Open data to achieve the EU green transition
Publication Date/Time
2022-08-18T14:45:00+00:00
Country
Europe
Discover environment-related open data and how it supports the EU
green transition
(OPEN) DATA AND THE GREEN TRANSITION

Since the start of 2020, Europe has faced several economic, social,
and political difficulties, such as the COVID-19 crisis and Russia’s
invasion of Ukraine. These two events have short- and long-term
impacts on, for example, the availability and prices of energy
sources, food security, economic stability, the capacity of health
care systems and defence throughout Europe. On a political level,
these events motivated the European Union (EU) to accelerate the
transition to a green and digital Europe, two of the European
Commission’s (EC) six highlighted priorities for 2019 to 2024
[https://ec.europa.eu/info/strategy/priorities-2019-2024_en]. This
transition is outlined in the European Commission’s 2022 Strategic
Foresight Report
[https://ec.europa.eu/info/strategy/strategic-planning/strategic-foresight/2022-strategic-foresight-report_en]
and the European Green Deal
[https://ec.europa.eu/info/strategy/priorities-2019-2024/european-green-deal_en].


To achieve the EU Green Deal and a to achieve a fair green and digital
transition across Europe, access to data (open as well as private) is
crucial. These data can provide users with information, e.g. through
interactive maps or dashboards. It can also be used to create services
that open the way to and speed up the process towards, for example,
climate neutrality, reduction of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions,
improvement of energy efficiency and restoring biodiversity.

EUROPEAN OPEN DATA FOR THE GREEN TRANSITION

Data.europa.eu gives access to many datasets that can contribute to
the green transition. At the time of writing, no less than 268 797
datasets are categorised as ‘Environment
[https://data.europa.eu/data/datasets?locale=en&categories=ENVI&page=1]’.
These data come mainly from EU Member States’ public administrations
and EU institutions, such as the European Environment Agency
[https://www.eea.europa.eu/] and the Joint Research Centre
[https://ec.europa.eu/info/departments/joint-research-centre_en].
Examples are:

 	* Charging points for electric cars
[https://data.europa.eu/data/datasets/ogd53-bundesamt-fur-energie-bfe],
published by the Swiss Federal Office of Energy
[https://www.bfe.admin.ch/bfe/de/home.html] (SFOE) on the Swiss open
data portal (opendata.swiss
[https://opendata.swiss/en/dataset/ladestationen-fuer-elektroautos]).
This dataset shows the location of charging points for electric
vehicles across Switzerland, and the ones available, in real time.
This enables users to take the road with a quiet mind as they know
they will at any moment be able to find the closest operational
charging point.

 
[https://data.europa.eu/sites/default/files/img/media/Picture1_2.png] 

 	* Recycling yards
[https://data.europa.eu/data/datasets/efdcff26-4066-40ad-9c30-6b4d24b9024b?locale=en],
published by OpenData.HRO [https://www.opendata-hro.de/] on the German
open data portal (GovData.de
[https://www.govdata.de/web/guest/suchen/-/details/recyclinghofe]).
This dataset shows the address, name, operator, availability, opening
hours and contact details of the recycling yards for domestic waste in
the City of Rostock. This enables users to find their way to the
closest yard where they can safely throw away or recycle their
domestic waste, thereby reducing chances that toxic or hazardous waste
ends up in a place where it can keep being dangerous.  The dataset
can then be used to create a visual and interactive map.

 
[https://data.europa.eu/sites/default/files/img/media/Picture2_0.png]
Other datasets in addition to ‘Environment’ can contribute to the
green transition. For example, geospatial
[https://data.europa.eu/data/datasets?locale=en&page=1&query=geospatial]
data (e.g. addresses, satellite imagery), transport
[https://data.europa.eu/data/datasets?categories=tran&page=1&locale=en]
data (e.g. traffic flow, public transport locations and timetable),
energy
[https://data.europa.eu/data/datasets?locale=en&categories=ENER&page=1]
data (e.g. energy sources and consumption levels), as well as data on
agriculture, fisheries, forestry and food
[https://data.europa.eu/data/datasets?categories=agri&page=1&locale=en]
(e.g. farm irrigation, conservation areas).  

USING OPEN DATA FOR THE GREEN TRANSITION

Across Europe, public institutions and private companies are using
(open) data to develop services. Some examples are:

	* Slovenia’s Environmental Atlas
[http://gis.arso.gov.si/atlasokolja/] (Atlas Okolja), created by the
Slovenian Environment Agency [https://www.arso.gov.si/en/]. The
Environmental Atlas is a map-interface of Slovenia that presents data
of various indicators that measure the: 

 	* Environment, such as water quality, or flooding risk areas;
 	* Climate, such as temperatures, sunshine, and wind levels;
 	* Land and oil usage, and
 	* Seismological risks. 

 The map allows users to monitor environmental and meteorological
indicators in one overview. The Atlas uses geospatial data that is
collected and distributed under the European Commission’s INSPIRE
Directive [https://inspire.ec.europa.eu/inspire-directive/2]. 

 	* The Flooding Risk Map [https://cutt.ly/HkwmscC]
(Wateroverlastlandschapskaart – WOLK) from the Municipality of Assen
in the Netherlands [https://iwcn.nl/municipality-of-assen/]. The map
provides an overview of drainage systems and areas at risk of flooding
in cases of heavy precipitation in the Assen region. Floodings can
damages buildings, infrastructures, roads, etc. By highlighting the
risk zones, the map makes it possible to design public spaces in such
a way that flooding risks are limited. The service uses open data from
the Municipality of Assen
[https://assen.maps.arcgis.com/home/index.html].

	* Sun Energia [https://sunenergia.com/en/], a Finnish clean-tech
start-up that aims to support the growth of the solar power market.
The start-up tests the merits of users switching to solar energy by
assessing the solar energy production for a specific building and
estimating the potential savings. A free application
[https://app.sunenergia.com/] is offered to users to test their solar
power potential and shows technical specifications, financial
calculations and savings of the users’ selections. This service uses
open meteorological data as one of their inputs for the analysis of
energy production and potential savings. 

GOING FORWARD: HOW CAN EUROPE MAKE BEST USE OF OPEN DATA FOR THE GREEN
TRANSITION?

The EU has set several ambitious targets to achieve the EU Green Deal
and achieve the green transition. By translating the goals outlined in
the EU Green Deal into climate law, these goals become binding for the
EU and its Member States. To comply with the rules, EU countries must
focus on reducing greenhouse gas emissions, decarbonising the economy,
increasing energy efficiency and restoring biodiversity. As shown
above, the publication and (re-)use of open data can help them achieve
this.  

More changes and developments are expected leading up to 2030, and new
rules and updates of EU legislation are needed to make the green
transition a reality. This is why the EU is already working on its
package “Fit for 55: delivering the EU’s 2030 climate Target on
the way to climate neutrality
[https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:52021DC0550]”.

 

For updates how open data are used to achieve the green transition,
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Interested in more examples and use cases or inspired to develop your
own green application based on open data? Explore data.europa.eu 
