38796 research outputs found
Sort by
A First Quantitative Assessment of Soil Health at European Scale Considering Soil Genesis
No full textSoil health degradation is a major threat to European food security, biodiversity, and climate stability. While scientists have debated how to define soil health during recent decades, a quantifiable framework for monitoring, management, and policy remains lacking.
We introduce SHERPA (Soil Health Evaluation, Rating Protocol, and Assessment) as a framework for discussion and present a first quantitative soil health assessment across Europe.
All major soil degradation processes (with the exception of organic contamination) were scored, averaged, and subtracted from the intrinsic soil health resulting in quantitative final scores.
As reported before, cropland soils throughout Europe are highly degraded. Surprisingly, soil health of grasslands is also very negatively impacted. Soil erosion, nutrient surplus, and pesticide risk are largely driving poor soil health aligning with reported high biodiversity loss in agricultural land. Forest soils are also surprisingly low in health, mainly because of nitrogen surplus, reflecting documented widespread forest decline from nutrient imbalances. Interactive maps highlight specific threats to soil health across Europe, offering valuable insights for targeted action.
SHERPA is able to quantify soil health across Europe. However, at the current state of data availability, soil health is likely to be overestimated. Monitoring data of soil structure, compaction, pesticide spread and, in forest ecosystems, disturbance of humus layer are urgently needed for final assessment of soil health.JRC.D.1 - Land and Climat
Managing change while phasing out animal testing in chemical safety assessments – a collection of stakeholder experiences and expectations
No full textThis is a summary of a series of bilateral discussions between the European Commission and different stakeholders in the context of developing the EU roadmap towards the phasing out of animal testing in chemical safety assessment. This exercise was performed with a representative spread of stakeholders to harvest a multiplex and informed overview of experiences and expectations in different areas of competence. The intention was to understand how different stakeholder groups are preparing for the transition, as well as their incentives and concerns. The insights gained through these free-floating discussions provided an input to inform the development of the EU roadmap, along with evidence gathered through more formal and structured stakeholder consultations.JRC.F.3 - Systems Toxicolog
Model support tools for Informed Decision Making - MIDAS and sensitivity analysis
No full textModels play a key role in informing evidence-based policymaking, particularly in addressing complex societal-economic-environmental issues. By promoting informed decision-making and responsible use of models, the European Commission (EC) has developed tools and procedures for a trustworthy modelling workflow. Two complementary good modelling practice tools of the EC are presented, and their crucial role in enhancing modelling transparency is detailed. MIDAS – a publicly accessible meta-database that consolidates a standardised information on models and provides real-time information to modelling-supported EU legislative documents – ensures FAIR principles in model use. Uncertainty and Sensitivity Analysis methods allows us to identify and prioritise sources of uncertainty, and visualise how model uncertainties affect decision-making. To illustrate the role of sensitivity analysis for policymaking an application on the Screening for High Emission Reduction Potential on Air (SHERPA) model is presented. The SIML@B tool for global sensitivity analysis developed by European Commission has been employed.JRC.S.3 - Science for Modelling, Monitoring and Evaluatio
INFORM Severity Index
Full text linkThis report outlines the revised methodology of the INFORM Severity Index, a comprehensive, data-driven tool for assessing humanitarian crises globally. The revision was prompted by user feedback and changes in the data ecosystem since the last publication of the methodology in 2020, and it was developed through a rigorous collaboration between the Joint Research Centre and ACAPS.
A statistical audit of the methodology confirmed its overall robustness, validating its core principles. Based on these findings, the revision focused on refining data collection processes and scoring, improving the aggregation of the "Concentration of conditions," finding alternatives for outdated indicators, and recalculating the model. Further key changes include the rescaling of the score to a 0-10 scale for better alignment with other INFORM products and a revision to the approach for data reliability propagation. This revised methodology enhances the Index's transparency and accuracy, ultimately improving its application in humanitarian decision-making.JRC.E.1 - Disaster Risk Managemen
Economic growth and environmental objectives: An evaluation based on 2021-2027 cohesion policy regional data
No full textThe 2021–2027 cohesion policy programme is required to deliver on the European Union’s green transition priority facilitating reaching net zero emissions by 2050. Our analysis shows that green investments under this policy are expected to have a positive impact on GDP and employment, particularly in less developed regions. These investments can help reduce the costs of the transition, and also have the potential to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. However, cohesion policy alone cannot drive the transition and additional instruments and actions should be put in place to support all European territories.JRC.B.7 - Innovation Policies and Economic Impac
Literature review on the economics of food waste and losses in the food supply chain
