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[To Eurosmart members only]
Commission's 2022 Strategic Foresight: Key takeaways for digital technologies
On 29 June, the European Commission published the 2022 edition of its Strategic Foresight Report. Ursula von der Leyen's Commission initiated this yearly publication, which gives an overview of the long-term orientation of EU policies.
The European Commission underlines that Russia's aggression against Ukraine has consequences on Europe's path but will not divert it from its long-term objectives. The green and digital transitions remain the priority.
The carbon footprint of ICT products
The European Commission acknowledges that "until recently, the digital transition progressed with only limited sustainability considerations". Thus, the digital transition requires "appropriate policy framing and governance" to align with these sustainability considerations.
The European Commission further notes that digital technologies can help achieve climate neutrality, reduce pollution and restore biodiversity. It mentions "energy-efficient blockchain-based data management" across the value chain that could help develop the circular economy.
On the other hand, the digital sector has growing energy needs. The European Commission stresses that "consumption and practices of businesses and citizens will be important to reduce energy consumption when using digital technologies". ICT is responsible for 5-9% of global electricity use and around 3% of greenhouse gas emissions. ICT power consumption will continue to grow, driven by the increasing use and production of consumer devices, demand from networks, data centres and crypto-assets. Other reasons for this increase are online platforms, search engines, metaverse, and music or video streaming platforms. This footprint could be reduced by low-power chips and more efficient connectivity technologies. The EU plans to measure both the enabling effects of digitalisation and its overall footprint in terms of greenhouse gas emissions and energy and resource use.
"Further tensions will emerge in relation to electronic waste and environmental footprints of digital technologies". Electronic waste could represent 75 million tonnes by 2030. In the EU, only 17,4% of this is properly treated and recycled and electronic waste production is increasing annually by 5,5 million tonnes. The Commission further points out that, if nothing is done, the move to new standards or technologies will require massive equipment replacement (e.g. from 4G to 5G). Water use for cooling data centres or chip manufacturing will increase. Mining and processing raw materials also raise environmental concerns. The Commission observes that critical digital infrastructures will increasingly be affected by extreme weather events, reducing their life expectancy.
However, if properly governed, digital technologies can help the EU overcome current challenges by:
-strengthening the EU's energy security through digitalisation
-enabling greener transport (electric vehicles, traffic management, smart mobility). In this domain, AI will be important to boost multimodal mobility solutions by combining all modes in a single interoperable platform.
-managing the energy supply and demand of large industrial energy users (steel, cement, chemicals and paper). In this domain, cybersecurity is needed to protect the data of industrial processes and the integrity of their functioning.
Access to critical raw materials
The European Commission puts a strong emphasis on access to critical raw materials and how crucial it is to secure this access for both the digital and green transitions. The EU lacks scaled-up mining, processing and recycling of critical raw materials.
First, the EU should develop recycling. After 2040, recycling could be the EU's major source of supply for most transition metals.
The Commission also underlines the need to stockpile critical commodities, develop domestic capacities and diversify sources of supply along the value chain. The EU will secure sourcing by partnering with mineral-rich countries, "especially likeminded ones". Domestic mining and processing will also be encouraged.
The importance of standards
The European Commission stresses the importance of standards as they can support the development of testing methods, management systems or interoperability solutions. They are also key for the implementation of the Commission's sustainable policies. The principle of "reduce, repair, reuse and recycle" should become mainstream in standardisation. The Commission also envisages developing tracking and traceability tools for products, such as the digital passport. For instance, regarding batteries, the passport could track their components' ethical and environmental footprint.
The Commission perceives data standards as having a particular role in accompanying the increase in volume from different origins and private data.
The European Commission mentions the behaviour of many non-EU countries that use standardisation assertively to provide industries with increased market access and technology rollout. "The role of the EU in shaping global standards, and the voice in EU companies in regional standard-setting bodies, will remain key."
Cybersecurity
The Commission notes that common approaches to cybersecurity benchmarks for products and services, including comprehensive sets of rules, technical requirements, standards, and procedures, will be important. The Commission also underlines that the affordability of cybersecurity technologies will be key.
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