COMMISSION STAFF WORKING DOCUMENT Digital Solutions for Zero Pollution Accompanying the document Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions Pathway to a Healthy Planet for All EU Action Plan: 'Towards Zero Pollution for Air, Water and Soil'
Date: 2021-05-12
Institutions: Directorate-General for Environment, European Commission
Subjects: EU action, air quality, climate change policy, environmental protection, industrial pollution, noise pollution, pollution control measures, soil pollution, sustainable development, water pollution

EN 

  EN 

   EUROPEAN COMMISSION  Brussels, 12.5.2021  SWD(2021) 140 final  COMMISSION STAFF WORKING DOCUMENT Digital Solutions for Zero Pollution Accompanying the document Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions Pathway to a Healthy Planet for All          EU Action Plan: 'Towards Zero Pollution for Air, Water and Soil' {COM(2021) 400 final} - {SWD(2021) 141 final}  
 
 
Contents 

1. 

Introduction .......................................................................................................................... 2 

2.  Pollution risks from digitalisation ........................................................................................ 5 

3.  Zero Pollution Data .............................................................................................................. 8 

3.1.  Data generation and monitoring ..................................................................................... 11 

3.2.  Data transmission (real-time data) and management ..................................................... 12 

3.3.  Data analytics and digital twins ..................................................................................... 14 

3.4.  Data visualisation and dissemination ............................................................................. 17 

3.5.  Data services .................................................................................................................. 18 

4.  Digital solutions: examples and use cases ......................................................................... 18 

4.1.  Smart, sustainable and resilient cities and communities ............................................ 18 

4.2.  Smart mobility reducing air and noise pollution ........................................................ 19 

4.3. 

eHealth and environmental pollution ......................................................................... 22 

4.4.  Digital Water Protection ............................................................................................. 23 

4.5.  Digital Marine Protection ........................................................................................... 26 

4.6.  Digital solutions for farming and aquaculture ............................................................ 28 

4.7.  Digital transformation of industry .............................................................................. 31 

4.8.  Digital solutions for plastic pollution ......................................................................... 32 

4.9.  Addressing soil pollution with digital solutions ......................................................... 35 

5.  Funding and Investment Opportunities for Zero Pollution Data and Solutions ................ 36 

6. 

Inspirations from national strategies .................................................................................. 38 

7.  Conclusions and outlook .................................................................................................... 39 

Annex I: Digital technologies ................................................................................................... 44 

Annex II: Funding and investment opportunities ...................................................................... 47 

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1.  Introduction  

The  EU  has  embarked  on  a  green  and  digital  transition.  The  two  dimensions  are  closely 
interrelated,  and  the  Commission  has  taken  the  lead  to  drive  these  transitions  and  to  focus 
investments  on  recovery  and  resilience  efforts  in  these  areas.  In  relation  to  the  green 
transition, pollution has been identified as one of the four major planetary crises alongside the 
climate, biodiversity and resource crises.1 Pollution affects our health and our environment; it 
threatens our natural environment and is one of the major reasons for biodiversity loss. The 
Commission’s  Zero  Pollution  Action  Plan  for  air,  water  and  soil2  addresses  the  pollution 
challenge  in  view  of  achieving  the  zero  pollution  ambition  for  a  toxic  free  environment, 
complementing the Chemicals Strategy for Sustainability towards a Toxic-Free Environment 
(CSS)3. 

The  2019  European  Green  Deal4  recognises  the  potential  of  digitalisation  to  achieve  the 
environment and climate aims and the necessity to explore sustainable digital technologies as 
essential  enablers  of  the  changes  needed  for  a  just  green  transition.  Reference  is  made  to 
digital  technologies such as Artificial  Intelligence (AI), 5G, cloud  and edge computing  and 
the Internet of Things (IoT) as having the potential to accelerate and maximise the impact of 
policies to protect the environment and to address climate change5. 

In  February  2020,  the  Commission  adopted  its  new  Digital  Strategy  (‘Shaping  Europe’s 
Digital  Future’)6  along  with  its  first  two  pillars:  the  European  Data  Strategy7  and  a  White 
Paper on Artificial Intelligence.8 The European Digital Strategy sets a vision for a transition 
to a healthy planet and a new digital world. It emphasises the need for the twin challenge of a 
green and digital transformation to go together, and points to the digital component as key in 
reaching  the  ambitions  of  the  European  Green  Deal.9  It  also  recognises  that  digitalisation 
contributes to environmental degradation, e.g. through high energy and resource use and that 
these  impacts  need  to  be  reduced.  The  European  Data  Strategy  recognises  the  need  for 
availability of data for the public  good.  Among  other uses, the Data Strategy indicates that 
data  can  serve  to  address  societal  challenges,  combat  environmental  emergencies  and  to 
tackle  environmental  degradation  and  climate  change.  It  sets  an  objective  to  capture  the 
benefits of better use of data. Ensuring the availability of data and improving data usage are 
essential for tackling these societal, climate and environmental challenges.10 The White Paper 
on  Artificial  Intelligence  acknowledges  the  potential  of  AI  to  find  solutions  to  societal 
challenges  such  as  environmental  degradation.11  However,  AI  technology  also  has  a 
significant  environmental  footprint,  and  these  environmental  impacts  of  AI  systems 
throughout  the  whole  AI  lifecycle  are  addressed  in  the  Coordinated  Plan  on  Artificial 
Intelligence 202112. Finally, the Commission’s new Industrial Strategy for Europe13 points to 

1 COM(2020) 652  
2 COM(2021) 400 
3 COM(2020) 667 
4 COM(2019) 640 
5 COM(2019) 640, p.9 
6 COM(2020) 67 
7 COM(2020) 66 
8 COM(2020) 65 
9 COM(2020) 67, p. 1 
10 COM(2020) 66 
11 COM(2020) 65, p.25 
12 Annex to COM(2021) 205 

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the  twin  ecological  and  digital  transitions  and  the  role  of  new  technologies  in  supporting  a 
sustainable  transition.  The  Industrial  Strategy  also  indicates  the  need  for  investment  and 
innovation  to  deliver  these  new  technologies.14  It  illustrates  the  significant  business 
opportunities in these areas.  

Reacting  to  the  Commission’s  initiatives,  the  2020  Environment  Council  conclusions15  on 
‘Digitalisation for the Benefit of the Environment’ recognise the huge potential digitalisation 
offers  in  reaching  the  goals  of  the  European  Green  Deal.  In  its  conclusions  the  Council 
concurs  with  the  Commission  on  the  potential  of  the  twin  green  and  digital  transition  and 
emphasises it is a necessary approach to economic recovery after the COVID-19 pandemic. 
The  conclusions  stress  an  inclusive  digital  transition  which  limits  the  negative  impacts  of 
digitalisation while fully exploiting the opportunities of digitalisation. The conclusions  also 
point  to  topics  where  the  EU  needs  to  act  to  best  achieve  the  twin  transition,  giving  the 
Commission political guidance on areas in need of specific attention. 

One  of  the  areas  the  Council  encourages  the  Commission  to  act  in  are  digital  solutions  for 
zero pollution. The conclusions encourage the Commission ‘to develop an ambitious policy 
agenda  for  using  digital  solutions  to  achieve  the  zero  pollution  ambition’.16  By  translating 
this  request  of  the  Council  into  practice,  this  document  intends  to  give  Member  State 
administrations  at  all  levels,  the  private  sector  and  civil  society  an  introduction  to  some 
available digital solutions for a better understanding of existing pollution challenges, to show 
examples  and  opportunities  of  applying  digital  technologies  for  pollution  prevention  and 
reduction while avoiding rebound effects, to guide towards available funding and investment 
opportunities  and  to  encourage  the  take-up  of  these  digital  solutions  to  achieve  the  zero 
pollution  ambition.  In  the  same  breath,  the  Commission  will  indicate,  e.g.  through 
development of a common open data platform on chemicals as announced under Chemicals 
Strategy  for  Sustainability,  how  digital  solutions  are  applied  to  increase  effectiveness  and 
efficiency  of  processes  assessing  and  managing  chemical  risks  by  the  Commission,  EU 
Agencies  and  the  Member  States  authorities.  Moreover,  the  document  presents  some 
examples  of  national  strategies  for  green  and  digital  transformation  with  the  focus  on 
highlighting digital zero pollution solutions. All this aims to inspire and promote the uptake 
and further development of clean digital solutions across the public and private sectors, and 
to help guide investments and encourage innovation and business opportunities in these areas.  

New digital technologies are transforming every aspect of our lives. With the increasing use 
of  sensors  and  IoT,  data  collected  by  satellites,  GPS,  Galileo  -  the  European  Global 
Navigation Satellite System, and social networks, we have seen a tremendous growth of data 
generated that – when combined with digital infrastructure and AI solutions  – can facilitate 
evidence-based  decision-making  and  expand  our  capacity  to  understand  and  tackle  climate 
and environmental challenges. Data, algorithms and insights can provide actionable evidence 
on  the  state  of  the  environment  and  interactions  between  the  economy,  society  and  the 
environment. If effectively leveraged, digital technologies can contribute to overall emissions 
reductions by up to 15%.17 

13 COM(2020) 102 
14 COM(2020) 102, p.1 
15 Council conclusions on Digitalisation for the Benefit of the Environment (DOC 13957/20 of 11/12/2020) and 
press release  
16 Council conclusions, paragraph 18 
17 World Economic Forum, 2019 

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The open public consultation on the Zero Pollution Action Plan looked at two questions on 
digital solutions for zero pollution seeking to gather views of experts on the digital tools and 
services and how they can be used for achieving the zero pollution ambition18. 

In response to the first question, 36% of the respondents completely agree with the statement 
that significant investment is needed in innovation and digitalisation to help achieve the ‘zero 
pollution ambition, followed by that digital solutions offer significant potential for reducing 
pollution (27%). Opinions diverge more when it comes to the statement on the use of digital 
tools  by  administrators  to  trace  pollution  and  inform  the  public,  where  only  5%  of  the 
respondents  completely  agree  and  12%  completely  disagree.  Similarly,  12%  of  the 
respondents  completely  disagree  with  the  statement  that  administrations  are  using  digital 
tools to implement EU pollution legislation and enforce rules on the ground. 

In  response  to  the  second  question,  nearly  half  of  the  respondents  (48%)  completely  agree 
that information about pollution for consumers and businesses is an area with a big potential 
for pollution prevention, reduction and remediation. This is followed by data generation and 
monitoring  of  pollution  (46%),  data  analytics  and  artificial  intelligence  (36%)  and  data 
transmission  and  management  (32%).  Based  on  the  share  of  ‘I  don’t  know’  responses, 
respondents are least sure about the potential of digital twins and models (42%), blockchain 
and distributed ledger technology (37%), and 3D printing or additive manufacturing (33%) as 
areas with a big potential for pollution prevention (see Figure 1). 

Figure 1: Feedback on the online public consultation on the question: “In your opinion, what are the 
areas  of  digital  application  with  the  biggest  potential  for  pollution  prevention,  reduction  and 
remediation?” (Ecorys 2021, see footnote 18) 

18 Ecorys (2021): “Consultations on the EU Action Plan towards a zero pollution ambition for air, water and 
soil”, Synopsis Report (see ‘Have your say’ portal’). 

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This paper will first discuss the role and relevance of pollution data19 in section 2, and section 
3 will point to possibilities digitalisation can provide in different areas and provide concrete 
examples  of  digital  solutions  already  in  use  in  different  sectors.  Section  4  will  give  an 
overview of available funding and investment opportunities. Finally, the last sections of this 
paper  will  discuss  the  pollution  risks  related  to  digital  solutions  (section  5),  give  some 
examples  of  Member  State  strategies  with  relevance  for  this  paper  (section  6)  and  provide 
some concrete recommendations on how to further the use of digital solutions to achieve the 
zero  pollution  ambition  (section  7).  Annex  I  of  this  paper  will  give  a  short  overview  of 
available  digital  technologies  that  can  help  reach  the  zero  pollution  ambition.  The 
technologies listed in Annex I are not necessarily the only available technologies that can be 
deployed for such use, and new digital solutions are constantly being developed. 

While  processes  related  to  monitoring  and  reporting  as  required  by  existing  EU  policy 
frameworks  benefit  from  opportunities  provided  by  digitalisation,  these  specific  processes 
will  be  discussed  by  another  Staff  Working  Document20  accompanying  the  Zero  Pollution 
Action Plan for Air, Water and Soil21. 

2.  Pollution risks from digitalisation  

Although the environmental benefits of digital solutions can largely outweigh their negative 
environmental impacts, the pollution risks related to digitalisation should not be overlooked. 
This  section will  give a  brief overview of negative environmental impacts of digitalisation. 
Digital  solutions  need to  be deployed sustainably and possible rebound effects  avoided and 
addressed. 

Digitalisation  has  a  significant  environmental  footprint  with  the  main  impacts  linked  to 
energy and resource use. Different studies estimate the total greenhouse gas emissions of the 
ICT  sector  as  a  whole  between  2-4%  which  accounts,  e.g.  for  8-10%  of  the  European 
electricity consumption22. Part of this energy demand is used to generate, store and use data. 
Some  of  this  energy  is  used  by  digital  technologies  such  as  blockchain  and  artificial 
intelligence,  which  can  be  deployed  to  aid  the  environment,  but  also  consume  a  lot  of 
energy23. Additionally, with 16kg of e-waste per person in 2019, Europe is the continent with 
the highest per capita waste generation24 and although it is also the continent with the highest 
rate of formal e-waste collection and recycling, we currently recycle only around 40 % of our 
e-waste.25  

As data flows increase, the energy consumption of data centres is bound to grow. Within the 
EU, data centres accounted for 2.7% of electricity  demand in  2018 and will reach 3.2% by 

19 In the context of this document, the term pollution data is to be interpreted in a wide sense meaning all data 
relevant  in  one  way  or  another  for  the  measurement  and  understanding  of  pollution,  be  it  data  on  the  actual 
emissions or data on background conditions of soil, water or air. 
20 SWD(2021) 141: ‘Towards a monitoring and outlook framework for the Zero Pollution Ambition’ 
21 COM(2021) 400 
22 See e.g. Lotfi Belkhir and Ahmed Elmeligi (2018), ICTfootprint or the SHIFT project 
23 https://emagazine.com/environmental-effects-of-blockchain/ 
24 https://globalewaste.org/map/ 
25 Circular Economy Action Plan (2019) https://ec.europa.eu/environment/circular-
economy/pdf/new_circular_economy_action_plan.pdf  

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2030 if development continues on the current trajectory.26 Beyond energy consumption, data 
centres are also significant consumers of electronics and producers of electronic waste. The 
European  Green  Deal  aims  for  the  EU  to  become  climate-neutral  by  2050,  and  the  Digital 
Strategy  has  announced  ‘initiatives  to  achieve  climate-neutral,  highly  energy-efficient  and 
sustainable  data  centres  by  no  later  than  2030  and  transparency  measures  for  telecoms 
operators on their environmental footprint.’ The Commission is currently exploring a number 
of policy options to achieve this objective. 

Today’s data centre landscape is a mix of large actors who commercially sell their capacity 
(often non-EU but with infrastructure operated in the EU) and actors who own their own data 
centres,  notably  many  publicly  owned  data  centres  (hospitals,  universities,  public 
administrations  etc.).  The  former  are  already  fairly  energy-efficient  because  of  their  own 
cost-cutting  efforts,  to  the  point  where  some  already  claim  to  be  ‘highly’  energy-efficient; 
whereas the latter often lack the skills and technological and financial means to increase their 
energy efficiency. Over the last decade, efficiency gains have allowed keeping the increase in 
energy  consumption  under  control,  but  the  potential  to  unlock  these  gains  is  becoming 
smaller. The assessment of potential measures will be further supported by a study ‘Greening 
cloud  computing  and  electronic  communications  services  and  networks:  towards  climate 
neutrality  by  2050’27  which  also  looks  at  the  wider  environmental  impacts.  This  study  will 
feed into the on-going review of the Energy Efficiency Directive (EED)28 and the Industrial 
Emissions Directive (IED)29 and help assess whether also data centres should be covered by a 
similar  permitting  regime  as  industrial  plants,  with  a  view  to  minimise  their  harmful 
emissions/impacts. 

