Anticipating and managing the impact of change
Anticipating and managing the impact of change was one of the six main activities in Eurofound’s work programme for the 2021–2024 period. Eurofound provides evidence on structural developments affecting the EU economy and labour markets, driven largely by digitalisation and the transition to a carbon-neutral economy, but also by the COVID-19 crisis. The research is intended to assist policymakers in anticipating and preparing European labour markets and workplaces for these changes.
This page is based on the 2021–2024 work programme and is no longer updated.
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Highlights for Anticipating and managing the impact of change
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24 October 2023
Fit for 55 climate package: Impact on EU employment by 2030
One of the core strategic objectives of the EU is to ensure that Europe becomes the first climate-neutral continent, with net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. To achieve this objective, EU policymakers adopted the Fit for 55 policy package in 2021, which contained more ambitious intermediate decarbonisation objectives aimed at reaching a 55% emission reduction target by 2030. In this report, we provide projections from a global macroeconomic model of how this complex policy package may affect the sectoral and occupational structure of employment in the EU by 2030, and the impacts across different regions and countries. A core finding is that the employment impacts of Fit for 55 are likely to be marginally positive at EU aggregate level but will vary across countries, regions and sectors based on their reliance on carbon-intensive industries on the one hand and their readiness to take advantage of greening opportunities on the other.
2 August 2023
Green, clean and keen to converge? A convergence analysis of environmental quality of life in the EU
This report explores the dynamics of the environmental performance of the EU Member States and the extent to which the disparities in their performance have narrowed since the early 2000s. The report is a product of cooperation between Eurofound and the European Environment Agency, with the technical expertise in convergence of the former meeting the expertise in European environmental issues of the latter. It focuses on three levels of analysis: headline indicators, residential-level indicators and household-level indicators. In order to explore the multifaceted issue of environmental quality of life in the EU, the report investigates environmental indicators through a convergence analysis. The results suggest that the EU is on the right track to becoming carbon neutral, although the speed of the greening process varies among the Member States. A fast and steady improvement in performance can be seen for most of the indicators. One noteworthy finding is that the economic downturns of the past two decades negatively affected the household-level indicators examined, which focused on energy poverty.
19 June 2023
The transition to a climate-neutral economy: Exploring the socioeconomic impacts
The EU’s transition to a climate-neutral economy requires nothing short of a clean industrial revolution. This report explores the potential socioeconomic implications of such fundamental change for different European regions and population groups, following a foresight approach. Scenario-focused engagement with stakeholders and experts was conducted to gain a better understanding of emerging economic and social inequalities at EU and regional levels. The research findings are presented together with policy pointers on developing measures to achieve a just transition that leaves no one behind.
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