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Local Labour Market Resilience: the Role of Digitalisation and Working from Home
No full textThis article shows that digital capital and working from home were essential for the resilience of local labour markets in the context of the COVID-19 crisis in Germany. Employment responses differed widely across local labour markets, with differences in short-time work rates of up to 30 percentage points at the beginning of the pandemic. Using recent advancements in the difference-in-differences approach with a continuous treatment, we find that digital capital potential higher by one standard deviation led to a short-time work rate that was lower by 1.5 percentage points on average at the onset of the shock. The effect was nonlinear, disproportionately disadvantaging regions at the lower end of the digital capital distribution. We also find that working from home potential led to lower short-time work, especially during the first lockdown period. However, digital capital smoothed the employment shock beyond the effect of remote work, extending into 2021. Moreover, local digital capital potential increased the adoption of remote work after the shock.JRC.S.3 - Science for Modelling, Monitoring and Evaluatio
Widespread but Divergent Drought Legacy Effects on Gross Primary Productivity Across Biomes
No full textDrought can impact terrestrial ecosystems concurrently but also lagged in time, that is, through legacy effects. Drought legacy effects have been identified in parameters such as tree radial growth or satellite-based greenness. Evidence in ecosystem-scale fluxes, for example, gross primary productivity (GPP), is emerging, but still limited to individual sites or specific regions. Based on GPP data at 76 long-term (≥ 7 years) eddy-covariance sites across climates and biomes, we found drought legacy effects for 26 out of 52 droughts, with magnitudes comparable to the drought concurrent effects and lasting typically up to 1 year following drought. These effects diverged in direction: 19 events led to reduced GPP in the following years (negative legacy effects), while 7 showed increased GPP (positive legacy effects). Forests experienced more negative legacy effects than non-forest ecosystems. Legacy effects were more pronounced in forests with higher hydraulic vulnerability. Our findings demonstrate the global relevance of drought legacy effects on GPP and the need for their integration into drought impact assessments.JRC.D.1 - Forests and Bio-Econom
Insights Into Water Vapor Uptake by Dry Soils Using a Global Eddy Covariance Observation Network
No full textThe exchange of water vapor between soil and atmosphere is a key component of land–atmosphere interactions, especially under dry conditions. Soil water vapor adsorption (SVA) occurs when the atmospheric water vapor pressure is greater than the soil air vapor pressure, which triggers the transport of water vapor from the atmosphere to the soil and its retention on the soil particle surface in liquid form. This process is largely caused by soil hydraulic properties and may play a significant role in dryland hydrology, yet remains understudied due to a lack of continuous, direct observations. In this study, we use globally distributed eddy covariance flux tower data to detect and characterize patterns of soil water vapor adsorption. We verify the consistency between negative latent heat fluxes as an indicator of water vapor movement toward the ground and the theoretical understanding of SVA. Our results reveal a relationship between the direction of the vapor gradient, as indicated by the direction of the latent heat flux, soil moisture, and near-surface relative humidity, which is consistent with the understanding of a phase equilibrium at the pore scale of the soil. Distinguishing between random noise and physically explainable occurrences of negative latent heat fluxes enables the characterization of SVA occurrence in eddy covariance observations. SVA is detected most frequent in arid and semi-arid regions, particularly in ecosystems with sparse vegetation such as savannas and dry shrublands. On average, SVA occurs for 4 ± 1.1 h per night, and may last up to 7 h in some locations. In certain sites, SVA occurs on more than 150 nights per year. These findings suggest that the eddy covariance method can help monitor SVA occurrence. Mapping the spatiotemporal patterns of SVA enhances our understanding of dryland land–atmosphere water fluxes and uncovers a previously overlooked component of the terrestrial water cycle.JRC.D.1 - Forests and Bio-Econom
Internet Standards: Web communication standards - an analysis of uptake in the EU
Get PDFThe broad deployment of Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP)-related standards (such as, HTTPS, HTTP/3 and HTTP security response headers) is imperative for ensuring the interoperability, security, scalability and stability of the Internet. This report studies the adoption rate of modern HTTP-related technologies, namely HTTP Secure 25 (HTTPS), the latest version of HTTP, i.e., HTTP/3, and HTTP Strict Transport Security (HSTS) response header for Q3 2025 across EU Member States, as well as globally. The analysis of the level of uptake of web communication standards has been carried out using publicly available data, as well as data collected from measurements conducted by the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre.JRC.T.2 - Cybersecurity and Digital Technologie
Climate change, heat stress and labour productivity. A regional European assessment
Get PDFClimate change is leading to a steady and significant rise in heat stress, posing growing threats to worker well-being, safety, and productivity, especially in jobs that require intense physical exertion. This report assesses the anticipated effects of heat stress on labour productivity and regional economic output across Europe from 2020 to 2100, taking into account differences in climate, occupation, and socio-economic factors. By the mid-21st century, 22 European regions are expected to suffer labour productivity losses exceeding 1% annually due to heat stress, increasing to 107 regions by the 2080s. Notably, 20 regions may face productivity declines of over 2%, with Murcia, Spain, potentially experiencing losses of up to 6% in the most extreme scenario.JRC.C.6 - Economics of Climate Change, Energy and Transpor
AfCFTA: Updated Analysis of Trade, Economic Outcomes, and Policy Implications
Get PDFThis study provides a comprehensive and updated analysis of the potential impacts of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA). Utilizing the MAGNET model, based on GTAP version 7 and database version 11C, this research incorporates new information such as actual tariff offers, revised Non-Tariff Measure (NTM) modelling, and updated baseline projections to offer a more accurate assessment than previous studies.