The  environmental  impacts  of  digitalisation  linked  to  pollution  are  less  researched  than  the 
climate  and  energy  impacts  of  digitalisation.  A  literature  review30  looked  specifically  at 
evidence  of  environmental  impacts  other  than  energy  use  and  greenhouse  gas  emissions. 
Most of the pollution-related risks were indirect, in particular linked to the extraction of raw 
metals  (cobalt,  palladium,  tantalum,  silver,  gold,  indium  and  magnesium  and  other  critical 
raw  materials  (CRMs))  as  well  as  the  production  of  microelectronic  components.  This  is 
often  analysed  in  life-cycle  analysis  (LCA)  of  ICT  goods  (e.g.  phones,  tablets,  etc.),  data 
centres  or  transmission  networks.  According  to  these  LCAs,  this  contributes  to  fossil 
depletion,  abiotic  resource  depletion,  global  warming,  freshwater  eutrophication,  human 
toxicity,  freshwater  toxicity,  marine  toxicity,  and  terrestrial  toxicity  for  ICT  hardware31. 
However,  available  LCA  studies  applied  to  ICT  are  often  not  homogeneous  or  consistent, 
adopting  disparate  methodological  choices.  It  is  envisaged  to  promote  in  future  the 
harmonisation  of these  LCA studies with  the method  for the calculation of the EU Product 
Environmental Footprint32. 

26 Commission study ‘Energy-efficient Cloud Computing Technologies and Policies for an Eco-friendly Cloud 
Market’, SMART 2018/0028 
27 ongoing project 
28 Directive 2012/27/EU 
29 Directive 2010/75/EU 
30 Öko-Institute (2019): Impacts of the digital transformation on the environment and sustainability 
31 Öko-Institute (2019): Impacts of the digital transformation on the environment and sustainability, p.80 
32 https://eplca.jrc.ec.europa.eu/EnvironmentalFootprint.html  

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Additionally,  the  potential  risks  to  human  health  and  the  environment  related  to  the 
production and use of chemicals needed for digitalisation should be recognised, while being 
already addressed under the relevant chemicals legislation.33 

Furthermore,  cooling  water  used  in  data  centres  can  also  be  a  concern  causing  heat  and 
chemical  pollution  in  rivers  or  lakes  and  having  an  overall  large  footprint  on  water 
consumption. E.g. a company’s plan to build a vast data centre in central Luxembourg hit the 
headlines34 because of concerns on the data centre’s water consumption. It was estimated that 
the data centre’s operation requires 10 million litres of water per day, which is about 10% of 
the country’s overall water consumption with the excess heat being discharged into the river. 
The total amount of industrial waste heat in the EU is estimated to be 3,140 TWh. Waste heat 
from data centres is in the order of 56 TWh (2%)35. 

This  is  also  one  of  the  reasons  why  data  centres  require  an  environmental  permit  in  some 
Member States such as Finland and Ireland.36 During environmental permit consideration, the 
matters examined can include topics such as air emissions from diesel generators, storage and 
loading of generator fuel and other chemicals, water use and sewerage, noise, transport, waste 
including  hazardous  waste  such  as  heavy  metals  and  oils,  impacts  on  soil  and  groundwater 
and  impacts  of  water-cooled  data  centres  on  the  receiving  water  bodies.  The  focus  of  the 
examination  ultimately  depends  on  the  volume  of  the  data  centre’s  operations,  its  location, 
cooling  and  backup  power  solutions  and  other  aspects.37  In  practice,  permit  regulations  in 
Finland  are  issued  particularly  on  the  storage  and  treatment  of  waste  and  hazardous 
substances and on generator emission limits and, in the case of water-cooled data centres, the 
conveyance  of  water  into  water  bodies.  Air  emissions  from  diesel  generators  with  a  rated 
thermal input equal to or greater than 1 MW are addressed by the Medium Combustion Plants 
Directive.38 

Finally, e-waste contains precious materials and hazardous substances. Although the exports 
of e-waste to non-OECD countries are banned, a portion of the unaccounted e-waste goes to 
informal  disassembly  in  developing  countries,  primarily  in  Africa  and  Asia.39  This  has 
already led to severe water and air pollution, soil contamination, and adverse health impacts 
for  workers  and  the  local  population.  In  this  context  digital  solutions  such  as  tracking  and 
monitoring of shipment of waste can be deployed to  control and avoid e-waste pollution in 
Europe  and  abroad.  Inappropriate  collection,  recycling,  disposal  of  waste  from  metals  (e.g. 
palladium,  gold,  copper)  extraction  and  refining  also  causes  toxicity  and  land  use.  At  the 
same  time,  there  are  almost  700  million  devices  in  Europe  that  are  “hibernating”  in  EU 
households and that if recycled, could lead to the recovery of a lot of CRMs40. Overall, the 
pollution related pressures and impacts of digitalisation are still poorly understood and more 
research  is  needed.  Nevertheless,  this  should  not  stop  efforts  to  reduce  energy  use, 

33 Öko-Institute (2019): Impacts of the digital transformation on the environment and sustainability, p.72 
34 See article in Luxembourg Times of 21/11/2019  
35 Pärssinen, Wahlroos, Manner, & Syri (2019) in Oeke-Institute (2019) 
36 https://emagazine.com/environmental-effects-of-blockchain/  
37 Ministry of Transport and Communications 2020: The ICT sector, climate and the environment – Interim 
report of the working group preparing a climate and environmental strategy for the ICT sector in Finland 
38 Directive (EU) 2015/2193 
39 See also the CWIT project (“Countering WEEE Illegal Trade”) at https://www.cwitproject.eu/   
40 Öko-Institute (2019): Impacts of the digital transformation on the environment and sustainability, p. 14,16 and 
80 

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greenhouse gas emissions and resource use through better circularity, because these measures 
will implicitly also reduce the pollution footprint of digitalisation. 

3.  Zero Pollution Data 

Data  are  the  centrepiece  of  the  digital  agenda.  Digitalisation  has  already  helped  generate, 
share,  manage  and  re-use  data  more  efficiently  but  latest  technologies  offer  radically  new 
solutions  which  are  not  yet  commonplace.  For  example,  once  large  amounts  of  data  (‘big 
data’) are available, artificial intelligence and machine-learning algorithms can help analyse 
these data more effectively and allow processing and assessing large volumes of data which 
previously seemed a daunting task. Data and insights can help improve resource governance 
decisions,  target  financial  investments,  and  change  consumption  and  production  patterns41. 
To achieve that, it will be important that ’big data’ are digested and sense is made by creating 
knowledge and insights that are easily understandable and actionable.  

41 https://wedocs.unep.org/bitstream/handle/20.500.11822/27627/MeaProg2019.pdf 

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The  monitoring  of  the  implementation  of  environmental  policies,  and  in  particular  those 
related  to  pollution,  often  require  extensive  data  resources.  Data  collected  to  develop  and 
implement environmental policies include:  

  The  quality  of  our  environment,  the  air  we  breathe,  the  water  we  use,  the 
contamination of soils, levels of pollution in species and ecosystems or accumulating 
in humans (so-called biomonitoring); 
Identification  of  polluting  chemicals  and  their  properties  including  understanding 
their impacts; 

 

  The emissions, discharges and losses in the environment;  
  The pollution sources and activities; 
  The tracing and transfer of pollution in processes or via products; 
  The underlying economic driving forces;  
  The measures taken to address pollution and their effectiveness.  

Such  data  are  often  generated  and/or  managed  by  public  authorities  on  the  basis  of  legal 
requirements,  but  also  by  academia  and  research  entities  investigating  pollution  related 
questions.  The  private  sector  also  collects  a  lot  of  environmental  data,  but  the  data  are  not 
always  publicly  available.  Increasingly,  however,  data  held  by  the  private  sector  are 
becoming  available.  Moreover,  citizens  and  civil  society  can  play  an  important  role  in 
generating pollution-related data (see Digital Solution Story: CleanAir@School) but they can 
also  be  engaged  in  debates  and  policy  making  which  generates  valuable  opinions  and 
contributions  to  the  policy  debate.  For  this,  it  is  essential  that  environmental  data  are 
transparent, comprehensible and accessible to all actors at the relevant level of granularity. In 
other words,  it is  important  for environmental and pollution data to  be findable, accessible, 
interoperable and reusable. Applying these FAIR principles42 are essential for the data to be 
used to their full potential.  

Digital Solution Story: CleanAir@School 
The CleanAir@School project encouraged school children to measure pollution levels, learn 
about air quality issues and promote actions for cleaner air. Pupils and teachers across Europe 
were given simple, low-cost devices to measure levels of nitrogen dioxide (NO2) around their 
schools. Nitrogen dioxide is one of the key air pollutants harming human health in Europe, 
and it originates principally from road transport which is why it’s a problem in urban areas. 
Children  participating  in  the  project  measured  nitrogen  dioxide  levels  around  their  schools, 
while learning about air quality issues and ways to tackle them at the same time. One of the 
aims of the project was educational, but it also explored the use of data collected by citizens 
in complementing ‘official’ air quality monitoring data.43 

Over the past decades, such data became digital, replacing gradually (but not  yet fully), the 
analogue handling of data and information. Since 2007, the organisation, infrastructure and 
management  of  environmental  data  has  also  been  standardised  through  the  INSPIRE 
Directive44 which implements the FAIR principles. But implementation is lagging behind and 
the full potential of such infrastructure investment is still to be realised.45 In addition to the 
INSPIRE directive, many efforts in thematic domains are ongoing to improve standardisation 

42 see GO FAIR (http://go-fair.org) 
43 https://discomap.eea.europa.eu/cleanair/#  
44 INSPIRE: Infrastructure for Spatial Information in Europe (Directive 2007/2/EC) 
45 COM(2016) 478  

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for interoperability. For example for the marine environment the efforts under the European 
Marine  Observation  and  Data  Network  (EMODnet)46  and  the  Marine  Strategy  Framework 
Directive47 use and complement the INSPIRE standards to bring the data holdings together. 
Promotion of IUCLID format for efficient exchange of any chemical information, extensively 
employed by the industry and the regulation (e.g. REACH), together with exchange standards 
developed  under  Information  Platform  for  Chemical  Monitoring  (IPCHEM)  will  further 
contribute  to  efficient  sharing  under  the  common  open  data  platform  for  chemicals.  These 
efforts will also feed into the development of common open data platform by 2023 that was 
announced by the Chemicals Strategy.  

More  recently,  digitalisation  offered  a  number  of  new  tools  and  opportunities  which  are 
applicable  across  all  areas  of  pollution  control  policies.  Such  opportunities  are  related  to 
generation  and  monitoring,  collection  and  transmission,  management,  analytics  and 
dissemination of data and actionable information. In more concrete terms, the application of 
digital solutions and data for the environment are manifold in particular (see also figure 2): 

 
Improving the evidence base, including the identification of emerging pollutants; 
 
Involving and engaging with citizens;  
  Enhancing implementation and compliance; 
  Strengthening the decision-making and solution finding process (governance); 
  Reducing  pollution by  improving  existing systems  digitisation (e.g. smart mobility), 

smart applications or feedback processes. 

In  addition,  data  can  be  used  to  create  innovative  services,  nudge  behavioural  change 
(including  through  network  effects)  and  create  new  business  models.  Information  and 
Communication Technologies (ICT) can dematerialise certain sectors, through novel business 
models, for example by increasing value-added in relation to natural resource use, by making 
the  value  chain  more  efficient  or  for  example  by  focusing  on  the  utility  derived  from  a 
product (e.g. kilograms of clothing washed, kilometres driven, etc.) and not on the value of 
the product itself48. 

46 https://emodnet.eu/en  
47 Directive 2008/56/EC 
48 https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/16390705.pdf 

10 

 
 
 
 
 
 
                                                           
Figure 2: Using digital solutions and data for environment policy end implementation49 

The European Data Strategy as well as the ‘Green Data for All’ initiative50 are driving these 
developments  in  the EU.  In addition,  UN Environment is  also  working on a concept  of the 
‘Digital  Ecosystem  for  the  Environment’,  which  could  be  looked  towards  to  provide 
inspiration from an international perspective.51 

The pollution data aspects are briefly described in a generic way here and underpinned with 
some concrete examples in specific areas of application in the subsequent section. 

3.1. Data generation and monitoring 

The  frequency  of  monitoring  (e.g.  of  a  pollutant  chemical  in  waste  stream)  is  often  low, 
partly  because  it  can  be  costly,  and  this  may  reduce  reliability  and  robustness  of  the 
conclusions  drawn  from  these  data.  Some  parameters  can  be  monitored  with  screening 
sensors  which  become  increasingly  powerful  in  collecting  data  automatically  at  very  high 
frequencies  and  ever  lower  energy  demands,  hence  lower  costs.  Examples  exist  for  air52, 
water53  or  noise54  pollution.  But  also  indirect  measurement  of  pollution  is  possible,  e.g.  by 

49 INSPIRE Conference 2020 presentation by Srdan Krco (DunavNET) 
50  This  initiative  was  announced  in  the  European  Data  Strategy  and  it  consists  in  evaluating  and  possibly 
reviewing  the  Directive  establishing  an  Infrastructure  for  Spatial  Information  in  the  EU  (INSPIRE),  together 
with the Access to Environment Information Directive. It will modernise the regime in line with technological 
and innovation opportunities, making it easier for EU public authorities, businesses and citizens to support the 
transition to a greener and carbon-neutral economy, and reducing administrative burden. 
51 The Case for a Digital Ecosystem for the Environment: Bringing Together Data, Algorithms and Insights for 
Sustainable Development and The promise and peril of a digital ecosystem for the planet 
52 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6696184/ 
53 
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/342214402_Water_Monitoring_System_Embedded_with_Internet_of
_   Things_IoT_Device_A_Review 
54 https://www.mdpi.com/1424-8220/20/8/2256/htm 

11 

 
 
 
 
 
 
                                                           
cameras detecting behavioural change of fish in case of water pollution55. Moreover, ’visible’ 
pollution  (e.g.  oil,  litter,  nutrients  causing  algae  blooms)  can  be  detected  and  therefore 
monitored  continuously  with  cameras  or  other  sensors  installed  on  satellites,  planes,  ships, 
drones  or  fixed  installations.  Citizen  science  can  also  be  used  to  report  such  ‘visible’ 
pollution (see Digital solution story: See it? Say it!). 

Digital solution story: See it? Say it! 
The  ‘See  it?  Say  it!’  -app  of  the  Irish  Environmental  Protection  Agency  makes  it  easy  to 
report  environmental  pollution.  The  app  can  be  downloaded  to  most  smart  phones,  and 
enables citizens to report pollution when they see it. The app is very simple to use: when a 
user  spots  environmental  pollution  or  dumping,  they  can  take  a  photo  of  the  pollution,  add 
some simple details, and submit a complaint. The app will send GPS coordinates of where the 
photo has been taken, so it’s easy for authorities to locate and investigate the problem.56 

The  power  of  these  increasing  possibilities  is  dramatically  enhanced  through  the  potential 
offered by the internet of things (IoT), since such sensors can be easily connected, or ’edge 
computing’, since the (pre-)-analysis of data is already done through the small processors in 
the  sensors.  Such  opportunities  will  not  replace  traditional  monitoring  efforts  or  needs  but 
complement  them.  They  allow  for  a  more  effective  and  efficient  collection  of  data  (e.g. 
samples  could  be  taken  only  when  the  sensor  data  indicate  a  potential  pollution)  and, 
therefore,  help  increase  responsiveness,  relevance,  resolution  and  certainty  of  pollution 
assessments based on these data.  

3.2. Data transmission (real-time data) and management 

For  centuries,  data  were  collected  and  transmitted  through  reporting,  i.e.  the  transfer  of  the 
data  and  information  from  the  data  owner  to  the  data  user.  First,  we  used  paper  and  then 
increasingly digital means as computers entered our lives. While there are also other reasons 
for  lags  (e.g.  quality  control),  such  ‘reporting’  is  often  inefficient  leading  to,  sometimes, 
considerable time lags between the data collection, processing, analysis and its publication.57 
This causes lack of efficiency and reduces the value of the results the more outdated the data 
are.  Increasingly,  real  time  data  sharing  (‘machine-to-machine’)  is  being  used,  and  these 
technologies are becoming more and more powerful.  

