European Green Deal
The European Green Deal is the European Sustainable Growth Strategy. It is a package of policy initiatives aimed at enabling European citizens and businesses to benefit from sustainable green transition, realising the goal of no net emissions of greenhouse gases by 2050 in the EU and decoupling economic growth from resource use. It is about protecting fragile ecosystems, investing in research and innovation, and improving the well-being of people via a path that is just and socially fair, leaving no individual or region behind.
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Overheated and underprepared: How can we shield Europe's most vulnerable?
Four out of five Europeans have been affected by extreme weather. But if we think climate change is everyone's problem in equal measure, the data tell a different story.Are Europeans prepared for climate change?
As the climate crisis intensifies, is Europe ready for the heat? In this episode of Eurofound Talks, Mary McCaughey explores the renter’s trap and the growing affordability crisis with experts from the EEA and Eurofound. Despite 80% of Europeans feeling the impact of extreme weather, a staggering 38% cannot afford to keep their homes cool. From the risk of "renovictions" to regional disparities in preparedness, the discussion bridges the gap between EU green ambitions and the stark reality of households. Discover why individual awareness isn't enough and what collective policy actions are needed to protect the vulnerable.Overheated and underprepared — Europeans’ experience of living with climate change
This joint report by the European Environment Agency (EEA) and Eurofound explores Europeans’ experience of climate-related impacts, concern about future impacts, and resilience actions taken by households and local authorities. It draws on data collected from the 2025 Eurofound Living and Working in the EU e-survey, and highlights how climate resilience varies across regions and demographic groups, including populations that are particularly vulnerable. Importantly, the report provides the first Europe-wide overview of implemented climate resilience measures – both at the household and local authority level.Eurofound’s remit is centred around research to improve living and working conditions in the EU, which is at the heart of the EU policy priorities. This work includes topics linked with the Green Deal, like innovation and job creation, restructuring, skills and training of workers, the digital age, work sustainability, quality of life and well-being, among others.
How the Green Deal links in with Eurofound’s work
Research and innovation will be key in driving the change needed to achieve the goals set out in the Green Deal. This also means supporting people via a new Just Transition Mechanism. This will focus on the social and economic costs of the transition in the regions most affected. It will also facilitate new job opportunities, offer support to companies, as well as job search and re-skilling assistance for jobseekers likely to lose employment in the transition. Some of these topics are already covered in Eurofound research and findings could potentially feed into the work of the Just Transition Platform.
Topic: Just transition
European Commission: Just Transition Mechanismopens in new tab
Restructuring at regional level
Eurofound’s European Jobs Monitor (EJM) monitors structural change in European labour markets, analysing where jobs are being lost and where they are being created. It analyses shifts in the employment structure in terms of occupation and sector, both at Member State and regional level. Recent analysis takes the region rather than the Member States as the main unit of analysis. It shows that a growth of within-country inequality often has a strong regional dimension and places a focus on regionally unbalanced growth.
Complementing this research, the European Restructuring Monitor (ERM) has been monitoring the employment impact of large-scale restructuring events since 2002 in the EU. It also examines the impact on working conditions.
Publication: Effects of restructuring at regional level and approaches to dealing with the consequences
Future of manufacturing
Proposed by the European Parliament and at the request of the Commission, Eurofound carried out a pilot project from 2015 to 2019 to explore the Future of Manufacturing in Europe, including employment implications looking at the number of jobs by sector, occupation, wage profile and task content. The future orientation also included quantitative estimates of the employment implications of the Paris Climate Agreement, large increases in global tariffs and radical automation.
Surveys informing the policy debate
Both Eurofound’s European Quality of Life Survey (EQLS) and European Working Conditions Survey (EWCS) are carried out every four to five years across Europe and cover a wide range of topics that help to inform the policy process.