The simulations indicate positive economic outcomes for Africa, including increases in GDP, household disposable income, and intra-African trade. While tariff reductions alone have a modest impact, the reduction of NTMs is crucial for achieving substantial benefits, with spillover effects to extra-African trade further amplifying these gains. The study also highlights that the AfCFTA is expected to foster industrialization in Africa, with manufacturing output showing the most significant increases among sectors.
However, the analysis also points to regional disparities in economic benefits and potential challenges such as a decrease in tariff revenues for some countries. The findings underscore the importance of complementary policies, effective NTM reduction, and strategic management of public revenue streams to ensure equitable and sustainable growth across the continent. Future research is suggested to explore the long-term social and environmental impacts, as well as the institutional and regulatory frameworks necessary for the agreement's full implementation.JRC.D.4 - Economics of Food System
Misdetection of frameshifts in SARS-CoV-2 genomes: need for additional harmonization and efficient monitoring of data workflows
No full textFive years after the outbreak of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic in 2020, diagnostic laboratories have moved from massive sequencing of thousands of samples to routine surveillance of SARS-CoV-2 cases as with all other respiratory viruses. Surveillance remains of paramount importance to prevent a further SARS-CoV-2 surge, as the virus has been shown to mutate rapidly and can render available drugs and vaccines ineffective. During the pandemic, several bioinformatics pipelines and workflows have been developed to streamline analysis, shorten turn-around time and ensure reproducibility. As the number of samples decreases, laboratories are moving towards more flexible sequencing strategies and optimising the cost per sample. However, workflow redesigns, even if individual steps have proven successful time and time again, can lead to challenges when changes in a bioinformatics pipeline are introduced (e.g., version updates, implementation of new features, etc.), a new combination of viral mutations emerge or, a change in wet-lab procedures lead to unpredictable results. Here we present a report of misidentified frameshift mutations in the consensus sequence of SARS-CoV-2, which led to an incorrect assumption of mutations in the spike and nucleoprotein of SARS-CoV-2 with the potential to affect PCR detection or even antigen testing. This investigation exemplifies the need for better awareness of the challenges that can occur even when using routinely applied protocols and analytical workflows and highlights the need for cooperation between experts of NGS, bioinformaticians and decision-makers towards more harmonised data workflows.JRC.F.7 - Digital Healt
The impact of drivers’ acceleration style on the vehicle energy performance: a real-world case study.
No full textThe present study investigates the impact of different acceleration styles collected from a sample of human drivers on the vehicle's energy performance in real-world trips. The variations in CO2 emissions according to different acceleration patterns are benchmarked to real-world trips from a driving campaign that involved 20 drivers on the same reference vehicle. The paper builds on a previous work that benchmarked the correlation between CO2 emissions and acceleration behaviour to the standard homologation Worldwide Harmonized Light Vehicles Test Cycle (WLTC). The current work extends the application to real-world conditions, modifying the acceleration events of real-world trips according to the driver's acceleration attitude and subsequently simulating the energy performance, specifically the CO2 emissions. The heterogeneity of the driver's acceleration style is characterised by the vehicle-Independent Driving Style metric (IDS), which represents the driver's acceleration aggressiveness. The results confirm a significant impact in CO2 emissions of the acceleration behaviour, leading to differences above 10% between the most timid (IDS=0.05) and most dynamic styles (IDS=1) when a consistent acceleration style is followed for the whole trip, in contrast with the 5% difference found when benchmarking to the WLTC cycle. The impact is substantially reduced (± 1 CO2 g/km) when considering the stochasticity of the human acceleration style.JRC.C.4 - Sustainable, Smart and Safe Mobilit
Integrity and safety of repurposed hydrogen pipelines in the European Union
No full textThe European Commission recognises hydrogen as an important chemical feedstock and energy carrier that could help decarbonise hard-to-abate sectors, such as heavy industry and heavy-duty transport. The development of a comprehensive hydrogen infrastructure in the European Union is required to bridge the gap between hydrogen supply and demand. One possibility to accelerate the establishment of a hydrogen transmission network is to repurpose part of the existing natural gas infrastructure for the transport of hydrogen, in addition to new constructions. Several projects are already planned to establish this infrastructure. In this frame, the effects of gaseous hydrogen on pipeline steel materials have been reviewed, and the implications for the integrity and safety of repurposed natural gas pipelines for hydrogen transport assessed. It was found that hydrogen exposure notably reduces the ductility and fracture toughness of steel materials and increases fatigue crack growth rates. These changes in material properties may have implications on the behaviour of defects found in the existing natural gas infrastructure, and may lead to the need for update of the pipeline inspection and integrity management practices. From a safety perspective, the safety protocols, emergency response plans, and risk assessment methodologies may need to be revised to account for the distinctive properties of hydrogen in comparison to natural gas, e.g. flammability range, ignition energy, buoyancy etc. Knowledge of past gas pipeline incidents is of interest in that regard to better understand the future behaviour of the hydrogen gas grid. The incident history from the natural gas transmission sector in Europe, and from hydrogen pipelines worldwide, has been compiled using the data available from the European Gas Pipeline Incident Data Group (EGIG) and from the Hydrogen Incidents and Accidents Database (HIAD). Their analysis provides valuable insight on the main threats to pipeline integrity and safety.JRC.C.1 - Battery and Hydrogen Technologie
LMT battery performance and durability testing
No full textThis data collection includes datasets on the performance and durability of LMT batteries created from battery testing in JRC’s BESTEST laboratory.JRC.C.1 - Battery and Hydrogen Technologie