55 
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/325481761_Aquatic_Toxic_Analysis_by_Monitoring_Fish_Behavior
_ Using_Computer_Vision_A_Recent_Progress 
56 http://www.epa.ie/enforcement/report/  
57 see e.g. Fitness Check of environmental monitoring and reporting (COM(2017)312 and SWD(2017)230)   

12 

 
 
 
 
 
                                                           
Digital solution story: Earth observation and Copernicus 
Copernicus  is  the  European  Union’s  Earth  observation  programme.  The  satellite  and  in  situ 
(non-space) observations Copernicus services deliver provide near-real-time data globally, and 
this  data  can  be  used  to  help  us  better  manage  our  environment  in  a  sustainable  way  and  to 
understand our planetary processes. The data collected by satellites and in situ systems such as 
ground stations that deliver data from sensors on the ground, at sea and in the air, is processed 
and  analysed  by  the  Copernicus  services,  transforming  the  vast  amounts  of  data  into 
information that can be used by end users acting in a wide range of areas such as regional and 
urban  planning,  transport  and  mobility  and  agriculture.  The  main  users  of  the  Copernicus 
services are public sector actors, but the information services Copernicus provides are free and 
openly  available  to  all  users.58  The  strength  of  this  unique  European  digital  capacity, 
combining  satellite  and  in-situ  observations  with  state-of-the-art  atmosphere  model  outputs 
and Artificial Intelligence, enabled Copernicus also to assess the impact of societal measures 
in scope of the COVID-19 on air pollution levels in Europe. Other examples are:  

 

‘Litter-TEP’  application59  is  using  the  Copernicus  Marine  data  to  develop  to  forecast 
macro  waste  drift  in  the  marine  environment.  Such  tool  allows  running  forecasts  of 
ocean  currents,  waves  and  winds  to  monitor  marine  litter  in  the  Atlantic  European 
North  West  Shelves  seas.  It  provides  forecasts  of  marine  macro  waste  drift  (density, 
potential  stranding  on  beaches)  and,  inversely,  the  likelihood  of  where  the  waste  has 
entered  the  sea.  The  service  takes  into  account  waste  from  rivers  and  their  related 
upstream watersheds, which collect surface litter after precipitation. 

  The FML-TRACK service60 support the reduction of floating marine litter pollution in 
south Eastern Bay of Biscay to help the collection of waste in the marine environment 
by public administrations, both at sea and on beaches. It combines video monitoring in 
rivers, satellite imagery at sea, and ocean observation and modelling to track floating 
marine  litter  and  help  reducing  its  presence  in  the  coastal  area.  Beyond  that,  Earth 
Observations  Data Cubes (EODC)  are a new paradigm  revolutionizing the way  users 
can interact with Earth Observation (EO) data. They can provide access to large spatio-
temporal  data  in  analysis  ready  format.  Systematic  and  regular  provision  of  Analysis 
Ready  Data  (ARD)  can  significantly  reduce  the  burden  on  users  by  minimizing  the 
time  and  scientific  knowledge  required  to  access  and  prepare  remotely-sensed  data. 
The proliferation of data cubes and the  availability of ARD is  therefore lowering the 
barrier to access and utilise satellite “big-data” datasets. 

A  precondition  for  this  is  ‘open  data’,  the  availability  of  the  data  in  the  public  domain  or 
accessible  with  a  minimum  of  restrictions.  In  some  cases,  where  opening  data  fully  is  not 
possible  (yet),  effective  sharing  of  data  under  certain  conditions  should  be  ensured. 
Regulation  on  this  has  already  been  introduced  some  time  ago  (e.g.  access  to  environment 
information directive or INSPIRE Directive61) and recently has received a new boost through 
the  revised  Open  Data  and  Public  Sector  Information  Directive62  and  concrete  actions  on 
chemicals  data  access  and  sharing  under  the  Chemicals  Strategy  for  Sustainability.  As 
mentioned  above,  the  Commission’s  Data  Strategy  has  also  made  it  clear  that  open  public 

58 https://www.copernicus.eu/en/about-copernicus  
59 https://litter-tep.argans.eu 
60 https://fmltrack.rivagesprotech.frhttps://fmltrack.rivagesprotech.fr 
61 Directive 2007/2/EC 
62 Directive (EU) 2019/1024 

13 

 
 
 
 
 
 
                                                           
data  should  become  the  norm  in  future  (provided  existing  legislation  on  personal  data 
protection  and  others  are  respected).  The  latter  is  particularly  true  for  environmental  and 
pollution data which must be, by default, open.  

Open data enable to reverse the business process from sending the data from the owners to 
the users (reporting) to ensuring that the owners keep their data up to date and accessible and 
then the users can retrieve the latest data in real time. This was, e.g. used for creating global, 
daily  updated,  statistics  on  the  evolution  of  the  Corona  crisis  by  the  Johns  Hopkins 
University63 or is implemented in the context of the Air Quality Index64.  

For  nearly  all  data  relevant  to  zero  pollution,  the  INSPIRE  Directive  sets  out  the  rules  and 
standards  making  such  an  approach  applicable  across  different  data  domains.  Many  good 
examples exist  on how such an approach has increased effectiveness  and efficiency of data 
transmission  and  management.65  However,  there  are  considerable  implementation  gaps  and 
more investment and efforts are needed to deliver on the promise that relevant pollution data 
can then be shared between administrations in near-real time. 

It  is  important  to  note  that  the  availability  of  so-called  High  Value  Datasets66,  will  also 
include  some  data  relevant  for  zero  pollution  (or  could  in  future)  that  Member  States  will 
have to  make  available,  free of charge, in  a machine-readable  format, through Application-
Programming  Interfaces  (APIs).  Finally,  beyond  open  data,  the  Commission  foresees  the 
creation  of  common  European  Data  Spaces,  including  a  Green  Deal  dataspace67.  The 
common open data platform on chemicals with its vision to facilitate sharing access and re-
use information on chemicals from all sources, as announced by the Chemicals Strategy for 
Sustainability, represents an important part of this dataspace. This will allow not just access 
to open data, but also effective data-sharing for all public and private data; i.e. getting access 
to data that may not be open, but be useful for innovative service creation. The proposed Data 
Governance  Act68    supports  the  governance  of  these  dataspaces,  strengthen  data-sharing 
mechanisms  within  the  EU,  foster  the  availability  of  data  for  use  and  increase  trust  in  data 
intermediaries.  The  EU-funded  Support  Centre  for  Data  Sharing  also  provides  support, 
technical  tools  and  expertise  to  facilitate  data-sharing.69  Finally,  the  planned  Data  Act  will 
foster data sharing among businesses, and between business and governments.70 

3.3. Data analytics and digital twins 

Tools  for  analysing  data  have  become  very  powerful  over  the  past  years.  With  artificial 
intelligence and machine-learning, there is a significant potential to reduce the environmental 
and climate footprint,  e.g. through smart  buildings, the smart  grid, smart circular economy, 
forecasting  and  observation,  influencing  the  behaviour  of  individuals  (see  Digital  Solution 
Story: DigiTranScope), and smart production systems and processes.  

63 https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/data  
64 https://www.eea.europa.eu/themes/air/air-quality-index/indexhttps://www.eea.europa.eu/themes/air/air-
quality-index/index 
65 e.g. during the various INSPIRE Conferences 
66 More information on high value data sets  
67 The European Dataspaces will be rolled out gradually as of 2021 with support, e.g. from the Digital Europe 
Programme.  
68 Proposal for a Data Governance Act (COM(2020) 767)  
69 https://eudatasharing.eu/  
70 COM (2020) 767, p. 13 

14 

 
 
 
 
 
                                                           
The  data  analytics  is  supporting  better  simulation  of  chemical  properties  and  predicting 
potential  hazard,  exposure  and  fate  of  chemicals,  supporting  early  warning,  identification, 
monitoring  strategies  and  prioritization  of  chemicals,  and  management  of  chemicals  of 
concern. Development is in place to enable these tools to be seamlessly connected with the 
vast chemical datasets shared through the common open data platform. 

Data-  and  physics  (models)-based  analytics  have  traditionally  been  quite  separated 
approaches to generate informed predictions. With the advent of ‘digital twins’ for complex 
systems  analysis  purposes,  possible  nowadays  due  to  significantly  increased  computing 
power and new data fusion approaches, a seamless fusion of both basic approaches has been 
achieved  aiming  ultimately  towards  having  simulations  indistinguishable  from  observations 
at very high levels of spatial and temporal resolution.  

Local digital twins are digital models of a city. Local digital twins can model and visualise 
complex  processes  and  data  and  thus  have  the  capacity  to  tackle  complex  challenges  for 
cities71.  While  urban  planners  have  already  been  using  2D  and  3D  models  and  computer-
aided design for years, the integration of real-time data from IoT devices, location, weather, 
traffic, people movement, and other sources has been a game-changer for urban planning and 
operations.72  Local  digital  twins  will  enable  cities  to  significantly  improve  their  urban 
planning.  Local  Digital  Twins  will  help  cities,  for  example,  make  predictive  sustainable 
mobility planning, create data-services related to extreme weather events, risk prevention and 
disaster  resilience,  better  manage  energy  flows,  or  pursue  their  zero  pollution  ambition.73 
Various  local  digital  twins  have  been  created  in  Europe,  such  as  the  Amsterdam  City 
Dashboard,  the  Helsinki  Energy  and  Climate  Atlas,  the  Rotterdam  Digital  Twin  and  the 
Flanders DUET Digital Twin (see Digital solution story: the Flanders DUET Digital Twin). 

71 https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/6/2307/htm 
72 See for example: ‘Connecting urban environments with IoT and Digital Twins’  
73 See discussion forum here. 

15 

 
 
 
 
 
                                                           
Digital Solution Story:  
1.  DigiTranScope 

The DigiTranScope project explored how the availability of data and the possibility to create 
virtual  replicas  (Digital  Twins)  of  neighbourhoods,  cities,  and  entire  countries  allows  new 
forms of policy targeting. The project experimented with this in Amsterdam in the context of 
targeting  policies  to  support  increased  energy  efficiency  in  households.  The  opportunities 
offered by the Digital Twins and gaming environments (e.g. the whole of the Netherlands in 
Minecraft  in  the  scale  of  1:1)  for  new  forms  of  participation  and  policy  design  were 
illustrated by an experiment done in Amsterdam, where 500 children came together with the 
local  administration,  industry  and  academics  to  use  this  virtual  model  in  Minecraft  to  help 
design their vision of the future for their neighbourhood.74 

2.  the Flanders DUET Digital Twin 

An  example  of  an  EU-funded  project  on  local  digital  twins  is  the  DUET  project.75  The 
Flanders  region  in  Belgium  (Informatie  Vlaanderen)  is  coordinating  the  DUET  project 
together with strategic Flemish/Belgian partners such as IMEC, KUL and OASC.  Flanders 
will  use  the  Flanders  DUET  Digital  Twin  to  help  the  city  and  its  stakeholders  explore 
correlations  between mobility,  air and noise data. The goals  Flanders has set  for the digital 
twin  use  are  the  following:  ‘(1)  Creating  a  Smart  Region  where  all  involved  players  can 
access  available  services  and  data;  (2)  Support  cross-silo  cooperation  between  sectors;  (3) 
Involve citizens and companies active in policy-making processes to improve the quality of 
decision  making  and  acceptance  of  the  outcomes;  (4)  Setting  up  transferable  services  and 
data standards to maximise efficiency, scalability and open the market.’ The digital twin will 
concentrate  on  implementing  and  evaluating  actions  and  designing  new  measures  by 
providing  a  tool  that  enables  cross-domain  evidence-based  ‘what  if’  simulations  and  opens 
the outcomes via dashboards and gamification techniques to the public.   

Digital twins also have the potential to provide services for the assessment and prediction of 
environmental pressures, including their trends and extremes, at very high spatial resolution 
and close to  real-time decision-making support at continental, country, coastline, catchment 
and  city  scales  in  response  to  meteorological,  hydrological  and  air  quality  extremes.  Such 
systems  aim  to  seamlessly  combine  weather,  hydrology  and  air  quality  observation  and 
simulation capabilities at levels that represent a real breakthrough in terms of accuracy, local 
detail,  access  to  information  speed  and  interactivity.  Corresponding  digital  twins  should 
cover  land-based  pollution  as  well  as  waterborne  pollution,  and  their  impacts  on  the 
atmosphere,  terrestrial  ecosystems,  freshwaters  and  the  marine  environment.  Digital  twins 
can be created on many different scales, a very large-scale example being Destination Earth, 
a project to create a digital twin for the earth (see Digital solution story: Destination Earth), 
or the Digital Twin of the Ocean, recently called under the Horizon 2020 Green Deal Call.76 
The Digital Twin of the Ocean aims at integrating and completing existing European assets 
such  as  Copernicus  and  marine  research  and  data  infrastructures  with  digital  technologies 
such as AI and high performance cloud computing. These will be used to transform data into 
knowledge  and  to  empower  citizens,  governments  and  industries  to  collectively  share  the 

74 https://www.euscp.org/DigiTranScope.html)  
75 https://www.digitalurbantwins.com/ 
76 https://ec.europa.eu/info/funding-tenders/opportunities/portal/screen/opportunities/topic-details/lc-gd-9-3-
2020  

16 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
                                                           
responsibility of marine and coastal habitats, to support a sustainable Blue Economy and to 
mitigate and adapt to climate change.77 

Digital solution story: Destination Earth 
One headline project on digital twins relevant for the zero pollution ambition is  Destination 
Earth.78  It  was  announced  in  the  European  Data  Strategy  and  will  be  financed  partially 
through the Digital Europe Programme. Commencing in 2021, the initiative will lead to the 
development of a high precision digital model of the earth, a digital twin for the earth, which 
can be used to visualise, monitor and forecast natural and human activity on our planet. This 
will  support  Europe’s  efforts  for  a  better  environment  as  set  out  in  the  Green  Deal.  The 
breakthrough features expected to come from Destination Earth go beyond the significantly 
increased  accuracy  and  availability  levels  of  predictions  coming  from  seamless  fusion  of 
observations  across  the  entire  digital  continuum  such  as  satellites,  in-situ,  IoT  and  citizen 
science. It will also lead to the open availability of and access to knowledge generation for 
non-experts, including an underlying quality mapping of all predictions generated resulting in 
a  quality  index.  The  results  can  therefore  be  used  for  operational  outcomes  (e.g.  decision 
support purposes) in view of them being easily understandable. 

3.4. Data visualisation and dissemination 

There is a growing demand for data visualisation to enhance the overall dissemination of data 
and  information.  Powerful  tools,  which  will  be  essential  components  of  the  digital  twins, 
have  emerged  which  give  a  quick  insight  into  the  data  (e.g.  through  dashboards),  support 
decision  making  (through  business  intelligence  tools)  and  improve  communication  and 
information of others making things more memorable and attractive.  

Digital solution story: The European Atlas of the Seas and WISE-Marine 
The  European  Atlas  of  the  Seas  provides  information  about  Europe’s  marine  environment 
and  is  the  ideal  tool  for  schools,  professionals,  or  anyone  wishing  to  know  more  about  the 
European  seas  and  its  coastal  areas.  Users  can  view  predefined  and  ready  to  use  maps, 
covering  topics  such  as  nature,  tourism,  security,  energy,  passenger  transport,  sea  bottom, 
fishing  stocks  and  quotas,  aquaculture,  and  much  more.  Users  can  also  benefit  from  an 
enriched  catalogue  with  more  than  200  map  layers,  covering  a  wide  range  of  topics,  to 
explore, collate and create their own maps. These maps can be printed, shared and embedded 
in articles or presentations.79 The European Atlas of the Seas contains some information on 
pollution,  but  more  information  specifically  on  environmental  and  pollution  aspects  can  be 
found in WISE-Marine, which has also set new standards of visualisation by presenting the 
data collected as part of the Marine Strategy Framework Directive implementation in visual 
form (such as maps and dashboards).80 

Data,  and  more  importantly  knowledge  visualisation  have  become  an  area  for  significant 
further research needs.  As non-experts can increasingly access specialised digital resources, 
the  importance  of  how  data  are  used  and  presented  has  become  more  and  more  important. 