The EQLS examines both the objective circumstances of the lives of European citizens and how they feel about those circumstances and their lives in general. The EQLS indicators include environmental and social aspects of progress. This work supports the policymaking process at EU level on many aspects associated with how people live and work, including what makes capital cities the best places to live, and exploring whether rural Europe is being left behind on financial security, connectedness and life satisfaction.
The EWCS aims to provide a wide-ranging picture of Europe at work across countries, occupations, sectors and age groups. The findings draw attention to the range and scope of actions that policy actors could develop to address the challenges facing Europe today – employment levels, prolonging working life and making work sustainable, increasing the participation of women, developing productivity and innovation, and adapting to the digital and environmental challenges.
The vital goal of European integration – improving living and working conditions and achieving upward convergence – has to be achieved in a new global setting, and in light of the current COVID-19 pandemic which is the most severe economic and social shock in living memory. The underlying long-term drivers of change remain the same, however: demography, technological development, globalisation and environmental challenges.
The Paris Climate Agreement was adopted in December 2015 by 195 countries within the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. It represents an international commitment to mitigate impacts of climate change worldwide.
Under the new European Commission, which took office in December 2019, came the unveiling of the European Green Deal. It outlines three concrete actions aligned with the Paris objective of limiting global warming this century to 1.5 °C:
striving to become the world’s first climate-neutral continent by 2050: zero net carbon emissions and cutting pollution, affordable and secure energy, smarter transport, and high-quality food
a Just Transition Fund for workers who might be impacted in the process, which will leverage public and private funds, including with the help of the European Investment Bank
a sustainable Europe investment plan, giving investors confidence to make long-term decisions on environmentally responsible projects, leading to new jobs, a cleaner environment and a better quality of life.
The Green Deal will encompass legislative changes in different sectors of the economy, including transport, energy, agriculture and construction, and industries such as steel, cement, information and communications technologies (ICT), textiles and chemicals. The first major step was the Commission’s adoption of the proposal for the first-ever European Climate Law in March 2020.
On 28 April 2020, Commission President Ursula von der Leyen issued a statement on the role of the Green Deal in the economic recovery following COVID-19. Her message is clear: ‘The European Green Deal is an agenda for transforming our economy, to make it more competitive and improve our quality of life.’ Calling it the ‘motor for the recovery’, the Green Deal is an opportunity to rebuild European economies differently following this current crisis, making them more resilient and leaving a better place for our children.
EUR-Lex: Commission Communication – Annual Sustainable Growth Strategy 2020opens in new tab
European Commission: European Climate Lawopens in new tab
European Commission Audiovisual: The role of the European Green Deal in the economic recoveryopens in new tab
United Nations Climate Change: The Paris Agreementopens in new tab
This is a selection of the most important outputs for this topic.
30 June 2024
Job quality side of climate change
Workers will experience the effects of climate change in many ways: job insecurity, changes to their work tasks and responsibilities, and changes in their workplaces that may involve different work practices and the development of new activities and products. Climate change risks are associated with increased exposure to hazards, leading to lower standards of job quality, productivity loss and greater job and work insecurity. Nearly half of workers in the EU will experience profound changes in their job tasks as economies adapt to climate change and climate mitigation strategies are implemented. In addition, work is likely to change as a result of company responses to climate change. These changes in work, while increasing the vulnerability of some workers, offer opportunities to improve some dimensions of job quality. This report outlines the complex relationship between job quality and climate change, including the implication of green tasks in selected sectors.
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.
29 October 2021
Exploring the social challenges of low carbon energy policies in Europe
This briefing is co-produced by the European Environment Agency (EEA) and Eurofound. It is based on the results of two complementary analyses by the EEA and the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions (Eurofound) on the socioeconomic effects of climate policies, in the context of the European Green Deal and the EU transition to a carbon-neutral economy. The EEA focused on the understanding of distributional aspects of climate change policies, while Eurofound sought to identify, based on national experiences, the climate policies with significant distributional effects and explore how these are being addressed in EU Member States. This briefing focuses on the effect on citizens of climate mitigation policies in the energy, transport and building sectors, through the impacts of these policies on their daily lives (jobs, mobility, housing, etc.).
