The Guild's Insight Paper "The Twin Transition Century" authored by Morten Dæhlen from the University of Oslo, offers clear directions for policymakers, research funders, and higher education institutions to navigate towards a successful twin transition.
The key takeaways from the Insight Paper are:
1. Recommendations for the higher education sector
- Strengthen efforts to develop digital solutions that enhance institutional sustainability and environmental data handling;
- Foster interdisciplinary collaboration and team-science approaches, including via appropriate career recognition systems;
- Integrate content in educational programmes that empower students to understand and engage with the complexities of both the digital and green transitions.
2. Recommendations for policymakers
- Align policies to create synergies between the digital and green transitions;
- Ensure that the twin transition serves the public good;
- Invest ambitiously in research and innovation to position Europe as a global leader in the twin transition;
- Promote a balanced approach to university research funding for the twin transition;
- Promote long-term fundamental research, both disciplinary and interdisciplinary;
- Facilitate data sharing to ensure that researchers have access to data for research purposes.
3. Recommendations for funders
- Recognise the importance of research, especially fundamental research, across a broad disciplinary spectrum in enabling the twin transition;
- Encourage research on the interplay between environmental sustainability and digitalisation;
- Prioritise impactful, long-term research in EU Missions under Horizon Europe, for example throughout an EU Mission towards 2040 for the development of the future energy system.
Morten Dæhlen, Author of the paper, University of Oslo said: ''Even though the European Green Deal emphasises the importance of digital research and innovation for the green transition of society, the digital transition is still underestimated as a driving force for realizing the green transition, e.g. make Europe the first climate-neutral continent within 2050. I hope this report will help change that.''
Ole Petter Ottersen, Acting Secretary-General of The Guild said: ''We are entering an era of polycrisis – with several crises occurring simultaneously. More than ever do we need to work across disciplines and sectors to unleash synergies and create a sound evidence base for good governance. Twinning the green and digital transition is an important step in this endeavor.''