77https://ec.europa.eu/info/sites/info/files/research_and_innovation/green_deal/gdc_stakeholder_engagement_to
pic_09-3_digital_ocean.pdf  
78 https://ec.europa.eu/digital-single-market/en/destination-earth-destine 
79 https://ec.europa.eu/maritimeaffairs/atlas_en  
80 https://water.europa.eu/marine  

17 

 
 
 
 
 
 
                                                           
There is a significant potential for misinterpretation of sustainability related predictions and 
analytical results if the data are not presented in a clear way. Visualisation of data can be used 
to  ‘connect  the  dots’  related  to  the  granularity  of  the  data  used,  but  it  is  important  to  be 
cognisant of the target audience. 

3.5. Data services 

Electronic  data  services  and  the  use  of  standardized  Application  Program  Interfaces  (APIs) 
are the main building blocks for guaranteeing interoperability and cross-domain reuse of data 
between systems, end-users, processing platforms and European data spaces. 

The  use  of  pollution  and  other  related  data,  combined  for  example  with  spatial  data  can 
unleash new innovations that respond to societal needs such as reducing the negative impact 
on  the  environment.  This  can  also  contribute  to  engaging  citizens,  businesses  and  civil 
society in the collaborative design, production and delivery of public services and to facilitate 
interaction between public administrations and businesses and citizens.  

4.  Digital solutions: examples and use cases  

The  aim  of  this  section  is  to  give  some  concrete  applications  of  some  of  the  digital 
technologies discussed in previous sections and in Annex I. They are grouped in the thematic 
areas  of  relevance  for  achieving  the  zero  pollution  ambition  and  the  areas  and  examples 
covered are illustrative but not exhaustive.   

4.1. Smart, sustainable and resilient cities and communities 

Smart cities and communities use digital technologies to reduce resource input and improve 
the  quality  of  life  for  their  citizens.  When  carefully  designed,  they  are  therefore  optimally 
positioned  to  demonstrate  how  the  envisaged  ‘twin  digital  and  green’  transition  can  be 
accomplished.  Clean  solutions  can  strive  to  create  healthy  environments  with  minimal 
environmental  stressors,  maximise  the  efficiency  of  energy  (see  above    Digital  Solution 
Story:  DigiTranScope)  and  material  use,  create  a  zero-waste  system,  support  renewable 
energy  production  and  consumption  as  well  as  promote  carbon-neutrality  and  reduce 
pollution.81  82 The use and combination of clean technologies, such as for example IoT and 
AI applied to urban systems will foster innovative business models, new services and better 
resource management (see Digital Solution Story: AI4CITIES). 

81 https://journalofbigdata.springeropen.com/articles/10.1186/s40537-019-0221-4 
82 McKinsey Global Institute, 2018 

18 

 
 
 
 
 
                                                           
Digital Solution Story: AI4CITIES 
An example of a project aiming to use AI for solutions to accelerate carbon reductions is the 
AI4CITIES-project. The solutions developed as part of the project might also have synergies 
with  reductions  in  air  pollution,  or  give  inspiration  on  how  AI  can  be  used  for  pollution 
reductions  in  addition  to  climate  action.  AI4CITIES  is  the  first  European  Pre-Commercial 
Procurement  (PCP)  action  seeking  to  turn  Cities  Carbon  Neutral  with  the  use  of  Artificial 
Intelligence.  2020-2022.  It  brings  together  a  group  of  leading  European  cities  and  regions 
(Helsinki,  Amsterdam,  Copenhagen,  Tallinn,  Stavanger  and  the  Paris  Region),  in  the 
intersection  of  ‘smart  cities’  and  greenhouse  gas  emissions  reduction,  in  order  to  speed  up 
and  steer  the  creation  of  new  breakthrough  solutions  in  how  AI  can  support  cities’  climate 
action commitments.83 

While cities and communities may have data and digital technologies available, they need to 
act together to increase impact and allow a stronger control over the final solutions chosen. 
One  of  those  collective  efforts  at  the  EU  level  will  be  around  the  planned  creation  of  a 
dataspace  for  climate-neutral  and  smart  communities  as  part  of  the  Green  Deal  (common 
European environmental) dataspace. This data space will facilitate the access, sharing and re-
use of locally-relevant data in areas such as mobility, energy, climate and zero pollution for 
cities aiming to pursue a twin digital and green transition. Recent studies84 indicate that cities 
should implement interoperable, urban data platforms using a common set of open standards 
in order to remain flexible in choosing their technology providers and create value from their 
data for the common  good. This  approach, promoted by the ‘Living-in.eu’85 movement  and 
community  will  also  allow  the  management  of  cross-domain  data  and  help  cities  ensure 
citizens’  digital  rights.  Finally,  it  is  considered  that  artificial  intelligence  and  local  digital 
twins can be a powerful means for cities and communities to make well-informed decisions. 

83 https://ai4cities.eu/ 
84 Erasmus Centre for Data Analytics, 2020 
85 https://www.living-in.eu/  

19 

 
 
 
 
 
                                                           
Digital solution story: SynchroniCity 
The Internet of Things (IoT) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) can be used to improve the lives 
of  citizens  and  to  grow  local  economies  in  cities  and  communities.  SynchroniCity  was  an 
EU-funded  large-scale  pilot  that  aimed  to  develop  a  global  market  for  such  IoT-  and  AI  -
enabled  services.  Under  the  SynchroniCity  project,  various  digital  applications  with  the 
potential to address air pollution were put forward:  

-  Clean  Air  School  Districts  (CAST)  (by  the  company  Leapcraft86)  implements  air 
quality  and  noise  sensors  as  a  part  of  smart  cities  and  communities.  In  this  pilot, 
emissions  data  are  collected,  which  are  then  used  to  test  new  strategies  to  control 
emissions, drive awareness and encourage change in behaviour.87 

-  Autonomous Air Quality Management (AAQM) will provide tailor-made solutions to 
improve air quality in public spaces. It will help citizens understand the importance of 
air  quality.  Cities  will  also  benefit,  as  the  IoT  and  AI  -based  system  will  make  air 
quality management more efficient, real-time overview of air quality will be provided 
and costs will be saved  through autonomous planning. AAQM provides  a full cycle 
solution and integrates all the necessary steps. It collects data on air quality via data 
sensors,  applies  relevant  open  data  for  analytics  to  the  planning  process,  provides 
automatic alerts and schedules necessary maintenance tasks, and executes the required 
follow-up and reporting.88  

Clean  Air  School  Districts  is  commercially  available,  while  Autonomous  Air  Quality 
Management is still under development. 

4.2. Smart mobility reducing air and noise pollution 

The  Commission’s  Sustainable  and  Smart  Mobility  Strategy  recognises  the  key  role  of 
digitalisation in modernising the transport system.89 The European Industrial Strategy points 
at the key role of smart and sustainable mobility industries in driving the shift towards a twin 
digital  and  green  transition.90  Digital  technologies  provide  a  vast  amount  of  solutions  for 
reducing  pollution  from  transport,  ranging  from  solutions  already  widely  in  use  such  as 
digital  navigation  apps  allowing  to  re-route  along  the  most  efficient  or  cleanest  route 
preventing and avoiding traffic jams to solutions such as autonomous vehicles, one of the key 
application areas of AI. AI-based autonomous vehicles have been estimated to lead to annual 
emission reductions of 2-4 %.91 

Cooperative  intelligent  transport  systems  can  make  transport  safer  and  more  efficient.  For 
instance, Green Light Optimal Speed Advisory (GLOSA) systems provide drivers with speed 
advice that allows them to pass traffic lights during a green interval. This can help reduce the 
amount of pollutants being emitted into the air from traffic. Additionally, ‘smart traffic lights’ 
can  reduce  the  number  of  stop-and-go  waves  and  could  be  used  to  give  priority  to  public 
transport  or  cyclists.  These  AI-based  solutions  can  lead  to  a  reduction  of  driving  time  and 
subsequently reduction in air emissions.92 According to estimates, the reduction of stop-and-

86 www.leapcraft.dk 
87 https://synchronicity-iot.eu/project/clean-air-school-districts-casd/  
88 Autonomous Air Quality Management under Synchronicity project  
89 COM(2020) 789 
90 COM(2020) 102 
91 Igliński & Babiak, 2017; Liu, Zhao, Liu, & Hao, 2019; Pyper, 2014 
92 Vox Creative, 2018  

20 

 
 
 
 
 
 
                                                           
go  waves,  i.e.  the  introduction  of  a  ‘green  wave’  can  potentially  lower  the  levels  of  air 
pollution by 10-40%.93 

As  with  most  application  areas,  data  is  key  for  smarter,  more  sustainable  traffic.  Enhanced 
traffic management requires data collected through vehicles and sensors, and more interaction 
between  infrastructure  and  vehicles.  Digital  technologies  and  data  enable  the  use  of  MaaS 
(Mobility as a Service) applications, which make it possible to combine and to compare the 
sustainability of different options and encourage public transport and active modes. Cycling 
can be made more attractive through intelligent transport solution such as data collection on 
bicycle use, better information provision and interactive systems for bike-sharing. 

Connected and Automated mobility is enabled by digital solutions and could encourage car-
sharing  schemes,  smoothen  the  use  and  therefore  accelerate  the  uptake  of  electric  vehicles 
and ultimately free up parking space for other purposes in urban areas. Electric vehicles do 
not  emit  exhaust  emissions,  thus  providing  positive  impacts  on  local  air  quality.  They  can 
also  help  reduce  noise  pollution  from  traffic,  especially  in  urban  traffic  where  speeds  are 
low.94 New digital-based technologies such as smart and bidirectional (V2G) charging have 
the potential to automatically distribute the available power between the charging points and 
the electric vehicles that are being charged simultaneously (see Digital solution story: Smart 
electricity  grid  and  e-mobility).  In  particular,  V2G  enables  to  balance  variations  in  energy 
production  and  consumption  making  use  of  the  energy  storage  capacity  of  electric  vehicle 
fleets to increase integration of renewable energy sources (RES) into the smart grid.  

Digital solution story: Smart electricity grid and e-mobility 
The  RUGGEDISED  project95  is  a  smart  city  project  to  test,  implement  and  accelerate  the 
smart city model across Europe. Working in partnership with businesses and research centres, 
six  cities  will  demonstrate  how  to  combine  ICT,  e-mobility  and  energy  solutions  to  design 
smart, resilient cities for all. This means improving the quality of life of citizens, reducing the 
environmental  impact  of  activities  and  creating  a  stimulating  environment  for  sustainable 
economic development. Rotterdam is one of the cities participating in the project, and will be 
implementing  13  smart  solutions,  two  of  these  solutions  being  solutions  to  minimise  and 
optimise  the  usage  of  electricity  and  avoid  peak  load  demands  in  the  electrical  network  by 
using photovoltaic (PV) panels. PV panels will be installed on the roofs of public buildings, 
and solar heat will be transformed into direct current electricity and stored in a direct current 
(DC) battery. All electric buses will get their electricity from loading poles connected to the 
battery  by  means  of  an  electric  DC  grid.  Additionally,  private  electric  cars  will  also  be 
charged with electricity from the electric grid. Replacing about 270 conventional buses with 
electric  buses  will  result  in  improvement  of  air  quality  in  the  whole  region  as  well  as  a 
reduction of the carbon footprint of public transportation.96 

Electronic  tolling  make  tolling  operations  more  efficient,  especially  when  applied  network-
wide  and  without  physical  barriers.  Electronic  tolling  can  efficiently  reduce  pollution  from 
both  heavy-  and  light  vehicles  in  road  transport  provided  that  the  tolls  incentivise 
sustainability, for example via differentiated distance-based tolls. Finally, digital technologies 
can  make  it  easier  to  share  info  about  and  enforce  Urban  Vehicle  Access  Regulations 

93 Coensel, Can, Degraeuwe, Vlieger, & Botteldooren, 2012 
94 https://www.eea.europa.eu/highlights/eea-report-confirms-electric-cars  
95 https://ruggedised.eu/home/  
96 https://ruggedised.eu/fileadmin/repository/Factsheets/Ruggedised-factsheet-R5-R6-Rotterdam.pdf  

21 

 
 
 
 
 
                                                           
(UVARs),  which  reduce  air  pollution  in  cities,  but  are  only  useful  if  people  get  correct 
information  on  the  diversity  of  UVARs  and  if  these  rules  can  be  enforced  (see  Digital 
solution story: UVAR Box). 

Digital solution story: UVAR Box 
The EU-funded project UVAR Box aims at fostering the real-time information of road users 
about  urban  and  regional  access  schemes  and  will  carry  out  a  pilot  project  focusing  on 
enabling  road  users,  in  particular  motorists  (i.e.  both  professional  and  non-professional 
drivers) to be fully informed about urban and regional access schemes. This includes working 
on  the  needed  enablers,  i.e.  standardisation  and  data  provision  for  the  integration  of  the 
information in tools such as apps or navigation devices.97 

The benefits of digitalisation are not restricted to road transport. Digitalisation of waterborne 
transport  and  ports  also  creates  opportunities  for  economically,  environmentally  efficient, 
socially  inclusive,  secure  and  sustainable  waterborne  transport.  For  example,  Big  Data 
Analytics, including vessel  traffic service (VTS) data and tide data, can be used to  forecast 
expected  times  of  arrivals  or  departures  of  vessels  in  seaports.98  This  enables  the  better 
utilization of suprastructures on port terminals while avoiding congestion pollution caused by 
a long time to berth and gate for ships and trucks respectively in sea and inland99 port areas. 
At  the  same  time,  this  gives  ships  and  trucks  the  possibility  to  adjust  their  speed,  reducing 
fuel consumption and greenhouse gas and air pollutant emissions. 

The  applications  of  digital  technologies  in  transport  with  the  potential  to  help  achieve  the 
zero  pollution  ambition  are  not  limited  to  the  applications  mentioned  above.  The  potential 
solutions are manifold and can result in benefits for the environment such as reduction of air 
and noise pollution and greenhouse gas emissions, as well as monetary savings and increase 
in transport efficiency from all sectors. 

4.3. eHealth and environmental pollution 

The  major  non-communicable  diseases  (diabetes,  cardiovascular  diseases,  cancer,  chronic 
respiratory  diseases  and  mental  disorders)  together  account  for  an  estimated  86%  of  the 
deaths and 77% of the disease burden in the European Region. Environmental pollution has 
been linked as  a cause to many of these diseases. Among the top  10 of  non-communicable 
diseases driven  by  environmental  pollution,  cancer  has  the  sad  honour  to  rank  first.  Hence, 
linking efforts on eHealth with pollution data and solutions can make a tangible difference in 
addressing these health risks.  

In the context of the Europe’s Beating Cancer Plan the potential of data and new technologies 
is  explored.  It  is  key  to  have  better  infrastructure  in  place  to  ensure  up-to-date  and 
comparable health data that allows us to use it for research purposes as well100. The planned 
European  Health  Data  Space  (EHDS)  will  help  to  advance  on  this  as  it  would  foster  the 
exchange and sharing of different kinds of health data (electronic health records, genomics, 
registries,  etc.)  in  Europe.  The  European  Health  Data  Space  will  promote  safe  and  secure 
cross-border  health  data  exchange  and  support  research  into  new  preventive  strategies, 

97 https://uvarbox.eu/  
98 https://www.seatrafficmanagement.info/ and first ideas on ‘Digitalization of Seaports’    
99 https://www.clinsh.eu/  
100 https://ecis.jrc.ec.europa.eu/ 

22 

 
 
 
 
 
                                                           
treatments, medicines, medical devices and outcomes101. The European Health Data space is 
not  limited  to  cancer  but  applies  for  all  areas  of  health  and  care.  Data  on  environmental 
pollution  could  be  a  valuable  contribution  to  this  and  hence  a  link  to  the  Green  Deal  Data 
Space  could  be  envisaged.  E.g.  The  strengthening  of  interoperability  and  linkages  between 
environmental and health data can bring large benefits to predicting the general health status 
of populations. Digital solutions will facilitate sharing data between sectors. 

Another example of links between environmental and health data relates to data collected in 
the water sector from sewage monitoring. It can be used to detect for example the presence of 
the COVID-19 virus in the population102, the use of illegal drugs or the amount of over-the-
counter  antibiotics  being  consumed  by  the  population  (see  Digital  solution  story:  sewage 
monitoring and population health). 