6 July 2021
Distributional impacts of climate policies in Europe
With the European Green Deal, the EU is setting in motion a set of policies and measures aimed at preventing and alleviating the effects of climate change. The main objective is to embark on the transition to a climate-neutral economy. These much needed climate policies, however, may have undesirable distributional effects on individuals and companies. As well as their intended effects, some measures, such as carbon taxes, can have associated regressive effects, negatively impacting on people with lower income levels, and hence lowering their acceptability. Based on the most recent national experiences, this report identifies those climate policies having significant distributional effects and explores how these are being addressed in the various Member States. In addition, the report identifies and describes the main issues and players in the ongoing public debate on the socioeconomic impacts of climate policies.
10 April 2019
The future of manufacturing in Europe
The pilot project The Future of Manufacturing in Europe is an explorative and future-oriented study. It explores the future adoption of some key game-changing technologies and how this adoption can be promoted, even regionally. The analysis of implications for working life focuses primarily on tasks and skills, not only at the white-collar, tertiary-education level, but also for blue-collar occupations, including a focus on challenges facing national and company apprenticeship systems. The future orientation also includes quantitative estimates of the employment implications of the Paris Climate Agreement, of large increases in global tariffs and of radical automation. It also measures the return of previously offshored jobs to Europe. Other research examines how the deepening globalisation provides opportunities for small companies to engage in international supply chains. This final report summarises the 10 project reports, which are complemented by 47 case studies, 27 policy instruments and 4 associated publications.
See also: The future of manufacturing in Europe - Executive summary [download]
Researchers at Eurofound provide expert insights and can be contacted for questions or media requests.
Tina Weber
Senior research managerTina Weber is a senior research manager in Eurofound’s Working Life unit. Her work has focused on labour shortages, the impact of hybrid work and an ‘always on’ culture and the right to disconnect, working conditions and social protection measures for self-employed workers and the impact of the twin transitions on employment, working conditions and industrial relations. She is responsible for studies assessing the representativeness of European social partner organisations. She has also carried out research on European Works Councils and the evolution of industrial relations and social dialogue in the European Union. Prior to joining Eurofound in 2019, she worked for a private research institute primarily carrying out impact assessments and evaluations of EU labour law and labour market policies. Tina holds a PhD in Political Sciences from the University of Edinburgh which focussed on the role of national trade unions and employers’ organisations in the European social dialogue.
Jorge Cabrita
Senior research managerJorge Cabrita is a senior research manager in the Working Life unit. He is responsible for formulating, coordinating and managing European-wide research, and promoting the dissemination of findings in the areas of working conditions and industrial relations. His main research areas of interest include working conditions and job quality, working time and work–life balance, workers’ health and well-being, gender equality and the socioeconomic impacts of the transition to a climate-neutral economy. He is currently leading research on working time developments and on social dialogue and collective bargaining during the COVID-19 pandemic. Previously, he worked as a researcher at the Centre for Studies for Social Intervention and at the Research Centre on the Portuguese Economy of the Lisbon School of Economics, and as a trainer and consultant in the areas of strategic management, organisational communication, leadership and team building. He holds a BSc in Economics and an MSc in Socio-Organisational Systems of Economic Activity from the Lisbon School of Economics.
John Hurley
Senior research managerJohn Hurley is a senior research manager in the Employment unit at Eurofound. He took up the role of research manager in February 2012. He contributes to a number of research projects including the European Jobs Monitor and has authored or co-authored over 20 reports as well as journal contributions and edited collections during his time at Eurofound. His main research interests are in the areas of comparative labour market analysis, restructuring and the changing world of work. John is a graduate of both Trinity College Dublin and University College Dublin.
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