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Co-creating the European Democracy Shield (EDS)
Get PDFThe 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
The Competence Centre on Microeconomic Evaluation – 2025 Yearbook
No full textThis brochure reports highlights of activities in 2025 of the European Commission's Competence Centre on Microeconomic Evaluation (CC-ME). CC-ME was founded on May 19, 2016 to support the evaluation function in the European Commission. CC-ME is part of Unit JRC.S.3 'Science for Modelling, Monitoring and Evaluation'. CC-ME builds on the experience of the Centre for Research on Impact Evaluation (CRIE), which started as a joint project of the Joint Research Centre (JRC) and the European Commission Directorate-General Employment, Social affairs and Inclusion (DG EMPL) in 2013; CRIE is now an integral part of CC-ME.JRC.S.3 - Science for Modelling, Monitoring and Evaluatio
Does Africa need Entrepreneurial Ecosystems thinking?
No full textDoes Africa need Entrepreneurial Ecosystems (EE) thinking? This paper argues that EE thinking is not a priority for Africa. The data is clear that Africa already has too many entrepreneurs. Further boosting the number of entrepreneurs in Africa seems like a step in the wrong direction. Instead, Africa should support the “right” kind of entrepreneurs, while reducing the total number of entrepreneurs. Two theories suggest that EE theory is the opposite of what African development needs: first, lessons from the technological catch-up that worked well for the development of South East Asia; and second, Schumpeterian growth theory which makes policy recommendations conditional on a country’s distance-to-frontier.JRC.B.6 - Industrial strategy, skills and technology transfe
JRC MARS Bulletin - Crop monitoring in Europe - February 2026 - Vol. 34 No 1
No full textWinter crop conditions across Europe remain broadly satisfactory, although severe and persistent frost in parts of northern and eastern Europe has heightened concerns about local frost damage, particularly where snow cover was insufficient at the onset of cold spells. Winter wheat is generally well hardened, but barley and rapeseed may have been adversely affected. In contrast, abundant rainfall in parts of western France, southern Europe and the western Mediterranean region has replenished soil moisture and local reservoirs, but caused localised flooding.
This edition includes an extended crop monitoring analysis of the Maghreb, along with an initial yield outlook for winter cereals in the region. Markedly above-average rainfall since late
December has significantly improved cereal prospects, particularly in Morocco and northern Algeria, easing prolonged drought conditions and restoring reservoir levels.JRC.D.5 - Food Securit
Real-Time Forecasting and Mapping Flood Extent from Integrated Hydrologic Models and Satellite Remote Sensing: Case of a Flood Event in Medium Size Basin
No full textThis paper presents a comprehensive real-time forecasting and mapping cycle of a regional
flood event, encompassing quantitative precipitation forecasting, runoff production and routing,
and inundation mapping. The objective of this study is to highlight the significant uncertainties
inherent in each step of the fully automated cycle, despite the utilization of state-of-the art
models and remote sensing technologies. The case study focuses on a flood event that occurred
in an average-sized watershed and river system in rural Iowa, United States, resulting in
localized damage and disruption to several small communities. The study demonstrates the
limited utility of satellite-based remote sensing in the absence of other forecasting and mapping
system elements, emphasizing the need for timely integration of information from diverse
sources to accurately forecast and map floods. To achieve this, we assembled and analyzed data
from various sources, including precipitation data from weather radars, streamflow estimates
derived from river stages and rating curves, and cross-sectional data of river channels to
characterize the movement of the flood wave. These data were integrated into hydrologic and
hydraulic models to generate flood inundation estimates for the more severely affected areas.