Digital solution story: sewage monitoring and population health 
The  EU-funded  project  SCOREwater  will  use  a  sensor  network  connected  to  the 
SCOREwater  online  platform  to  monitor  wastewater  from  the  sewer  network  in  Barcelona. 
AI based on machine learning will be used to obtain information at a neighbourhood scale on 
practices  such  as  dietary  habits  and  household  waste  management.  The  gained  information 
will  be  used  to  reduce  the  discharge  of  antibiotics  into  the  environment,  promote  healthier 
dietary  habits,  prevent  damaging  discharges  of  wet  wipes,  oils  and  greases  into  the  sewer 
system and decrease sewer maintenance costs by the means of surveys, education campaigns 
and social media campaigns. 103 

The burden on health systems caused by non-communicable diseases, respiratory diseases in 
particular, due to environmental pollution including air pollution remains an important public 
health challenge. In this context the Commission in 2021 launched a call for best practices on 
the  prevention  on  non-communicable  diseases104  under  the  Steering  Group  on  Health 
Promotion,  Disease  Prevention  and  Management  of  Non-Communicable105.  The  work  on 
digital  solutions  to  reach  zero  pollution  and  thereby  reducing  the  burden  caused  by  non-
communicable  disease  due  to  environmental  pollution  will  take  account  of  the  research 
activities  under  the  Horizon  Europe  programme  and  the  relevant  projects  under  the 
EU4Health programme. 

Understanding health and environmental impact from pollution is already an integral part of 
chemical policy implementation, resourcing data from multiple sources (soon to be available 
jointly under the common open data platform) to identify chemicals of concern and develop 
appropriate risk management measures.  

To conclude, the benefits of sharing data between the environmental and health sectors are 
clear,  and  new  digital  solutions  can  contribute  to  both  collecting  relevant  data  in  a  more 
efficient  way,  but  also  to  sharing  data  seamlessly  and  effortlessly  between different sectors 
for  the  benefit  of  all.  These  can  in  turn  trigger  technical  measures  and  policy  actions  to 

101 Already now, citizens from 7 Member States can share their data with healthcare professionals of their choice 
when travelling abroad, using MyHealth@EU digital service infrastructure. Other 8 Member States are expected 
to join in 2021.  
102 https://ec.europa.eu/environment/pdf/water/recommendation_covid19_monitoring_wastewaters.pdf 
103 https://www.scorewater.eu/ 
104 https://webgate.ec.europa.eu/dyna/bp-portal/ 
105 https://ec.europa.eu/health/non_communicable_diseases/steeringgroup_promotionprevention_en 

23 

 
 
 
 
 
                                                           
reduce  pollution  in  targeted  sectors  or  areas.  Efforts  towards  zero  pollution  and  the 
application of digital solutions to reach this ambition can benefit both the health sector and 
the environment. Likewise, health data can be used to support action towards zero pollution. 

4.4. Digital Water Protection 

Digitalisation  of  the  water  sector  through  technologies  such  as  artificial  intelligence  (AI), 
digital  twins,  digital  data  spaces,  disruptive  technologies  and  instrumentation  and  circular 
economy  digital  water  innovations  can  result  in  significant  environmental,  operational  and 
economic  benefits.  Digital  water  solutions  reduce  the  environmental  impact  of  water 
operations  via  a)  reductions  in  energy  demand  for  water  supply  and  sanitation  services;  b) 
better  control  of  emissions  from  wastewater  treatment  plants;  c)  enhanced  capabilities  for 
real-time,  in  situ  water  quality  monitoring;  and  d)  increased  water  use  efficiency  across 
sectors  and  reduced  leakages.  Digitalisation  is  a  critical  tool  in  advancing  global  water 
security and protecting the planet’s water resources sustainably. Overall, digital technologies 
provide  a  wide  array  of  possibilities  for  achieving  the  zero  pollution  ambition  in  the  water 
sector. 

The  EU  has  recognised  the  link  between  ICT  and  water  protection  and  promoted  the 
possibilities digitalisation brings to the water sector by establishing the ICT4Water cluster, a 
community  of  61  EU-funded  research  and  innovation  projects  on  digital  innovations  for 
water.106 In the context of the cluster, several studies and reports on digital water have been 
published  in  previous  years107  More  recently,  their  reports  look  at  the  business  models, 
research  and  innovation  opportunities  (“The  need  for  digital  water  in  a  Green  Europe”108, 
“Business  models  for  digital  water  solutions”109  and  “ICT4Water  cluster:  vision  and 
showcases”) .  

Digital solution story: Smartening water management 
Digital solutions to improve management of drinking water sources, treatment and supply is a 
rising priority in European projects. The Fiware4Water110 project is smartening management 
tools by testing  real-time operational  monitoring, management  and control  of source  water. 
The project is testing online sensors for water quality parameters (temperature, turbidity and 
conductivity)  and  the  use  of  AI  for  water  quantity  and  quality  analytics.  Furthermore,  for 
drinking water supply systems in urban areas, the project is introducing real-time monitoring 
of  water  quality  parameters  and  water  quality  and  quantity  analytics  by  integrating  sensors 
(e.g. chlorine and pressure sensors) into an online control system, assessing multi-parameter 
water quality probes. 

Many  of  the  technologies  developed  in  ICT4Water  projects  have  been  successfully 
commercialised,  and  the  digital  solutions  developed  target  challenges  such  as  real-time 
modelling,  operational  and  preventive  management  of  water  systems  (see  Digital  solution 
story:  Smartening  water  management),  AI-based  monitoring  of  plastics  in  urban  networks, 
new  computer  vision-based  methods  to  assess  the  condition  of  sewers,  and  drone-based 
technologies to perform effective inspections. Of the EU-funded projects, three main digital 

106 https://ict4water.eu/ 
107 Action Plan for Digital Market Water Services (2018) ; Action Plan implementation report (2020)   
108 ICT4Water publication (2021a): “The need for digital water in a green Europe”  
109 ICT4Water publication (2021b): “Business models for digital water solutions” 
110 https://www.fiware4water.eu/  

24 

 
 
 
 
 
                                                           
solution types, data driven intelligence, smart sensors/drones and models/simulation account 
for the 67% of the ICT technologies used so far.111 

Based on experiences  from  the ICT4Water cluster, many digital  solutions  for achieving the 
zero pollution ambition in the water sector already exist. The use of data analytics, IoT (see 
Digital  solution  story:  IoT  in  water  monitoring),  cloud  computing,  augmented  intelligence, 
blockchain and the development of digital twins in the water sector give new capabilities to 
analyse, automate, correct in real time, predict and minimise risks to the natural environment. 
In  addition,  digital  solutions  can  be  deployed  to  raise  awareness  and  involve  citizens  and 
consumers and influence their behaviour. Furthermore, digital solutions for the water sector 
are not restricted to water suppliers’ infrastructure. Domestic water distribution systems can 
also  benefit  from  digitalisation.  Among  other  things,  digitalisation  can  offer  more 
information to citizens about household water consumption and raise their awareness on the 
sustainable use of water. 

Figure 3: The Digital Water Process112 

111 ICT4Water publication (2021b): “Business models for digital water solutions”  
112 https://watereurope.eu/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/WE-Water-Vision-english_online.pdf  

25 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
                                                           
Digital solution story: IoT in water monitoring  
The  Fenix  Hub  for  Zero  Power  Water  Monitoring  developed  by  Aqua  Robur  Technologies 
was an EU-funded project, and it received the European Commission Horizon Prize in 2019. 
The Fenix Hub is a self-powered IoT device designed for the water sector. Each hub operates 
autonomously  and is  placed throughout  the water network, while interconnected wirelessly. 
Because  the  Fenix  Hub  is  self-powered,  it  results  in  a  reduction  of  energy  consumption, 
differentiating  it  from  other  wireless  sensor  harvesting  technologies  on  the  market.113  The 
Fenix Hub is one of the ICT4Water projects that has been successfully commercialised and is 
on the market. 

While  there  is  an  increase  of  digital  adoption  in  water,  the  sector  still  lags  behind  other 
industries in integrating new, smart technologies into the whole water cycle and ecosystem. 
Their  increasing  uptake,  further  development  and  commercialisation  are  essential  to 
achieving the zero pollution ambition in the water sector, from user to sea. New innovations 
provide possibilities and solutions  to issues related to  water quality and  quantity, providing 
new  opportunities  for  strengthening  water  monitoring  from  source  to  tap.  The  success  of 
digital  solutions  does  not,  however,  depend  only  on  the  product  itself  but  also  on  its  safe 
integration into utilities systems. 

4.5. Digital Marine Protection 

The  potential  of  digital  solutions  for  the  oceans  is  vast.  New  digital  technologies  can 
contribute to greatly enhancing our knowledge of the oceans – although our knowledge of our 
seas and oceans is constantly growing also thanks to the EU policy framework, much of the 
marine environment is still unknown to us. It has been said that the moon and Mars are better 
mapped  than  the  bottom  of  our  oceans.  With  new  technologies  such  as  satellite  imagery, 
sensors  and  drones,  the  amount  of  data  collected  from  the  ocean  has  greatly  increased  and 
will  continue  to  increase.  By  using  new  analytical  tools  such  as  artificial  intelligence  and 
machine  learning  and  solutions  such  as  cloud  computing  for  storage  of  data,  our 
understanding  of  the  oceans  can  be  increased  and  shaped  into  a  form  that  is  useful  for 
decision-makers. Citizen science can also help contribute to an increase in marine knowledge, 
and  digital  solutions  such  as  mobile  apps  make  it  increasingly  easy  to  involve  citizens  in 
knowledge-gathering and monitoring activities related to pollution (see Digital solution story: 
the  Marine  LitterWatch  app  for  more  information).  Based  on  new  information  in  a  well 
processed form, informed measures to fight ocean pollution can be taken.114 

113 https://ec.europa.eu/info/research-and-innovation/funding/funding-opportunities/prizes/horizon-prizes/zero-
power-water-monitoring_en  
114 http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_Harnessing_4IR_Oceans.pdf  

26 

 
 
 
 
 
                                                           
Digital solution story: the Marine LitterWatch mobile app 
The European Environmental Agency has developed a mobile application called the Marine 
LitterWatch to help strengthen marine litter monitoring and widen the European database on 
marine  litter.  It  is  an  app  which  enables  communities  all  around  Europe  to  report  their 
sightings  of  marine  litter  on  beaches  in  order  to  gather  more  comprehensive  knowledge  on 
the  types  and  amounts  of  marine  litter  found  on  European  beaches.  This  citizen  science 
initiative uses modern technology to engage citizen communities and provides a web portal 
and public database to collect and share data on marine litter. The information gained can be 
used on an EU, regional and Member State level to further define measures needed to combat 
pollution from marine litter. The Marine LitterWatch app can be downloaded free of charge 
and is available for iPhone and Android devices.115 

New technologies allowing real-time data collection will also provide new opportunities for 
monitoring  the  marine  environment.  For  example,  they  are  expected  to  have  an  impact  on 
improved monitoring of fisheries. Drones are already used for enforcement purposes as they 
can  identify  that  an  illegal  act  has  taken  place  at  sea.  They  may  also  be  used  for  gathering 
scientific  data  needed  for  fish  stock  assessment116  Drones  have  already  been  used  to,  for 
example,  strengthen  port  control  and  monitoring  of  pollution  from  ships  into  the  air  and 
sea117 as well as oil pollution response in several European ports, including the Belgian port 
of Antwerp in collaboration with the European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA).118 Used as 
a  complementary  tool  in  the  overall  surveillance  chain  which  includes  satellite  imagery, 
vessel  positioning  information  and  surveillance  by  manned  maritime  patrol  aircraft  and 
vessels, EMSA’s Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems Service (RPAS) increases the maritime 
situational  awareness  with  additional sources of  data.  RPAS  can carry sulphur oxide (SOx) 
sensors  in  order  to  measure  the  sulphur  content  in  the  plume  emitted  by  the  ship,  and 
therefore estimate the sulphur content of the fuel burnt by the vessel. Based on the percentage 
of sulphur identified, this allows Member States to possibly target inspections to see if further 
follow-up  is  required.  All  information  is  transmitted  to  THETIS-EU119,  the  database  where 
alerts and outcome of the Port State Control inspections are recorded.120 

115 https://www.eea.europa.eu/themes/water/europes-seas-and-coasts/assessments/marine-litterwatch  
116 Girard & Du Payrat, 2017 
117 COM(2018) 188: Report on implementation and compliance with the sulphur standards for marine fuels set 
out in Directive (EU) 2016/802 
118 https://www.emsa.europa.eu/newsroom/latest-news/item/4059-belgian-port-of-antwerp-using-emsa-rpas-for-
pollution-monitoring.html  
119 https://portal.emsa.europa.eu/web/thetis-eu  
120 http://www.emsa.europa.eu/we-do/surveillance/rpas.html 

27 

 
 
 
 
 
 
                                                           
Figure  4:  The  Fourth  Industrial  Revolution’s  game-changers  for  oceans,  source:  World  Economic 
Forum121 

Due to recent scientific and technical developments, EU benefits from multiple initiatives to 
monitor  and  observe  its  marine  waters  beyond  the  existing  legislative  commitments  and  to 
gather  available  data.122  123  The  Commission  is  currently  developing  an  initiative  on  ocean 
observation,  with  the  aim  to  achieve  a  common  EU  approach  to  collection  of  ocean  data. 
Marine  data  is  collected  in  different  Member  States  and  for  different  purposes,  and 
sometimes the same data is  collected by different  actors. The aim of the ocean observation 
initiative is  to  achieve  a common EU approach to measuring the state and dynamics of the 
ocean and the organisms that inhabit it, which will allow data to be used for many different 
purposes124.  In  addition,  international  cooperation  on  marine  data  helps  enhance  EU’s 
knowledge of marine environment and pollution. 

While  increasing  the  knowledge  we  have  of  our  marine  environment  is  important,  existing 
digital solutions can already provide solutions to combat ocean pollution. It is possible to act 
even while knowledge gaps remain. Possibilities are vast and new digital  technologies such 
as  AI  and  blockchain  can  have  much  to  offer  to  strengthen  marine  protection  and  help 
the 
achieve 

the  marine  environment.  To  achieve 

the  zero  pollution  ambition 

in 

121 http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_Harnessing_4IR_Oceans.pdf  
122 SWD(2020) 60 
123 These include the European Marine Observation and Data Network (EMODnet), Copernicus Marine Service 
(CMEMS) and the European Ocean Observing System (EOOS). 
124 https://ec.europa.eu/info/law/better-regulation/have-your-say/initiatives/12539-Ocean-observation-sharing-
responsibility 

28 

 
 
 
 
 
 
                                                           
aforementioned it is also crucial to combine digital solutions for the detection of pollution in 
fresh water systems with those implemented for the marine environment. Marine pollution is 
often generated on land and transferred to the sea through surface or sub-surface waterways. 
Digital solutions can have a significant role in pollution detection at source and monitoring. 

4.6. Digital solutions for farming and aquaculture 

Besides  the  important  contributions  digitisation  is  making  in  innovation,  eliminating 
chemicals of concern from these economic cycles, the transition to zero pollution sustainable 
farming  can  be  significantly  enhanced  through  technological,  digital,  and  space-based 
solutions.  One  of  the  objectives  of  the  post-2020  Common  Agriculture  Policy  (CAP)  is  to 
increase  the  competitiveness  of  European  agriculture.  The  potential  of  new  technologies  to 
achieve  this  has  been  recognised.  These  new  technologies  can  be  deployed  not  only  to 
increase productivity, but also to increase sustainability with positive impacts on biodiversity 
and  pollution  control.125  Digital  solutions  can  be  adopted  and  provide  benefits  in  all  the 
agricultural  subsectors  independent  of  the  type  of  farms  and  of  the  level  of  digitalisation 
already achieved ‒ they can benefit both small and large farms and organic farms as well as 
conventional farms. However, the specific technologies that are best suited for different types 
of farms varies. 

