Countries
Full text linkThis study presents a comprehensive analysis of the media coverage surrounding the topic of mobile phone bans in schools. The report encompasses a thorough quantitative examination of a large dataset comprising over 21,000 articles from both mainstream and unverified media sources. The research investigates the overall trends in reporting during the specified timeframe, as well as the timeline distribution and heatmap intensities of framing dimensions and persuasion techniques per source country and across the top 30 clusters. Furthermore, the top shared articles from unverified sources on Facebook are analysed, providing insight into the role of social media in shaping public opinion on mobile phone bans in educational settings. The findings of this study have significant implications for policymakers, highlighting the complexities of public discourse and the influence of media on opinions regarding mobile phone regulation in schools. By contributing to a deeper understanding of the mobile phone ban debate, our research informs the development of effective policies to promote a healthier and more focused learning environment for students.JRC.T.3 - Algorithmic Transparenc
Tackling out-of-boundary emissions in climate change mitigation at the city level
Full text linkThe European Green Deal and the European Climate Law set ambitious climate change mitigation targets, and cities play a key role in achieving them. Initiatives such as the EU Covenant of Mayors and the EU Mission ‘Climate-neutral and smart cities’ have brought together thousands of cities committed to reducing their greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Through these initiatives, cities have developed GHG inventories to inform action planning and to monitor progress.
City-level GHG accounting frameworks have mostly focused on emissions occurring within territorial boundaries and/or associated with local energy use. However, researchers and practitioners have increasingly acknowledged the importance of GHG emissions occurring beyond city borders. A shift to consumption-based accounting has been observed in recent years, which may be associated with increased complexity, additional challenges in data collection and subjective methodological choices. Limited guidance and data are currently available to support EU cities, which need consistent GHG accounting frameworks and data, aligned with their needs, priorities and resources.
This report provides a review of the state of the art in GHG accounting and action in the EU, including current practices and available methods and data to support more comprehensive accounting. It provides a knowledge base and recommendations towards the development of a flexible accounting framework, combining different methods and approaches, to prepare relevant, comprehensive and consistent GHG inventories at the city level.JRC.C.5 - Clean Air and Climat
A state-dependent experimental model of storage efficiency for optimized battery system operation and revamping of degraded capacity
No full textThis paper presents an advanced experimental model of storage efficiency that accurately captures the efficiency dynamics of the battery and power converter, distinguishing between charging and discharging operational regimes. The model introduces a state-dependent representation of storage efficiencies as functions of key operating parameters, namely power rate and state of charge, which makes it particularly suitable for direct integration into optimization frameworks for Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) operation. The proposed model is derived through ad hoc fitting methods applied to data from an extensive testing campaign on the Li-Ion BESS installed at the SGILab in JRC Ispra. The applicability of the proposed approach is demonstrated through its implementation in a Dynamic Programming (DP) framework for combined optimization of the short-term operational scheduling of the BESS and its long-term capacity revamping strategy due to cyclic degradation. A case study examining a BESS participating in the Italian Wholesale Energy Market, while maintaining sufficient energy capacity to meet the contractual obligations of the Capacity Market, demonstrates that the proposed methodology enhances the overall system performance compared with previous approaches. Specifically, the improved efficiency formulation developed in this work allows for a +22.0% increment in the net economic profits throughout the entire asset lifetime with respect to standard approaches relying on constant BESS efficiency. Technical results allow for a better characterization of the BESS operational regime, which foster mild power rates, striking a balance between capacity degradation - triggered by large power rates - and inefficient energy conversions - typical of small power rates.JRC.C.3 - Energy Security, Distribution and Market
Life cycle optimization of circular industrial processes: Advances in by-product recovery for renewable energy applications
No full textThe global shift toward renewable energy and circular economy models requires industrial systems that minimize waste and recover value across entire life cycles. This review synthesizes recent advances in by-product recovery technologies supporting renewable energy and circular industrial processes. Thermal, biological, chemical/electrochemical, and biotechnological routes are analyzed across battery and e-waste recycling, bioenergy, wastewater, and agri-food sectors, with emphasis on integration through Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), techno-economic analysis (TEA), and multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA) coupled to process simulation, digital twins, and artificial intelligence tools. Policy and economic frameworks, including the European Green Deal and the Critical Raw Materials Act, are examined in relation to technology readiness and environmental performance. Hybrid recovery systems, such as pyro-hydro-bio configurations, enable higher resource efficiency and reduced environmental impact compared with stand-alone routes. Across all technologies, major hotspots include electricity demand, reagent use, gas handling, and concentrate management, while process integration, heat recovery, and realistic substitution credits significantly improve life cycle outcomes. Harmonized LCA-TEA-MCDA frameworks and digitalized optimization emerge as essential tools for scaling sustainable, resource-efficient, and low-impact industrial ecosystems consistent with circular economy and renewable energy objectives.JRC.D.3 - Sustainable Supply Chains and Bioeconom