Against a backdrop of high geopolitical tensions, the European Commission has identified ten key areas for action to enable the EU to maximise synergies and coherence between its climate and digital ambitions in its third annual Strategic Foresight Report, unveiled on Wednesday 29 June.
“Digital technologies help us achieve climate neutrality, (but) on the other hand, their widespread use is increasing energy consumption, electronic waste and their growing environmental footprint”, said the European Commission Vice-President for Interinstitutional Relations, Maroš Šefčovič. The Foresight Report examines how to align or ‘twin’ the climate and digital transitions so that they are mutually reinforcing and reduce the observed tensions.
Among the ten key areas for action identified, the Commission stresses the vital importance of European access to the strategic raw materials that will enable the development of the future technologies needed to achieve climate neutrality by 2050.
Chile holds 40% of the world’s current lithium deposits, whose use in the EU is expected to increase by 3,500% by 2050, and China holds 45% of global lithium refining capacities, Mr Šefčovič noted. He stressed the importance of setting up European recycling channels, which he said would enable half of the EU’s lithium needs to be covered by 2040.
In addition, the Common Agricultural Policy must contribute to the climate objectives through the use of new technologies. According to the Commission Vice-President, technologies such as bioinformatics will improve the understanding of biological processes and in fine reduce the use of pesticides and fertilisers.
The outlook report also highlights the need to promote a normative approach at international level, with the EU building on the success of internal market harmonisation to pursue ‘green and digital diplomacy’.
In November, the Commission will co-host a conference to discuss the findings of the 2022 Strategic Foresight Report.
See the Strategic Foresight Report: https://aeur.eu/f/2ei (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)