Digitalisation  of  European  farming  is  already  happening,  and  digital  tools  can  bring  many 
advantages  for  striving  towards  the  zero  pollution  ambition  in  agriculture  while  fostering 
socio-economic benefits for rural economies as well. Digital technologies such as drones can 
be used to monitor on-line crop yields, soil health and plant nutrient needs while integrating 
weather  forecasts  to  map  any  existing  or  predictable  plant  health  issues  allowing  spot 
spraying of crops. Sensors to monitor, observe and produce near real-time data can be used in 
making decisions on for instance the optimal amount, place and time for use of fertilisers or 
pesticides (see Digital solution story: Satellite data for precise use of fertilisers), or the right 
amount  of  feed  to  give  livestock.126  Optimising  fertiliser  and  pesticide  use  can  result  in  a 
reduction  of  unwarranted  pesticide  use  (e.g.  in  parts  of  fields  were  the  target  pest  is  not 
present  at  levels  causing  damage)  as  well  as  a  reduction  of  pollution  caused  by  excess 
nutrients. To support the efficient use of fertiliser and to boost the digital skills of the farming 
sector,  the  Commission’s  proposal  for  the  post-2020  CAP  included  the  use  of  the  Farm 
Sustainability  Tool  (FaST)  (see  Digital  solution  story:  Digital  tool  to  help  improve  farm 
nutrient management). 

125 CAP Specific objectives…explained - Brief No 2  
126 See EIP-AGRI seminar (2020)  

29 

 
 
 
 
 
                                                           
Digital solution story: Digital tool to help improve farm nutrient management 
An  open  source  platform  compliant  with  the  minimum  elements  and  functionalities  of  the 
Farm  Sustainability  Tool  (FaST)  has  been  developed  with  pioneer  EU  Member  States  in 
2020, with the intention of be localised and deployed in other Member States. The digital tool 
provides advice in the use of fertilisers using a mobile application and a web based solution 
and helps comply with legislative requirements related to nutrient management, resulting in 
less pollution by nutrients. Farmers, has access to space data from Copernicus and additional 
functionalities  based  on  Galileo.  The  modular  platform  also  enables  the  reuse  and 
interoperability  of  data  from  various  public  sector  and  user  generated  data127.  For  the 
implementation  of  this  service  in  the  frame  of  the  CAP,  Member  States  can  reuse  the 
technical  solution  developed  with  the  help  of  the  Commission  of  can  develop  or  adapt 
existing solutions available at national level. To foster similar applications in the market and 
boost  their  effectiveness  in  reducing  pollution,  it  is  paramount  that  public  administration 
translate  their  obligations  and  limits  relating  to  the  use  of  fertilisers  into  digital  format, 
machine readable and accessible by these applications used by farmers. 

Digital solution story: Satellite data for precise use of fertilisers 
The  EU-funded  project  Fatima128  developed  operational  methods  for  the  assessment  of  the 
spatial  variability  of  crop  nutrient  and  water  requirements  using  EU  space  technologies 
(Copernicus,  Galileo).  The  solutions  developed  were  tested  in  real  cases  across  Europe 
including pilot applications in commercial farms in Austria, Spain, Greece, Czech Republic, 
France, Italy and Turkey. The perspectives of the project included the transference of these 
developments to the commercial sector. 

Sensor  technology  can  also  be  installed  on-farm  to  monitor  soil,  air  and  water  properties, 
production  rates,  livestock  and  specific  characteristics  of  the  crops.  These  on-farm  sensors 
can be installed in the form of networks connected to the IoT. Data gathered by these sensors 
can then be used to monitor requirements derived from legislation and other processes such 
as external  inputs in  crop production, traceability  and  animal  welfare.129 Sensor technology 
paired with IoT applications can also be applied to automatically identify infestation events, 
making it possible to apply pesticides on a reduced scale. Overall the applications of digital 
technologies  to  support  the  implementation  of  integrated  pest  management  are  vast  (see 
Digital solution story: eco-innovative weeding with laser). 

Digital solution story: Eco-innovative weeding with laser 
WeLASER  is  working  to  produce  a  precision  weeding  equipment  which  will  allow  the 
elimination  of  the  use  of  herbicides,  while  simultaneously  improving  productivity  and 
competitiveness.  To  achieve  this  aim,  the  EU-funded  project  merges  various  current 
technologies  such  as  high-power  laser  sources  and  autonomous  mobile  systems.  A  smart 
central  controller  based  on  AI,  IoT  and  cloud  computing  uses  data  gathered  by  a  digital 
perception tool to command an autonomous vehicle connected to a laser-based weeding tool. 
The solution the project aims to produce will reduce the amount of pesticides applied.130 

127 https://fastplatform.eu/  
128 http://fatima-h2020.eu/ 
129 https://www.iot-catalogue.com/ 
130 https://welaser-project.eu/ 

30 

 
 
 
 
 
 
                                                           
In  addition  to  the  agricultural  sector,  also  aquaculture  industry  can  benefit  from  digital 
solutions  to  increase  its  environmental  sustainability  and  lessen  pollution  caused  by  fish 
farming. While it can be difficult to monitor and perceive things happening underwater with 
the  human  eye,  digital  technologies  based  on  machine  perception  tools  and  underwater 
cameras can be deployed to inform more efficient and sustainable aquaculture practices. An 
example  of  such  a  software  system  is  the  tool  called  Tidal  (see  Digital  solution  story: 
Precision aquaculture). 

Digital solution story: Precision aquaculture 
An underwater camera system and a set of machine perception tools called Tidal can be used 
to monitor and interpret fish behaviours. The developed software monitors thousands of fish 
at the same time and collects environmental information related to, for instance, temperature 
and  oxygen  levels.  These  data  then  give  fish  farmers  information  they  can  use  to  make 
informed and environmentally friendly decisions on managing their pens such as optimising 
the  amount  of  food  put  in  the  pens.  This  can  result  in  a  reduction  of  nutrient,  chemical 
pollution and costs.131 

The potential of digital innovations in both the agriculture and aquaculture sectors is vast and 
not  limited  to  precision  farming.  Digital  solutions  can  find  applications  in  for  instance 
agroecological farming, where there is still large scope for research and innovation.132 Land 
and forest management can become more efficient and sustainable with the help of data from 
EU space technologies (Copernicus, Galileo), digital technologies such as blockchain as well 
as  digital  technologies  for  the  communication  of  product  labelling  can  improve  traceability 
and  transparency  of  information  about  the  sustainability  of  the  food  products,  digital 
platforms  and  sensor  based  applications  can  be  developed  to  shorten  supply  chains  and 
minimise  food  loss  and  food  waste,  and  access  to  online  AI-based  advisory  services  can 
provide land managers, food producers and SME food processors in rural areas with life-long 
education. A key enabler for the digital transition and social inclusion in rural areas is access 
to fast broadband internet as well as last-mile and edge solutions. 

131 https://blog.x.company/introducing-tidal-1914257962c3  
132 https://www.arc2020.eu/digital-revolution-agriculture-agroecological-approach/  

31 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
                                                           
4.7. Digital transformation of industry 

Digital  technologies  are  changing  the  face  of  industry  and  the  way  we  do  business.  The 
industrial  sector  has  the  potential  of  both  developing  innovative  clean  technology  solutions 
and applying new digital technologies to reduce the environmental impacts of the sector itself 
as set out in the European Industrial Strategy.133 While much has been done in many sectors 
of industry in striving towards more sustainable practices, industrial activities remain a large 
source  of  pressure  on  the  environment  causing  air,  water  and  soil  pollution  in  addition  to 
greenhouse gas emissions and waste generation.134 New digital technologies find applications 
in  a  wide  range  of  industrial  sectors  contributing  to  the  zero  pollution  ambition  in  the 
industrial sector. 

In  the  context  of  industrial  emissions  monitoring  and  control,  the  online  availability  of 
information,  improved  permit  sampling  and  remote  sensing  as  well  as  the  use  of  AI  in 
installation  control  systems  could  help  drive  best  available  technologies  to  even  better 
performance.  Industrial  emissions  can  be  monitored  online  and  data  on  emissions  can  be 
made available publicly in real time using new digital technologies. The deployment of these 
solutions can lead to both a reduction of administrative burden for industry actors in reporting 
emission  data  to  authorities  but  also  increase  the  speed  at  which  authorities  can  intervene 
where  exceedances  of  set  limits  happen.  Remote  sensing  can  contribute  to  more  effective 
compliance assurance, and this context data from Earth Observation satellites such as the EU 
Copernicus  data  can  be  used  to  better  assure  compliance  with  emissions  norms.135  Various 
citizen science initiatives have also contributed to the monitoring of industrial emissions (see 
Digital solutions story: citizen science and odour pollution). 

Digital solution story: citizen science to tackle industrial odour pollution 
The  D-NOSES  Horizon  2020  project  is  a  relevant  initiative  to  tackle  odour  pollution  from 
different  industrial  sectors.  Through  Responsible  Research  and  Innovation  (RRI),  citizen 
science and co-creation tools, the project empowers citizens to drive change. Odour pollution 
is  difficult  to  measure,  but  the  D-NOSES  project  engages  local  communities  in  data 
collection and reporting based on odours perceived by citizens. The perceived odours can be 
reported through a mobile application, the Odour Collect, and gathered data will be validated 
by odour experts. The project utilizes digital tools that map and measure the odour problem 
and engages relevant stakeholders in finding solutions. Through a series of local pilots across 
Europe and the world, the project aims to input the basis for future policy work in the domain 
of odour pollution. Collected data will be made publicly available in the International Odour 
Observatory.136 

Most  industries  produce  wastewater.  Digital  systems  have  been  fundamental  in  the  design 
and  operation  of  Decision  Support  Systems  (DSS)  that  allow  for  enhanced  effluent  control 
through  reuse  of  wastewater  at  precisely  defined,  fit-for-purpose  quality  levels  in  heavy 
industry  operations.  The  system  compares  these  data  with  the  requirements  of  the  intended 
water reuse application and activates the adequate treatment process accordingly. By closing 
this loop,  such approaches can indirectly  reduce  the amount of treated wastewater reaching 

133 COM(2020) 102 
134 https://www.eea.europa.eu/themes/industry/industrial-pollution-in-europe 
135 https://ec.europa.eu/transparency/regexpert/index.cfm?do=groupDetail.groupMeetingDoc&docid=25588  
136 https://dnoses.eu/about-d-noses/  

32 

 
 
 
 
 
                                                           
the  environment.137  Various  projects  under  the  ICT4Water  cluster  have  targeted  precisely 
these integrated digital systems. These projects have aimed at reducing abstraction and point-
source  pollution  pressures  by  setting  up  small  loops  within  water  networks  to  open  the 
accessibility  of  the  reuse  or  recycle  of  otherwise  wasted  resources  like  waste,  and  process 
water,  fuels  and  other  materials.  Examples  of  these  ICT4Water  projects  include  Project  Ô, 
SMART-Plant  and  INTEGROIL  (see  Digital  solution  story:  INTEGROIL  for  more 
information on the INTEGROIL project and Annex 1 for more information on Project Ô and 
SMART-Plant). 

Digital solution story: Integroil 
The  ICT4Water  cluster  project  Integroil138  employed  Machine  Learning  to  optimize 
processing of wastewater from oil refineries - one of the most water consuming sectors. The 
decision  support  system  (DSS)  is  based  on  data  driven  intelligence  replacing  human 
intervention, and thus optimizing operations by reducing energy and maintenance costs and 
use of expensive chemicals. The project can ensure 75 % water recycling with a 75% lower 
energy  footprint.  Significant  cost  savings  are  also  achieved  by  optimizing  the  use  of 
chemicals  and  by  replacing  human  intervention  with  autonomous  systems  (the  DSS).  The 
solutions  developed  in  the  Integroil  project  are  now  being  adapted  for  application  in  the 
metallurgy sector – another big water consumer and polluter. 

Chemical  production  is  one  of  the  most  polluting  sectors.  While  investments  in 
modernisation of chemical production plants have been made, significant investments are still 
needed  for  a  green  and  digital  transition  in  the  chemical  sector.  The  European  chemicals 
strategy for sustainability points to the necessity of greening and digitalising the production 
of  chemicals.  It  also  highlights  the  opportunities  these  novel  industrial  processes  and 
technologies  can  bring  to  the  sector  by  applying  for  instance  IoT,  AI,  smart  sensors  and 
robotics.139 

New digital technologies are constantly being developed and deployed in different industrial 
sectors  around  Europe.  The  European  Commission  has  developed  means  to  monitor  the 
development  and  deployment  of  advanced  technologies  in  industry.  The  Advanced 
Technologies for Industry (ATI) Website analyses and systematically monitors the uptake of 
advanced  technologies  by  EU  industry.  The  Digital  Transformation  Monitor  identifies  key 
trends  in  digital  transformation  and  measures  progress.  The  Advanced  Manufacturing 
Support  Centre  aims  to  create  an  EU-wide  network  to  support  SMEs  in  assessing  the 
potential  of  adopting  advanced  digital  technologies.140  Advanced  green  and  digital 
technologies and their deployment present both big potential for growth in Europe, but also 
give solutions that can lead to a greener economy and less polluted environment. 

4.8. Digital solutions for plastic pollution 

While  plastics  are  a  central  and  important  material  in  our  economy,  they  harm  the 
environment. The Circular Economy Action Plan aims to help businesses and consumers use 

137 EASME contribution 
138 https://integroil.eu/ 
139 COM(2020) 667 
140 https://ec.europa.eu/growth/industry/policy/advanced-technologies/support-tools_en   

33 

 
 
 
 
 
                                                           
resources in a more sustainable way.141 It recognises the role of digitalisation in driving the 
transition  towards  a  circular  economy.  European  businesses  are  frontrunners  in  innovations 
related  to  circularity,  and  the  EU  has  the  means  and  funding  available  to  support  further 
innovation and help bring concrete solutions to the market. 

The possibilities of digital solutions for increased circularity leading to a decrease in plastic 
pollution are manifold. In addition to digital solutions providing real-time data for monitoring 
and  reporting,  digital  technologies  can  contribute  to  circular  economy  objectives  by 
contributing to value chain coordination by for instance providing better service information 
for  consumers  and  product  information  for  repairers,  enabling  platforms  and  tracking  for 
asset  sharing  or  reuse  and  resulting  in  better  waste  management  through  the  use  of  smart 
sensors to improve Pay as You Throw (PAYT) systems.142 

Digital  tags  in  products  can  facilitate  the  exchange  of  data  between  stakeholders  and 
machines.  Tagging  can  potentially  lead  to  an  increase  in  efficiency  of  Extended  Producer 
Responsibility  (EPR)  systems  and  improve  market  surveillance  as  well  as  help  a  better 
recycling  of  materials.  The  HolyGrail  project  is  developing  tags  to  facilitate  the  sorting  of 
packages  and  thus  help  increase  their  recycling  (see  Digital  solution  story:  digital 
watermarks and chemical tracers for high-quality recycling).143 

Digital solution story: digital watermarks and chemical tracers for high-quality recycling 
The HolyGrail project aims to improve the sorting of post-consumer packaging with the help 
of chemical tracers and digital watermarks. Collection of plastics after use is not sufficient if 
the  collected  plastics  cannot  then  be  sorted  efficiently.  Improved  sorting  of  plastics  can 
improve both  the quality and the quantity  of recycled plastics on the market.  One way that 
more efficient sorting can be achieved is by tagging items by using a digital watermark or a 
chemical  tracer. Both  are machine-readable  codes or  identifiers that facilitate the sorting  of 
products by pointing the sorting system to a database where information on how the product 
can be recycled can be found. This  will in  turn make the sorting process  more reliable  and 
efficient, and increase the amount of plastics that are efficiently recycled.144 

Increasing circularity will result in a reduction of plastic waste ending up in the environment, 
but will not directly contribute to the removal of plastics already in the environment. Marine 
plastic pollution is a type of pollution that has gained an increasing amount of attention in the 
past  years.  A  majority  of  marine  plastic  pollution  originates  from  land-based  sources,  and 
once it is in the sea, it is not easy to get out. However, new technologies such as blockchain 
have been deployed to incentivise the collection and further recycling of marine plastics. The 
Plastic Bank is an example of such a scheme already deployed in various areas of the world 
(see Digital solution story: blockchain technology fighting ocean plastic pollution).145 

141 https://eur-lex.europa.eu/resource.html?uri=cellar:9903b325-6388-11ea-b735-
01aa75ed71a1.0017.02/DOC_1&format=PDF  
142 Draft SWD on Digital4Circular 
143 Draft SWD on Digital4Circular 
144 https://www.newplasticseconomy.org/assets/doc/Holy-Grail.pdf  
145 https://www.pwc.com/gx/en/sustainability/assets/blockchain-for-a-better-planet.pdf  

