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The EU bioeconomy at a glance: Focus on economic value added, employment and innovation
Get PDFThe bioeconomy encompasses a wide range of activities that utilise renewable biological resources, from agriculture and forestry to biotechnology and bio-based industries, to produce food, materials, and energy, as well as related services.
In 2023, the biomass producing and converting sectors created 17.1 million jobs, equivalent to 7.9% of total EU’s employment. Additionally, it generated a value added of EUR 863 billion, accounting for 5% of EU’s GDP.
The bio-based industry accounted for EUR 583 billion in economic value added, half of which (EUR 305 billion) are generated by food, beverages and other agro-manufacturing. The manufacturing of bio-based pharmaceuticals with EUR 102 billion, followed by wood products and furniture (EUR 61 billion), paper (EUR 52 billion), and bio-based textiles (EUR 29 billion), bio-based chemicals (EUR 14 billion) and bio-based plastics and rubber (EUR 4 billion).
When including the services, the size of all bioeconomy-relevant sectors is significantly higher. The bioeconomy-relevant sectors generated EUR 1.9-2.7 trillion in value added (11-16% of EU’s GDP) and created between 42 and 60 million jobs (19-28% of EU’s total employment).
In 2023, the business expenditure in research and development (R&D) from the biomass producing and converting sectors in the EU was estimated at EUR 17.3 billion, corresponding to 6.7% of the total EU's business expenditure in R&D. If related scientific and knowledge-based activities are included, the amount is EUR 23.2 billion (9.0% of total EU´s business expenditure).
Over the last years, the socioeconomic indicators of the bioeconomy have shown an increasing contribution to GDP and R&D expenditure, evincing the potential for fostering innovation, productivity and competitiveness.JRC.D.4 - Economics of the Food Syste
European Cohesion Policy and Sustainable Development Goals number 1, 8 and 10
No full textSubnational governments are increasingly involved in the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). In Europe, the policy efforts to achieve the SDGs increasingly recognise the importance of regional disparities and structural differences between regions, issues that have historically been addressed by European cohesion policy. In this paper, we quantify the potential impact of the European cohesion policy 2021–2027 on three interrelated SDGs in NUTS 2 regions of the European Union, using a spatial dynamic general equilibrium model. Our results suggest that cohesion policy can deliver significant results for SDGs 1, 8 and 10, which relate to poverty reduction, inclusive economic growth and reduction of economic disparities, respectively.JRC.B.7 - Innovation Policies and Economic Impac
Guia: Como desenvolver um plano de ação climática: Acesso à energia e pobreza energética no Brasil [Guidebook: How to develop a climate action plan: Energy Access and Energy Poverty in Brazil]
Get PDFO Pacto Global de Prefeitos para o Clima e a Energia (GCoM) apoia as autoridades locais no combate às mudanças climáticas. No Brasil, o GCoM convida os governos municipais a assumirem um compromisso político voluntário para implementar ações sob três pilares: mitigação climática, adaptação climática e acesso à energia. A fim de traduzir o compromisso político em ações práticas, os signatários do GCoM se comprometem a desenvolver e implementar um Plano de Ação Climática (SECAP).
Este guia foi adaptado com base em experiências anteriores do Joint Research Centre (JRC) na Europa e noutras regiões do mundo. Diante dos recentes esforços que o Brasil tem feito a fim de garantir uma transião energética justa e igualitária, este guia tem como objetivo adaptar a metodologia de desenvolvimento de um SECAP ao contexto brasileiro com foco no pilar de acesso à energia e pobreza energética. A ação municipal, no que diz respeito ao acesso à energia e combate a pobreza energética, é de extrema relevância na realidade brasileira, e este documento pretende servir de apoio à novas iniciativas locais no que diz respeito ao assunto.JRC.C.2 - Energy Efficiency and Renewable
Exploring the potential of Co-Governance models to accelerate SDGs at local level
Get PDFWith an eye to the upcoming 2030 deadline, this report aims to explore the potential of Co-Governance and Joint Management of Commons mechanisms in accelerating the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) at local level. It argues that commons-based co-governance mechanisms have the potential to significantly enhance citizens’ sense of ownership of the SDGs, including those who may be frail and vulnerable, thus enabling broad engagement and actions sustained over time.