Full text linkThis study presents a systematic literature review of food waste and loss interventions across the entire food supply chain, which is an area often underrepresented in existing research, where the focus is given to consumer level actions. Using the PRISMA method, we screened and selected 45 articles, including 21 review papers and 24 non-review studies. The selected articles were evaluated using the comprehensive criteria proposed by Caldeira et al. (2019), allowing us to map how interventions are planned, assessed, and reported across different supply chain stages and methodologies. Our review is the first to systematically apply these criteria to interventions discussed in research papers, identifying key gaps and strengths. The study concludes with actionable recommendations for improving intervention planning, such as defining clear objectives, ensuring long-term sustainability, and enhancing transferability. This review offers valuable insights for policymakers, businesses, and researchers aiming to design, evaluate, and implement more effective food waste interventions.JRC.D.4 - Economics of Food System
Co-creating the European Democracy Shield (EDS)
Full text linkThe European Democracy Shield was adopted on 12 November 2025. This policybrief summarses the outcomes of 10 co-creation workshops conducted in 10 member States to support the consultation with citizens envisaged by that policy legislation.JRC.S.2 - Science for Democracy, Public Governance and Administratio
Trade policies for low-carbon development in developing countries: Insights from Kenya
No full textMotivation Greenhouse gas emissions from the transport, energy, and industrial sectors are rising in Kenya, with projections indicating that energy production and consumption will be the leading sources of emissions by 2030. Purpose This study aims to examine the potential role of energy-efficiency-improving low-carbon technologies in transitioning the economy towards low-carbon development. Approach and methods It assesses the increased supply of energy-efficiency-improving machinery as an intermediate input to reduce energy consumption to the macroeconomy and environment in domestic and international financing scenarios using a computable general equilibrium model for Kenya. Findings Overall, increasing energy efficiency and improving machinery and equipment under the two financing options has a positive impact on gross domestic product, exports, imports, domestic production, and household consumption. The economic and environmental effects of financing through international support are more pronounced compared to those of financing through domestic resources. Policy implications The results of the study imply that developing countries such as Kenya can consider and explore different trade policies and instruments to support their path to low-carbon development. This could include reducing or removing tariffs on low-carbon technology machinery. Advanced world economies, for their part, could finance the supply of low-carbon technologies by making these available at lower cost.JRC.D.4 - Economics of the Food Syste
Advancing optical earth observation for EU policies: needs, opportunities, recommendations
No full textThe effective translation of Earth observation (EO) measurements into actionable information for agriculture and land monitoring is critical to support policy implementation on climate, environment, and sustainable development. However, this translation remains challenging, as EO evolves from an awareness-raising instrument into an operational tool for evidence-based policymaking. To address this gap, we systematically link, for the first time, European Union (EU) land-related agricultural and environmental policies to EO-derived variables that can be generated from enhanced optical satellites expected in the next decade. We present a comprehensive framework for assessing the technology readiness levels (TRLs) of EO variables used to map, monitor, and manage crop, forest, soil, mineral, and water resources, thereby facilitating policy implementation and compliance. Upcoming Copernicus Hyperspectral Imaging Mission for the Environment (CHIME), and the Sentinel-2 Next Generation (S2NG) missions, both developed by the European Space Agency (ESA), will deliver substantial technological advancements for high-level EO-based products, enabling applications such as plant nitrogen and soil organic carbon content (SOC) estimation, species identification, and water quality characterization. Realizing the full potential of CHIME and S2NG for agricultural and environmental policy implementation will require advancing current products from prototype stages (TRL 4–6) to full operational readiness (TRL 9) through robust science-policy interfaces. Within such interfaces, we recommend exploiting existing (hyperspectral) EO data and time series, strengthening in-situ observations for robust model development and validation, and testing synergies between systems. Co-design of tailored products with policymakers is then essential to refine algorithms and align EO outputs with regulatory needs and scales. Upcoming spaceborne imaging spectroscopy and enhanced multispectral data streams thus have the potential to become game-changers and indispensable tools for EU policy implementation, providing greater traceability of key environmental and agricultural processes.JRC.D.1 - Land and Climat
Policy, science and industry synergies to unlock hidden small hydropower in the European Union under the water-energy-society-ecosystem nexus
No full textHydropower developed in existing hydraulic infrastructures, water facilities and industries, including non-powered dams and weirs, wastewater treatment plants and water distribution networks, is known as “hidden hydro”. Although it avoids many of the socio-environmental disturbances that might be generated by conventional hydropower, coordinated actions among Policy, Science and Industry (PSI) for scaling hidden hydro remain fragmented. This paper examines recent European Union (EU) policy and research programmes, framed under the Water-Energy-Society-Ecosystem (WESE) nexus, and evaluates their capacity to stimulate investments in hidden hydro, with specific focus on small hydropower (SHP). By harmonizing existing literature, this study identifies an untapped EU's potential of hidden hydro of up to 15 TWh/year (approx. 30% of current SHP annual generation in the EU), excluding the potential of upgrading existing SHP systems. Realising this capacity could generate multiple socio-economic co-benefits beyond clean electricity for society, that were also quantified: employment, community engagement, research investments, market trade and industrial innovation, ultimately enhancing competitiveness. The findings underscore that effective PSI synergies are essential for fully appraising and exploiting hidden hydro's contribution to the WESE nexus, and for aligning EU policies and research agendas with this resource.JRC.D.2 - Ocean and Wate