The SPES Explorer – European Pressing Issues Dashboard is a web-based interactive application that visualises how citizens across European countries have perceived their most pressing national problems over time. It combines country-level maps with time-series charts and offers optional breakdowns by age group and gender. Users can explore, compare, and...
The transition towards climate neutrality represents a profound societal transformation that affects different segments of society in unequal ways and imply the adoption of just transition policies. While the urgency of achieving net zero emissions is clear, the pathway to decarbonisation produces varied impacts across regions, communities, and social groups....
Despite the benefits of the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) within the EU economy, the impact it will have on EU global trade partners remains unclear. SPES partners from PEP – Partnership for Economic Policy in their SPES Focus “A GVAR analysis of the macroeconomic effects of the Carbon Border...
The European Union has made significant progress in reducing CO2 emissions in recent decades, partly due to the implementation of the EU Emissions Trading System (EU ETS). However, the decline in emissions has not been matched by an equally substantial reduction in the continent's carbon footprint. To remedy this problem,...
While decent living is necessary - and crucial for the political acceptability of ecological transition strategies, the energy and material cost of needs satisfaction cannot be overlooked in the 21st century. In this context, favouring the harmony between human and natural systems may call for yet untried post-growth strategies. Likewise,...
Transition to net-zero carbon is not merely technical but a complex socio-political endeavour with significant trade-offs involving inequality, well-being, sustainability, and political acceptability. While significant progress has been made in understanding the biophysical dimensions of climate change, the socio-political aspects remain largely underexplored by assessment models. The Working Paper “Transitioning...
Setting countries across the globe on environmentally sustainable paths requires large-scale systemic changes across a range of areas, including energy systems, industrial systems and individual consumption patterns. Public policy plays a fundamental role in inducing such changes. Examples of policy instruments include different combinations of regulations, tax measures and subsidies...
"EU climate policies and justice: socio-economic impacts and pathways to equity" is the panel that SPES Consortium member EUI organised during the COP 29 in Baku on November 15th at the ILO Pavilion. The panel tried to answer to the following questions: how can we lessen the potential unequal effects...
Energy poverty - i.e. a situation in which households are unable to access essential energy services and products - is a key concept of the just and fair transition towards climate neutrality. Over the past decade the European Union has increased its efforts in reducing energy poverty, however they remains...
The frequency of natural disasters due to climate change is increasing, and institutions across different geographic areas are not equally ready to cope with such events. In fact, the lack of adequate institutional responses is likely to exacerbate the consequences of these events. Making the EU and developing countries better...