Through desk research and literature review, the report examines the alignment between SDGs localization and commons-based co-governance experiences. The in-depth analysis of five case studies unfolds new forms of collaboration that have been developed and tested locally, encompassing diverse contexts across the European Union, and provides practical insights and evidence of Co-Governance in enhancing public policy effectiveness, social innovation, and citizen participation in vulnerable neighbourhoods, cities and territories.
The report concludes that commons-based Co-Governance models, going beyond the traditional top-down vs bottom-up dichotomy, could provide a powerful tool for localizing SDGs; however, further research and policy efforts are needed to overcome challenges linked to administrative silos, scaling up, financial sustainability and the inclusion of diverse groups of civil society.JRC.B.3 - Territorial Developmen
Projecting Future Flood Losses to Company Assets in Europe: The Role of Precautionary Measures
No full textFlooding has become an escalating threat over the past years, driven by climate and socio-economic changes. In Europe, floods now surpass other natural disasters in severity, causing substantial economic losses, particularly in the commercial sector. While river flood impacts on agriculture and residential properties have been extensively studied, research on commercial sector losses remains limited despite their significantly high financial burden. This study enhances river flood risk assessment for commercial assets by integrating flood hazard scenarios with state-of-the-art Bayesian Network-based flood loss model with object-specific exposure data. It estimates the expected annual damage (EAD) to commercial properties across Europe under a baseline and potential future scenarios shaped by climate change, exposure dynamics, and their combined effects. Additionally, the study assesses the potential of property-level precautionary measures to mitigate flood risks. Results indicate that, compared to the baseline (year - 1995), the EAD values could rise more than 5-fold under RCP4.5 scenario and 7-fold under RCP8.5 scenario by the end of the century. However, a policy scenario in which all companies implement at least one precautionary measure ("measures for all") effectively offsets these projected losses. This underscores the crucial role of individual actions in reducing future flood impacts.JRC.E.1 - Disaster Risk Managemen
Widespread underestimation of rain-induced soil carbon emissions from global drylands
No full textDryland carbon fluxes, particularly those driven by ecosystem respiration, are highly sensitive to water availability and rain pulses. However, the magnitude of rain-induced carbon emissions remains unclear globally. Here we quantify the impact of rain-pulse events on the carbon balance of global drylands and characterize their spatiotemporal controls. Using eddy-covariance observations of carbon, water and energy fluxes from 34 dryland sites worldwide, we produce an inventory of over 1,800 manually identified rain-induced CO2 pulse events. Based on this inventory, a machine learning algorithm is developed to automatically detect rain-induced CO2 pulse events. Our findings show that existing partitioning methods underestimate ecosystem respiration and photosynthesis by up to 30% during rain-pulse events, which annually contribute 16.9 ± 2.8% of ecosystem respiration and 9.6 ± 2.2% of net ecosystem productivity. We show that the carbon loss intensity correlates most strongly with annual productivity, aridity and soil pH. Finally, we identify a universal decay rate of rain-induced CO2 pulses and use it to bias-correct respiration estimates. Our research highlights the importance of rain-induced carbon emissions for the carbon balance of global drylands and suggests that ecosystem models may largely underrepresent the influence of rain pulses on the carbon cycle of drylands.JRC.D.1 - Forests and Bio-Econom
Perceptions of the European Green Deal: understanding public sentiment
No full textLaunched in December 2019, the European Green Deal (EGD) represents the European Union’s (EU) ambitious policy framework to achieve climate neutrality by 2050. This study employs a sentiment analysis of 582,156 tweets from the beginning of 2020 to April 2024 to understand the evolution of public sentiment toward the EGD. Grounded in Social Representations Theory and Framing Theory, we analyze sentiment trends, topic distributions, and the impact of key policy and external events (e.g. COVID-19 spread) on public sentiment. The results reveal predominantly neutral sentiment (61.68\%), with more positive (28.26\%) than negative (10.06\%) sentiment overall and a substantially stable trend over time. EU-affiliated accounts showed higher positive sentiment compared to non-EU-affiliated accounts. Sentiment trends were correlated with key policy announcements and global events, demonstrating the intricate relationship between policy communication and the formation of public opinion. The study identified key themes and specific initiatives driving positive sentiment, including those linked to the first EU climate law and climate targets, Farm to Fork, and New European Bauhaus. Conversely, economic concerns, challenges in policy implementation challenges, ecosystem conservation status, and food system, and energy security issues appeared as associated with negative sentiment. The findings highlight the importance of targeted communication strategies, transparent response to skepticism, communication of policy processes, and stakeholder feedback collection tool enhancement to leverage public sentiment in support of the EU green transition, paving the way for future research to explore regional nuances and sentiment monitoring.JRC.D.1 - Forests and Bio-Econom
