Latest ETC Reports (included in homepage)

This study applies a life cycle assessment to evaluate the potential global environmental impact of five net-zero technologies: wind and solar, batteries, hydrogen, and carbon capture. Onshore and offshore wind, and mono-crystalline solar PV, typically exhibit lower impact per kWh than the European electricity mix, though material use and land demand remain significant drivers. The global impact potential of storage technologies, such as lithium-ion batteries and hydrogen systems is driven by electricity input and the carbon-intensity of the respective generation mix. Batteries display lower life cycle impact potentials because of higher energy efficiency. The footprint of carbon capture is also driven by high energy intensity. The Sensitivity analysis underscores the importance of technology lifetime, capacity factors, and electricity mix (including during the manufacturing phase of these technologies) in shaping the life cycle results. Scenario analysis reveals that deployment of net-zero technologies reduces global warming potentials and provides co-benefits for Ecotoxicity and PM formation but may introduce local impacts on resource and land use. Addressing these impacts is essential for a sustainable energy transition.

Detailed and reliable data on ecosystem extent and distribution are critical to monitoring the achievement of legal obligations and policy goals in the European Union. This initiative aims to deliver a technical solution for a reliable, recurring data product for mapping ecosystem extent across Europe. Recent legislation, such as the amendment to the Environmental Accounts Regulation and the Nature Restoration Regulation (NRR), has further established the need for robust, spatially explicit ecosystem statistics and monitoring. To meet these needs, the report evaluates different technical solutions: the traditional CORINE Land Cover (CLC) workflow and newer Copernicus Land Monitoring Service (CLMS) datasets. While CLC offers long-term consistency, CLMS provides higher spatial detail and more frequent updates. The report concludes that an integrated approach is necessary, using the CLC workflow concept and logic as the workflow's foundation while incorporating the speed and thematic detail of modern CLMS data. The report also explores concrete examples of similar initiatives to support the deployment of a tailored approach that leverages Earth Observation (EO), artificial intelligence, and machine learning, while bringing human expertise and local knowledge for training and validation, in an incremental and co-creative manner. Key recommendations for this strategy include adopting a tailored, streamlined approach to ecosystem characterisation and mapping, securing stable funding, ensuring a long-term cloud-based processing infrastructure, and developing a pan-European in-situ data strategy to support AI model training and independent validation. Furthermore, the centralised production process is designed to reduce the administrative burden on individual countries by handling the most generic aspects of the technical work. Finally, this modernisation ensures the continuity of long-term data records, thereby preserving a vital geospatial data platform for land-use modelling and environmental indicators.