34 

 
 
 
 
 
                                                           
Digital solution story: blockchain technology fighting ocean plastic pollution 
Blockchain technology can provide an incentive to fight ocean plastic pollution by means of 
recycling  initiatives,  such  as  the  Plastic  Bank.  The  Plastic  Bank  is  a  blockchain-based 
banking  platform.  The  system  awards  those  who  collect  plastic  waste  from  the  ocean  and 
deliver  it  to  a  Plastic  Bank  branch  with  digital  vouchers  that  are  stored  on  their  mobile 
phones.  These  digital  vouchers  then  function  like  money  and  can  be  spent  on  daily 
necessities. Just like a normal bank, people can access their rewards and check their balance. 
Because  the  system  uses  blockchain,  it  is  secure  and  usually  transparent.  All  information 
related  to  transactions  people  make  –  when  they  use  their  vouchers  to  for  example  pay  for 
school tuition fees – is stored on a distributed blockchain ledger. The plastic that is delivered 
to  Plastic  Banks  is  then  recycled  for  use  by  firms  partnered  with  the  Plastic  Bank.  The 
blockchain  ledger  also  tracks  the  movement  of  the  recycled  plastic.  The  system  is  fully 
deployed in Haiti, Indonesia and the Philippines.146 

Big  data  and  AI  also  provide  opportunities  to  monitor  marine  plastic  and  micro-plastic 
pollution.  Recent  work  shows  that  unmanned  aerial  systems  (UAS)  along  with  computer 
vision  methods  provide  a  feasible  alternative  for  marine  litter  monitoring  on  beaches.  This 
includes  citizen  science  UAS  data  acquisition  and  annotation  protocol  combined  with  deep 
learning techniques to automatically detect and map marine litter concentrations in the coastal 
zone.  There  are  also  initiatives  to  use  unmanned  underwater  vehicles  (UAV)  and  satellite 
data,  in  combination  with  AI  and  crowdsourcing,  for  image  annotation,  representing  a  cost 
to  well-established  field  survey  methodologies.  More 
and 
specifically,  machine  learning  algorithms  can  be  applied  to  images  acquired  from  UAV  to 
detect  and  measure  plastics  in  underwater  environments.  The  innovative  potential  of  the 
proposal  lies  in  the  integrated  approach,  using  Earth  observation  data  from  aerial  and 
underwater  drones  and  satellites,  crowdsourcing/citizen  science,  and  AI  for  marine  litter 
detection.147 

time-effective  ancillary 

Digital solutions provide many opportunities to strive towards the zero pollution ambition for 
plastic  pollution.  By  utilising  the  possibilities  of  digitalisation  in  a  shift  towards  a  circular 
economy, less materials will end up as non-recyclable waste, and a more efficient recycling 
scheme will prevent plastics from entering the environment. For the plastic pollution that is 
already where it shouldn’t be, a range of digital solutions can be developed and used to help 
address this issue. 

146 https://plasticbank.com/  
147 E.g. “A Citizen Science Unmanned Aerial System Data Acquisition Protocol and Deep Learning Techniques 
for the Automatic Detection and Mapping of Marine Litter Concentrations in the Coastal Zone” 

35 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
                                                           
4.9. Addressing soil pollution with digital solutions 

Soil  contamination  is  a  widespread  problem  across  Europe,  which  can  in  turn  impact 
ecosystems  and  water  bodies.  There  are  around  2.8  million  sites  in  Europe  where  soil 
polluting activities have taken or are taking place. Of these sites 694 000 have been already 
identified  and  registered  in  national  and/or  regional  inventories.148  Mineral  oils  and  heavy 
metals  are  the  most  common  contaminant  in  soil.  Soil  contamination  is  caused  by  several 
reasons;  municipal  and  industrial  waste  disposal  and  treatment,  metal  industries  and  petrol 
stations as well as in some countries mining being leading causes for soil pollution.149 

Around 19 % of registered sites in Europe need, or might need, remediation or risk reduction 
measures,  including  natural  attenuation.  To  be  able  to  address  soil  contamination,  it  is 
necessary to, amongst other things, gather geographically located monitoring data to be able 
to  correctly  identify  and  further  characterise  contaminated  areas.  Digital  data  obtained 
through remote sensors such as Landsat150, SPOT151 and Copernicus, aerial/drone images or 
in-situ  monitoring  stations  as  well  as  designed  and  automatised  sampling  patterns  can  first 
help to characterise soils subject to pollution (Digital Soil Mapping) and then contribute to a 
more  effective  and  efficient  acquisition  of  monitoring  data  on  the  pollution  itself  (Digital 
solution story: the SoilTakeCare project).152  

Recently,  the  Commission  services  have  developed  machine  learning  models  to  map  the 
diffuse soil pollution. An example is  the Deep  Neural  Network (DNN)  learning model that 
was developed to map mercury (Hg) distribution in European soils153.  Another example of 
machine  learning  is  the  Generalized  Linear  Models  (GLM)  used  to  investigate  the  factors 
driving  copper  distribution  in  EU  soils154.  AI  and  machine  learning  can  be  deployed  to 
analyse data gathered by sensors to optimise soil conditions, and blockchain can be utilised 
for soil properties data collation from distributed sensors.155 156 

148 Status of local soil contamination in Europe. Ana Payá Pérez and Natalia Rodríguez Eugenio, Status of local 
soil contamination in Europe: Revision of the indicator “Progress in the management Contaminated Sites in 
Europe”, EUR 29124 EN, Publications Office of the European Union, Luxembourg, 2018, ISBN 978-92-79-
80072-6, doi 
149 https://www.eea.europa.eu/highlights/soil-contamination-widespread-in-europe  
150 https://landsat.gsfc.nasa.gov/  
151 https://earth.esa.int/eogateway/missions/spot  
152 The nature and detection of unauthorized waste dump sites using remote sensing 
Sergij Vambol, Viola Vambol, Muniyan Sundararajan, Iqbal Ansari , Ecological Questions, Vol 30, No 3 (2019) 
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.12775/EQ.2019.018 
Detection of waste dumping locations in landfill using multi-temporal Landsat thermal images ; Jasravia Gill, 
Kamil Faisal, Ahmed Shaker, Wai Yeung Yan, Waste Management & Research: The Journal for a Sustainable 
Circular Economy, Vol 37, Issue 4, 2019 , https://doi.org/10.1177/0734242X18821808 
Hani Abu Qdais & Nawras Shatnawi (2019) Assessing and predicting landfill surface temperature using remote 
sensing and an artificial neural network, International Journal of Remote Sensing, 40:24, 9556-9571, DOI: 
https://doi.org/10.1080/01431161.2019.1633703 
153 https://esdac.jrc.ec.europa.eu/content/mercury-content-european-union-topsoil 
154 https://esdac.jrc.ec.europa.eu/content/copper-distribution-topsoils 
155 http://www3.weforum.org/docs/Harnessing_Artificial_Intelligence_for_the_Earth_report_2018.pdf  
156 http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_Building-Blockchains.pdf 

36 

 
 
 
 
 
                                                           
Digital solution story: the SoilTakeCare project 
The EU-funded SoilTakeCare project developed digital, innovative, low-cost diagnostic and 
monitoring  tools  for  addressing  soil  contamination.  The  project  developed  new,  cheaper 
sensors  that  can  be  used  for  monitoring  of  contaminated  areas,  applied  biomonitoring  to 
contaminated areas and developed a new methodology to quantify volumes of contaminated 
matter by using an in-situ  Lidar scanner and drone photogrammetry. The scanner was used 
for rapid and accurate digital elevation of smaller contaminated areas, whereas drones were 
deployed for the mapping of larger surfaces.157 

Good  quality  soil  is  essential  to  us  as  all  human  activities  are  related  to  soil  in  a  way  or 
another. Degradation of soil quality has a negative impact on human health, biodiversity and 
linked ecosystems  services as  well as the  climate. These  are reasons why it is  necessary to 
strive  for  the  zero  pollution  ambition  in  soil  pollution,  and  new  digital  innovations  and 
technologies  have  the  potential  to  aid  in  identification,  mapping  and  monitoring  of 
contaminated  areas,  understanding  impacts  on  waterbodies  as  well  as  the  remediation  of 
contaminated soil158. 

5.  Funding and Investment Opportunities for Zero Pollution Data and Solutions 

As  illustrated  in  the  previous  sections,  there  is  a  vast  amount  of  innovation  and  business 
opportunities  and  potential  in  digital  applications  for  zero  pollution.  Both  the  public  sector 
and  private  sector  can  benefit  from  these  opportunities  and  the  post-COVID  recovery  will 
unlock  significant  amounts  of  private  and  public  investment.  In  the  framework  of  the 
Recovery  and  Resilience  Facility,  the  EU  Member  States  are  currently  preparing  their 
national Recovery and Resilience Plans. These aim to direct at least 20% of their expenditure 
to  investments  and reforms  that support the digital  transition,  including greening the digital 
sector Moreover, the new Multi-Annual Financial Framework has been adopted and it offers 
also possibilities to invest in digital solutions for zero pollution (see Annex II for overview). 
Overall,  the  priority  for  the  EU  funding  instruments  is  to  support  a  green  and  digital 
transition. Investments which combine the strength of both worlds can result in unlocking the 
business  opportunities  and  innovation  which  will  help  create  a  more  sustainable,  pollution 
free world.  

This  is  echoed  by  the  2020  Environment  Council  conclusions  on  ‘Digitalisation  for  the 
Benefit  of  the  Environment’159  which  ‘urges  Member  States  to  mobilise  public  and  private 
investments,  including  via  Recovery  and  Resilience  Plans,  in  digital  technologies  that 
contribute to achieving environmental objectives, as well as in environmentally friendly ICT, 
and to raise awareness within the economy, in particular the financial sector, of sustainable 
investments,  notably  through  the  swift  completion  and  adequate  use  of  the  taxonomy  on 
sustainable finance as a reference.’ 

Overall, the digital economy has a huge economic potential. The EU’s 2020 Digital Strategy 
states that ‘implementing reforms and stepping up investments in Research and Development 
and  technological  deployment  could  yield  14%  of  cumulative  additional  GDP  growth  by 
2030’.160  A  significant  component  of  the  digital  economy  is  the  drive  for  open  data. 

157 https://ec.europa.eu/regional_policy/en/projects/Portugal/soiltakecare-low-cost-solutions-to-diagnose-and-
clean-up-soil-contamination  
158 The EU Soil Observatory will also foster using such technologies.  
159 https://data.consilium.europa.eu/doc/document/ST-13957-2020-INIT/en/pdf  
160 McKinsey Global Institute (2020): ’Shaping the digital transformation’, Study conducted for the Commission 

37 

 
 
 
 
 
                                                           
Environment and pollution data are and should be ‘open data’ per definition. They are mostly 
not personal data and, once collected, should be a common good since they help determine 
the health of people and the planet. Currently, the European open data market size is € 184.45 
billion  (in  2019)  forecasted  to  increase  to  €  199.51  -  334.20  billion  by  2025.161  It  employs 
1.09 million people which is projected to have the potential to nearly double over the coming 
years. Through open data,  significant efficiency gains  and cost savings can be realised, e.g. 
cost  savings  for  organisations  that  simply  open  up  their  own  data  and  thereby  reducing 
requests on access to information, cost savings thanks to acquiring others’ open data for free 
or at marginal cost, and cost savings through efficiencies enabled by open data re-use. Based 
on estimates in a national study, the total amount of costs saved due to open data in the public 
sector can be in the region of €0.25 - €1.48 billion across Europe162.   

Open  data  also  have  significant  benefits  for  many  of  the  above-mentioned  sectors,  such  as 
transport agriculture or health (see figure 5).  

Figure 5: Sectors with high open data impact and potential163 

Obviously, the zero pollution dimension of the digital and open data economy only accounts 
for a fraction of these benefits. However, some sectors estimates are available. E.g. the digital 
vision  of  Water  Europe  points  to  opportunities  that  will  allow  a  transition  to  a  water-smart 
society. It estimates that global utility company expenditure on data analytics will grow from 
$700m in 2012 to $3.8bn in 2020, with gas, electricity, and water suppliers in all regions of 
the world increasing their investment.164 This increasing trend is likely to continue. Investing 
in opening up of environmental data is beneficial, because innovation based on the data will 
lead  to  benefits  of  an  economic  (including  cost  savings,  efficiency  gains,  lower  insurance 
costs  and  less  climate-related  damage)  and  a  non-economic  nature  (such  as  cleaner  air  and 

161 European Data Portal: The Economic Impact of Open Data (2020) 
162 See p. 85 of JRC report 2020: ”The Economic Impact of Open Data: Opportunities for value creation in 
Europe” 
163 See p. 37 of JRC report 2020: ”The Economic Impact of Open Data: Opportunities for value creation in 
Europe” 
164 GTM Research, 2014 in Water Europe (2017): “The value of water”  

38 

 
 
 
 
 
 
                                                           
fewer deaths caused by pollution). These benefits outweigh the initial costs spent on updating 
data infrastructure and data management processes by far.165 

Another  study  looked  at  the  technology  developments  in  Sustainable  ICT  projects  and 
sustainable  financing  trends  with  regards  to  climate  change  and  circular  economy,  as  a 
preamble to estimate the investment gap for Sustainable ICT projects in Europe. This study 
found  that  the  total  investment  gap  for  the  Sustainable  ICT  industry  was  estimated  to  be 
€14.2 – 19.2 billion across the period of 2021-2027166. In addition, investments in skills will 
be  needed  in  order  to  optimally  reap  the  benefits  technological  solutions  can  bring  in 
addressing pollution.  In this regard, the Skills Agenda for Europe, launched on 1 July 2020, 
aims to support skills for the green and digital transitions, among other things, to increase the 
number of professionals who master green technologies including their digital aspects.167  

An overview of EU instruments that can be looked towards for providing funding for digital 
solutions and modernisation of data management can be found in Annex II. 

6.  Inspirations from national strategies 

The  2020  Environment  Council  conclusions  on  ‘Digitalisation  for  the  Benefit  of  the 
Environment’168  encourage  Member  States  to  further  explore  and  harness  the  enormous 
potential of digitalisation to help the EU achieve the goals of the European Green Deal and 
the transition to climate neutrality by 2050. It also stresses the importance of supporting and 
engaging with local and regional authorities and other stakeholders to support local strategies 
for green and digital transformation.  

Some  Member  States  have  already  addressed  this  call  by  developing  a  national  strategy  on 
‘digitalisation  and  the  environment’.  Two  of  the  most  recent  of  such  strategies  are  briefly 
presented.  

The German Digital Policy Agenda for the Environment was published in 2020, and it builds 
on  various  prior  strategies  and  other  policy  measures.  It  focuses  on  the  green  and  digital 
transformation pointing to areas where digitalisation can help achieve environmental targets. 
The  agenda  discusses  both  digitalisation  as  a  means  to  achieve  sustainable  growth  and  the 
environmental  footprint  of  the  digital  sector  and  discusses  a  wide  range  of  applications  of 
digitalisation on different fields such as mobility, energy, nature conservation, agriculture and 
water management and circular economy. It sets out strategic goals and builds on these goals 
to set over 70 concrete measures, some of them already underway and others to be initiated. 
Measures  relevant  for  the  zero  pollution  ambition  include  measures  such  as  research  on 
digitalisation  in  the  transport  sector,  making  the  ecological  footprint  visible  by  means  of 
virtual reality or augmented reality, a living laboratory for sustainable digital agriculture and 
deploying AI for sustainable consumer choices. 169 

165 See JRC report 2020: ”The Economic Impact of Open Data: Opportunities for value creation in Europe”. 
This is also confirmed by the upcoming Impact Assessment accompanying the implementing regulation on 
High-value datasets. 
166 ” Market study on InvestEU Financial Product for Sustainable ICT” Final Study Report 
167 COM(2020) 274  
168 https://data.consilium.europa.eu/doc/document/ST-13957-2020-INIT/en/pdf  
169 BMU 2020: Digital Policy Agenda for the Environment. 
https://www.bmu.de/fileadmin/Daten_BMU/Pools/Broschueren/broschure_digital_agenda_eng_bf.pdf  

39 

 
 
 
 
 
                                                           
Finland is currently in the process of finalising a climate and environmental strategy for its 
ICT  sector.  A  substantive  interim  report  has  already  been  published  and  the  final  strategy 
containing  recommendations  for  action  is  still  in  the  process  of  public  consultation.  The 
Finnish  strategy  focuses  on  the  environmental  and  climate  impacts  of  the  ICT  sector  and 
discusses  how  these  can  be  controlled  and  minimised,  but  also  points  to  the  potential 
digitalisation has in achieving reductions in emissions and the opportunities of the green and 
digital  transformation.  The  measures  proposed  include  increasing  awareness  of  the 
environment impacts of the ICT sector, developing digital solutions for the environment and 
climate and contributing to their deployment, improving the possibilities of making use of the 
heat pollution from data centres and taking into account environmental aspects when building 
electronic communications networks.170 

Many  countries  have  addressed  the  topic  of  negative  environmental  effects  also  in  their 
national  strategies  and  publications  for  specific  digital  technologies,  such  as  artificial 
intelligence.171    These  and  other  existing  national  strategies  as  well  as  this  paper  on  digital 
solutions  for  zero  pollution  might  serve  as  inspiration  for  different  Member  State  actors  to 
develop such strategic documents, whether focused on zero pollution or with a wider focus 
on the green and digital transformation. 