Remote sensing imagery was obtained and used as reference to assess the accuracy of modeled
inundated areas. Our findings illustrate that, despite the increasing availability of satellite data
sources, there are still significant limitations to tracking inundation remotely, particularly for
medium-sized basins. Flood modeling processes are not complementary to remote estimation,
but necessary for adequate assessment of flood risk.JRC.E.1 - Disaster Risk Managemen
Mapping Europe’s rooftop photovoltaic potential with a building-level database
No full textIndividual building-level approaches are needed to understand the full potential of rooftop photovoltaics (PV) at national and regional scale. Here we use the European Digital Building Stock Model R2025, an open-access building-level database, to assess rooftop solar potential for each of the 271 million buildings in the European Union. The results show that potential capacity could reach 2.3 TWp (1,822 GWp residential, 519 GWp non-residential), with an annual output of 2,750 TWh based on current PV technology. This corresponds to approximately 40% of electricity demand in a 100% renewable scenario for 2050. Already by 2030, over a half of buildings with floor area larger than 2,000 m2 could generate most of remaining capacity for the 2030 target with 355 GWp. Across member states, non-residential rooftops could cover 50% or more of their PV targets, with several exceeding 95%. The open-access building-level database offers practical tools to support better decisions, accelerate renewable energy adoption and promote a more decentralized energy system. It is also an enabler for planners and researchers to further explore energy scenarios with high renewable shares.JRC.C.2 - Energy Efficiency and Renewable
GFC2020: a global map of forest land use for year 2020 to support the EU Deforestation Regulation
No full textRemote sensing-based observations are used to map tree cover extent, estimate canopy height, detect disturbances, and classify land cover and land use. However, comprehensive global information on forest cover, capturing both physical characteristics and land use components as defined by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), remains limited. Here, we present a harmonized and globally consistent map of forest presence or absence at 10 m spatial resolution for the year 2020, hereafter referred to as GFC2020. Our approach combines multiple spatial datasets, primarily derived from Earth observation (EO), to harness their complementary strengths within a transparent, flexible, and open science framework. GFC2020 maps 4562 million hectares (Mha) of forests globally, which is 9.5 % more than the estimate from latest FAO Global Forest Resources Assessment (FRA) for 2020. GFC2020 forest area does not include 578 Mha of tree cover (11 % of the global tree cover area) because these areas do not meet the height threshold or occur on agricultural or urban land. Conversely, around 0.6 % (∼ 25 Mha) of the area classified as forest in GFC2020 is unstocked, due to forest management practices or natural disturbances such as fire. Based on the reinterpretation of a previously collected reference set of 21 752 sample units, GFC2020 achieves an overall accuracy of 91 %, with a commission error of 18 % and an omission error of 8 % for forest. Improvements in EO products, such as better detection of trees in dry and open landscapes, distinguishing natural from human drivers of forest disturbance, mapping tree crops at high spatial resolution or identifying agroforestry systems, will contribute to enhancing future versions of GFC2020. The shift from tree cover to forest cover mapping is not only essential for ecological and climate-related applications but also provides new opportunities to support policy needs. GFC2020 is one of many tools to inform the deforestation risk assessments under supply chain oriented regulations such as the European Union's Deforestation Regulation (EUDR). Even though this map follows the EUDR's definition of forest, it is a non-exclusive, non-mandatory, and not legally binding source. The data availability is as follows: GFC2020 (Bourgoin et al., 2024a, http://data.europa.eu/89h/e554d6fb-6340-45d5-9309-332337e5bc26) and the validation dataset (Colditz et al., 2025a, http://data.europa.eu/89h/8fbace34-a2fe-47b9-ad82-3e9226b7a9a6).JRC.D.1 - Land and Climat
Chemical activity-based carbon-deposition risk maps for solid oxide fuel cell systems with off-gas recirculation
No full textHere, we present a methodology for the generalized quantification of the carbon (C)-formation risk in hydrocarbon mixtures based on the normalized chemical activity. An open-source computational thermodynamics tool is coupled to a solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) stack model to apply and validate this approach with literature data based on methane-fueled SOFC systems with anode off-gas recirculation. Two- and three-dimensional C-formation risk maps valid for all C-H-O mixtures are proposed for a practical, accurate, and meaningful assessment of the trade-off between C-deposition risk and SOFC performance. Compared to conventional risk evaluation methods such as steam-to-carbon ratio (SCR), oxygen-to-carbon ratio (OCR), or C-H-O ternary-phase diagrams, this approach allows a system-agnostic evaluation of different designs operated at varying conditions at a constant C-formation risk margin. The generalized formulation allows integration into process optimization workflows to obtain high-performance system designs with extended stack operating windows.JRC.G.4 - Reactor Safety and Component
Mapping the transition of the EU glass manufacturing industry to carbon neutrality
Get PDFThis 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.B.5 - Circular Economy and Sustainable Industr