Position papers and policy briefs

As the European Union focuses on reaching climate neutrality by 2050, consequently increasing its efforts towards green energy, there is a momentum to identify the R&I challenges and industrial opportunities of tomorrow, and to coordinate efforts towards the achievement of new energy and climate priorities in Europe

The research community has a key role to play, both in advancing research on identified political priorities, as well as in advising policymakers on the way forward through excellent fundamental research and focus on low TRLs for the development of new breakthrough technologies, materials and systemic approaches.

In this section EERA compiles the work it has been doing to progress policy making in the energy and climate fields. 


On 18 July 2024, Ursula von der Leyen was confirmed as President of the European Commission for another five year term after presenting her 2024-2029 Political Guidelines to the newly elected Members of the European Parliament.

The European Energy Research Alliance (EERA), the largest low-carbon energy research community in Europe and beyond, comprising over 250 leading organisations from more than 30 countries, welcomes this programmatic document, which places a strong emphasis on putting research and innovation (R&I) at the heart of the EU's economy, boosting competitiveness, achieving the clean energy transition, and advancing the implementation of the European Green Deal. 

Read the full paper here


As the European Commission prepares its mid-term evaluation of Horizon Europe (FP9) and starts drafting the outline of its successor, EERA’s position paper offers concise insights on how the EU can better foster and promote an ambitious Framework Programme.

Through this position paper, formulated as ten key recommendations, EERA aims to share the expertise and express the views of the organisations it represents on how to construct an attractive, robust, competitive, and balanced research environment to propel the EU to the forefront of global innovation and achieve a sustainable energy transition.

 

Download the paper

Within the framework of the SUPEERA project, a series of Policy Briefs have been published to identify concrete R&I challenges in the latest EU policies relevant to the energy research community. The analysis of the policies identified has the two-fold objective of supporting recommendations towards the EERA membership and the SET Plan ecosystem at large, as well as to identify potential areas for investments in energy R&I for EU policymakers.

Visit the page gathering all the resources

The EERAdata Policy Brief "Harvesting the value of low carbon energy research data" explores how the role of functioning data markets have been underestimated for a long time, making it difficult nowadays to realise the valuation of data repositories and open science practices. 

The authors explore important areas like licencing, readability and marketisation to propose a set of key policy developments needed to boost the use of FAIR and open data in energy research.

The digitalisation of the energy sector is happening. A human-centred design approach is needed to ensure that it takes place with and for the benefit of the people. This document presents the concept of human-centred digitalisation of the energy system and puts forward policy recommendations for it to happen in an affordable, sustainable and fair manner.

The main findings include the need for people to access tailored and ready-for-use tools that help realise societal co-benefits, bring individual gains, remove legal, informational and technical hurdles and ultimately ensure just participation of all societal groups.

Substantial additional resources are required to develop digital tools and products to seize opportunities for citizens to engage, optimise energy consumption and manage active participation in the energy system.

Learn more about the EERAdata project