SET Plan Progress Report 2025
No full textPublished on the occasion of the 19th Strategic Energy Technology Plan (SET Plan) conference in Odense, Denmark, this report highlights the SET Plan’s role in coordinating EU and national research and innovation (R&I) agendas for a more competitive, secure and sustainable Europe, and its achievements during the last 12 months. In 2024, the SET Plan’s role was reinforced within the framework of the Net-Zero Industry Act, and its Steering Group was given a higher legal status. Following this, in 2025, the Commission invited all Member States and European Economic Area countries to join the new High-Level Steering Group and initiated the process of updating the SET Plan’s governance structure. Once adopted by high-level representatives, the new governance structure will strengthen the SET Plan, providing the necessary tools to deliver on Europe’s increased ambition for industrial leadership in low-carbon technologies. This will be achieved by enhancing cooperation between policymakers, industry, academia, research institutes, and public and private investors. The 2025 SET Plan report draws extensively on input from SET Plan stakeholders, offering an opportunity to showcase their recent work, challenges, investment needs, expectations, and opportunities for growth. This year we note that of the nearly 200 SET Plan activities, approximately a quarter have already achieved significant success and produced tangible results.JRC.C.7 - Energy Transition Insights for Polic
Large-scale biodiversity and environmental assessment of the Lobito Corridor
Get PDFThis study is a response to a policy request submitted by the EU Delegation to Zambia to the EC Knowledge Centre for Biodiversity (KCBD) through the KCBD ticketing system. The Lobito Corridor is a major infrastructure initiative aimed at enhancing regional connectivity and economic integration across Angola, Democratic Republic of the Congo and Zambia. As the project expands, concerns are emerging over its potential environmental impacts, particularly on biodiversity. In this report, we present a large-scale assessment of the possible effects of the Lobito Corridor development on various dimensions of biodiversity and environmental values. To this end, we focused on a large area of interest defined around the major planned infrastructures, including potential variants. The area spans from 12°E to 31°E in longitude, and from 8°S to 16°S in latitude, covering approximately 1,740,000 km². Our analysis aims to provide a multi-dimensional view of the environmental, ecological and biological status of the area. For this, we mapped and quantified a broad set of key variables that offer insights into anthropogenic pressures across the Corridor’s landscape, while also highlighting ecological and biological vulnerabilities, and conservation priorities. Specifically, we report detailed and spatially explicit information on current land cover and degree of human modification, water availability, forest cover and fragmentation, and the distribution and extent of protected areas and key biodiversity areas. We also provide an extensive biodiversity assessment by examining the distribution and conservation status of more than 1,700 terrestrial vertebrate species (amphibians, birds, mammals, reptiles) within the area of interest. This information is synthesized by looking at both individual taxa and overall diversity and is complemented using state-of-the-art conservation metrics. Our assessment reveals that the vast majority of the area is currently only weakly affected by human activities, with forests covering more than two-thirds of the land. Spatial patterns of diversity and species vulnerability depict a complex picture, suggesting the existence of delicate trade-offs between development and conservation. Although our results cannot - and are by no means intended to - define where development should or should not occur, they provide an essential frame of reference for evidence based evaluation of ecological risks and may offer substantial support for future planning efforts in the region.JRC.D.6 - Nature Conservation and Observation
Internet Standards: Email communication security standards - an analysis of uptake in the EU
Get PDFEnsuring the interoperability and security of email communications is one of the cornerstones of a resilient and open Internet. In this context, the wide adoption of key Internet security standards, such as StartTLS, SPF, DKIM, DMARC, DANE and DNSSEC, is essential for a safe cyberspace for everyone. This report assesses the level of acceptance of the above set of standards for Q3 2025 in EU member states, comparing it to the global status. The analysis uses data from publicly available data sources and assessment tools, as well as measurements carried out by the Joint Research Center of the European Commission. Our findings show that the average level of adoption of most standards is similar to the last measurement period (Q1 2025), except for DMARC, which shows an important increase in adoption. More specifically, StartTLS, SPF, DKIM, and DMARC have high adoption rates in the EU (ranging from around 87% to 98%, according to mecsa-st results), while DANE with DNSSEC shows very low uptake, that is, 3% and 5%, respectivelyJRC.T.2 - Cybersecurity and Digital Technologie