Disruptive Digitalization for Decarbonization

Project Information

2D4D

Grant agreement ID: 853487

DOI

10.3030/853487

EC signature date 8 April 2020

Start date 1 October 2020

End date 30 September 2026

Funded under

• EXCELLENT SCIENCE - European Research Council (ERC)

Total cost

€ 1 498 375,00

EU contribution

€ 1 498 375,00

Coordinated by

UNIVERSITA DEGLI STUDI DI BRESCIA
Italy

Periodic Reporting for period 3 - 2D4D (Disruptive Digitalization for Decarbonization)

Reporting period: 2023-10-01 to 2025-03-31

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

Digital technologies have disruptive implications for decarbonization narratives and pathways: they affect energy efficiency and energy demand, impact the competitivess of firms, change the demand for skills and labour, and have distributive consequences on individuals and communities. However, to date the design of policies supporting decarbonization and digitalization has largely taken place on parallels tracks. Unveiling the link between digitalization and decarbonization is crucially important for industry, transportation and buildings because these sectors face the biggest mitigation challenges. Understanding the energy and socio-economic implications of decarbonization is necessary to identify and implement robust, “no-regret” decarbonization policies and portfolios and to ensure that the transition towards climate neutrality is just and leaves no-one behind.

The aim of the “Disruptive Digitalization for Decarbonization” (2D4D) project is ensure that the digital revolution acts as an enabler – and not a barrier – for decarbonization. To this end, the project pursues three main objectives:

1) Characterize the technical and socio-economic dynamics of three key digital technologies: additive manufacturing (AM) in industry, Mobility-as-a-Service (MaaS) in transportation and Artificial Intelligence (AI) in buildings.
2) Produce “AI-cognizant” decarbonization narratives and pathways.
3) Identify no-regret, robust policy portfolios to ensure decarbonisation through digitalization as well as the achievement of other important co-benefits.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

Until M30, project activities focused on Objectives 1 and 2. Objective 3 will be pursued in the second half of the project. Over this period, a framework for the analysis of the interplay of digitalization and decarbonization was developed. In addition, research activities focused on (a) understanding the energy demand, competitiveness and labour market impacts of digitalization on different industrial sectors in light of the need to decarbonize the provision of goods and services and (b) the impact on wellbeing of digitally enabled mobility modes or digitally enforced traffic limitations. The research group started the development of digital decarbonization narratives and carried out a review comparing the strengths, weaknesses and feasibility of modelling approaches for industrial sectors facing digitalization and decarbonization.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

The team produced several contributions which go beyond state of the art: a well-rounded discussion and conceptualization of how the digital revolution is interlinked with the transition toward climate neutrality, and the goal to “leave no one behind” in the process; a methodological paper comparing the performance of two widely used approaches to forecast future costs and performance of energy technologies; a set of decarbonization narratives which account for the role of digitalization.

Conceptualization of the impact of digitalization on decarbonization pathways for three key sectors.