7.  Conclusions and outlook 

The  green  and  digital  transition  can  offer  new  opportunities  for  achieving  environmental 
objectives provided that  the environmental risks stemming from digitalisation are managed. 
This document has demonstrated this for the ‘zero pollution ambition’, where many use cases 
already exist. These examples represent only a small amount of all digital solutions for zero 
pollution,  e.g.  on  effective  collection  of  pollution  data  in  different  sectors.  This  document 
aims  to  introduce  to  these  possibilities,  encourage  the  sustainable  deployment  of  digital 
solutions  and  start  an  exchange  of  good  practices  with  the  private  sector,  civil  society  and 
administrations.  This  can  bring  inspiration,  innovation,  investment  and  interaction  to  all 
actors  wishing  to  contribute  to  the  European  Green  Deal  objectives,  more  specifically  in 
relation to the zero pollution ambition. 

Drawing from these initial lessons, the following conclusions can be formulated: 

  Deployment of digital solutions for zero pollution must be sustainable  

While digital solutions can bring significant benefits in terms of reducing pollution, it 
is  important  to ensure that their deployment is  sustainable, taking into consideration 
the  pollution  and  all  other  associated  impacts,  in  particular  energy  and  resource  use 
impacting  the  achievement  of  the  Green  Deal  objectives.  Digital  solutions  are  not  a 
solution if they lead to decrease in sustainability in the long run. To this end, further 
research  should  be  targeted  towards  looking  at  the  systemic  and  long-term 
environmental  impacts  of  digitalisation,  and  especially  towards  the  pollution  risks 
associated with digital solutions. In addition, the possible negative societal impacts of 
digitalisation,  including  increased  social  inequalities  must  be  addressed.  No  one 
should be left behind. 

170 Ministry of Transport and Communications 2020: The ICT sector, climate and the environment – Interim 
report of the working group preparing a climate and environmental strategy for the ICT sector in Finland 
171 For analysis of Member States’ efforts in AI and climate see JRC Science for Policy report, AI Watch 
National strategies on Artificial Intelligence A European perspective in 2020 (forthcoming) 

40 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
                                                           
  Many green investments will have a digital component – let's make best use of it by 

creating multiple benefits with the European Green Deal as a compass 
Most  of  the  current  and  future  investments  into climate  and  environmental  projects, 
whether private or public, will have a digital aspect, whether it is data generation or 
use of digital tools. Digitalisation can have an integrating role and help to ensure that 
investments  are  multi-purpose,  creating  synergies  between  different  goals  (e.g. 
towards climate neutrality and clean air). The power of digital can therefore be used 
to  create  multiple  benefits  across  the  Green  Deal  objectives.  To  this  end,  it  is 
important that environmental data (or those relevant to address environmental issues) 
respect the FAIR principles172. 

  Better  use  of  digital  tools  to  empower  citizens  as  actors  for  achieving  the  zero 

pollution ambition as part of the wider European Green Deal 
Citizen  engagement  in  and  support  for  the  zero  pollution  agenda  is  crucial  for 
achieving this ambition. Digital solutions can be used to engage the public in citizen 
science  initiatives  that  will  contribute  to  collect,  analyze  and  disseminate  pollution 
data  as  well  as  to  raise  awareness  of  pollution  issues.  Citizen  science  can  also 
empower citizens and promote sustainable behaviour change.173 In addition to citizen 
science  initiatives,  digital  solutions  can  also  be  effectively  deployed  to  inform  and 
engage  citizens  on  pollution-related  topics  and  facilitate  citizen  access  to  pollution 
data.  Involvement  and  participation  of  all  is  key  to  building  a  greener  Europe  as 
recognised  in  the  Climate  Pact174.  In  addition,  the  Zero  Pollution  Action  Plan175 
includes  a  number  of  actions  to  help  improve  information  and  empowerment  of 
citizens, such as the improvement of data and knowledge available on zero pollution 
through the dedicated monitoring and outlook framework176.  

  Digital solutions have a huge potential for improving compliance and enforcement 
of  environment  and  pollution-related  legislation  both  at  a  European  and  Member 
State level 
The  effective  implementation  and  enforcement  of  environmental  legislation  can 
benefit  from  a  wider  application  of  digital  solutions.  Digital  solutions  can  facilitate 
and  contribute  to  aspects  such  as  monitoring  and  reporting  of  pollution  data, 
environmental  inspections  and  a  more  holistic  outlook  to  pollution  data  collected 
under different policy areas. 

  Modernisation of administrations working with pollution-related issues needs to be 

accelerated to benefit from digitalization 
Embracing the eGovernment agenda177 is key to administrations at all levels working 
with  pollution-related 
towards  accelerated  digitalisation  and 
modernisation of administrations will bring benefits, including increased transparency 
and effectiveness, improved access to pollution data as well as facilitated participation 
of citizens in decision-making processes concerning their well-being and the state of 

issues.  Striving 

172 data should be findable, accessible, interoperable and reusable 
173 SWD(2020) 149 and EPA Network: Citizen Science and the zero pollution ambition (2021) 
174 https://europa.eu/climate-pact/index_en  
175 COM(2021) 400 
176 SWD(2021) 141 
177 https://ec.europa.eu/digital-single-market/en/egovernment-action-plan 

41 

 
 
 
 
 
                                                           
the environment.  Moreover, it will help  reduce administrative burden for businesses 
by implementing the "once-only" principle  so they only need to provide information 
to public administration across the EU if effective data sharing is ensured. Investment 
in the generation and sharing of pollution data, processing and analytics is crucial not 
only to ensure the accessibility of the data, but also to ensure it can be effectively used 
to guide policy decisions on reduction of pollution. 

  Digital skills and capacity building needs to be enhanced to allow for efficient use 

of digital solutions for zero pollution 
Technology upgrades and deployment of new digital solutions are important, but it is 
equally important to ensure that zero pollution actors have the skills and capabilities 
to  effectively  use  these  new  solutions.  Increasing  the  amount  of  digital  skills 
vocational  education  and  training,  as  well  as  ensuring  that  digital  competences  are 
represented  in  environmental  teams  is  key  to  better  equip  the  environmental 
community  for  an  effective  and  sustainable  uptake  of  digital  solutions  for  zero 
pollution. The Skills Agenda for Europe, mentioned above, and the Digital Education 
action plan aim to improve digital skills at all levels. In addition, the Digital Europe 
Programme, just launched at the beginning of 2021, aims to strengthen capacity and 
advanced  digital  skills  needed  for  digital  solutions  for  zero  pollution,  such  as  data 
analytics and big data use, artificial intelligence and supercomputing 178. 

  Open  ‘zero  pollution  data’  are  an  important  contribution  to  the  European  Data 

Spaces 
Most environmental and pollution data can be regarded as a common good and should 
be  made  openly  available  and  easily  accessible,  with  a  view  to  reduce  pollution.  In 
this context the contribution of pollution data (and for its chemicals part the common 
open  data  platform  on  chemicals  as  announced  under  Chemicals  Strategy  for 
Sustainability) to the European Data Spaces and especially the Green Deal Data Space 
is very important. 

  Big  data  can  offer  new insights  into  pollution  problems  and  solutions if  the  large 

information is translated into knowledge 
With  the  enormous  increase  in  data  comes  the  challenge  to  transform  them  into 
knowledge and actionable insights. Classical ways of knowledge generation will not 
necessarily  work  and  new  ways  of  ensuring  quality,  relevance  and  comparability  of 
data will be needed. This challenge comes with opportunities. On one hand, new skills 
and expertise, such as those from data analysts, will become essential for most areas. 
On the other hand, artificial intelligence and other data analysis tools are increasingly 
available and help in transforming big data into knowledge.  

  More networks bringing together environment and digital experts and communities 

need to be created with platforms to share good practices 
Exchange of information, good practices, failures and successes is highly useful and 
strongly  encouraged.  This  information  exchange  can  take  place  via  officially 
established platforms and networks but can also be of a more informal nature. In this 
context  breaking  the  silos  between  the  digital  and  environmental  communities  is 

178 https://ec.europa.eu/digital-single-market/en/news/digital-europe-programme-proposed-eu75-billion-funding-
2021-2027 

42 

 
 
 
 
 
                                                           
encouraged – both have a lot to learn from each other. The digital community has a 
vast  amount  of  solutions  and  ideas  for  striving  towards  the  zero  pollution  ambition, 
whereas  the  environmental  community  benefits  from  decades  of  environmental  data 
and strong knowledge of the causes and consequences of pollution. 

  Embracing the twin digital and green transition for zero pollution is crucial for all 

actors 
While  the  public  sector  plays  an  important  role  in  embracing  the  twin  digital  and 
green  transition  for  zero  pollution  by  means  of  digitalisation  and  modernisation  of 
administrations,  also  the  private  sector,  and  especially  SMEs,  have  the  means  to 
become  important  actors  in  producing  and  deploying  digital  solutions  for  zero 
pollution. The private sector is encouraged to embrace the digital and green transition 
and invest in developing sustainable solutions which can contribute to a greener, more 
“zero  pollution  world”.  These  solutions  and  their  demand  will  only  increase  in  the 
coming years, making ‘digital with a green purpose’ a good area to invest in. 

The  extent  to  which  these  digital  tools  can  prevent,  reduce  or  help  mitigate  and  remediate 
pollution  still  has  to  be  investigated  and  demonstrated.  So  monitoring  of  effectiveness  and 
efficiency of these must be factored in from the outset. But now that there will be significant 
public  and  private  investments  in  the  recovery  phase  from  the  COVID-19  pandemic,  it  is 
important  to  realise  this  potential  and  maximise  the  environment  and  climate  benefits  that 
digital investments can bring.  

Recognising  the  opportunities  from  digital,  the  Commission  has  launched  the  flagship: 
“Creating Living Labs for green digital solutions and smart zero pollution” in the Zero 
Pollution Action Plan179.  

“In 2021, the Commission will, together with partners, launch Living Labs  for green digital 
solutions and smart zero pollution to engage with regional and local authorities (for example 
through the Living-in.eu community) and other stakeholders to help develop local actions for 
green and digital transformation  which contribute to the European Digital Green Coalition  
and the Climate Pact. By 2023, the Living Lab members will develop recommendations for a 
climate and environment-friendly use of digital solutions to accelerate zero pollution efforts, 
with a particular focus on citizen engagement.” 

When implementing this flagship, the Commission services will reach out to partners in order 
to help them setting up or continuing such Living Labs ideally within existing initiatives and 
frameworks. In particular, partnerships of businesses (B2B), citizens and administrations 
as well as in-between them (A2B, B2A, B2C) fostered through research and innovation are 
invited  to  create  Living  Labs  to  develop  new  ideas  and  deploy  them  most  promising  ones 
more widely. Pilot projects under the various EU financing programmes (see Annex II) can 
help to initiate such Living Labs.  

Thereby, this activity will also support the implementation of the Climate Pact180 with the 
aim to: 

179 COM(2021) 400 
180 COM(2020) 788 

43 

 
 
 
 
 
                                                           
  Develop  innovative  ways  to  attract  people  and  implement  actions  by  promoting  the 

use of the latest technologies,  

  Organise interactive citizen dialogues as to what a zero emissions and zero pollution 

Europe means for their community and everyday lives and  

  Support spaces enabling individual and team competitions, target setting and sharing 
of  progress,  such  as  applications  enabling  individuals  and  organisations  to  submit 
pledges.  

It will also promote innovation and support the European Digital Innovation Hubs and the 
digital research agenda. It will build on sharing best practices, identifying data assets and help 
create  the  Green  Deal  Dataspace  set  out  in  the  European  Data  Strategy  with  its  thematic 
inputs on zero pollution, chemicals or smart and circular economy to improve the availability 
of more and better data from the public and private sector. Moreover, piloting and roll-out of 
digital  solutions  for  smart  cities  and  communities  and  the  development  of  local  digital 
twins under the Digital Europe Programme as well as actions supported by other EU funding 
programmes (e.g. the LIFE Programme) can help trigger investments to better understanding 
and visualizing pollution, engage all actors and promote technological solutions to the benefit 
of  citizens,  researchers,  businesses  and  policy-makers  at  all  governance  levels.  Whilst 
embedded in the Zero Pollution Stakeholder Forum, the ‘Green Digital Solutions Hub’ will 
create  close  links  to  other  platforms  and  networks,  e.g.  the  Circular  Economy  Stakeholder 
Platform  and  in  particular  make  efforts  to  bring  together  the  Green  City  Accord  and  the 
Smart City initiatives. 

The Zero Pollution Stakeholder Platform will oversee the activities related to this flagship, 
exchange  information  and  good  practices  as  well  as  develop  recommendations  by  2023. 
These  recommendations  can  play  an  important  role  to  guide  the  future  developments 
regarding  digital  solutions  for  zero  pollution  and  cross-fertilise  ideas  across  sectors  and 
domains.  It  will  involve  administrations,  business  and  civil  society  as  well  as  international 
organisations to promote digital solutions that are sustainable.  

In  conclusion,  digitalisation  has  an  enormous  transformative  drive  if  it’s  disruptive,  whilst 
cohesive powers are exploited in a sustainable manner. In other words, the dynamics that are 
already  created  by  the  EU’s  Digital  Agenda  and  Digital  Decade181  need  to  be  guided  and 
managed  in  such  a  way  that  energy  and  resource  use  as  well  as  pollution  impacts  of  ICT 
solutions are mitigated and, if necessary, regulated.  

181 COM(2021) 118 

44 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
                                                           
Annex I: Digital technologies  

The  non-exhaustive  list  below  summarises  some  of  the  existing  digital  technologies  and 
illustrates briefly how they can become important solutions for achieving the zero pollution 
ambition.  This  overview  of  most  relevant  digital  technologies  is  based  on  the  EPC  report 
‘Towards  a  green,  competitive  and  resilient  EU economy:  How  can  digitalisation  help?’182 
and provided in alphabetic order: 

  Applications  (‘apps’)  for  computers,  tablets  and  mobile  devices  are  easy-to-use 
software programmes. In the context of zero pollution, they can be used, for example, 
to inform citizens about the pollution in air, water or soil around them. They can help 
encourage  citizens  to  live,  travel  and/or  consume  more  sustainably  and  also  support 
them in data collection and analyses to support citizen science initiatives. Moreover, 
they  can  help  to  the  compliance  and  enfocerment  of  EU  laws,  e.g.  facilitating  the 
detection and reporting by citizens of illegal waste disposal.   

  API  (Application  Programming  Interface)  is  a  computing  interface  that  allows 
applications  to  communicate  with  each  other.  APIs  provide  an  access  point  for  the 
server,  allowing  the  sharing  of  data  between  different  web,  mobile  and  device 
applications. They are important, because otherwise applications would not be able to 
access and use data in other databases. 

  An Artificial intelligence (AI) system is a machine-based system that can, for a given 
set  of  human-defined  objectives,  generate  output  such  as  content,  predictions, 
recommendations,  decisions  or  actions  influencing  real  or  virtual  environments.  AI 
systems are designed to operate with varying levels of autonomy.183 AI relies on (big) 
data, and enables the more efficient collection and processing of data to, for instance, 
improve pollution monitoring, analyse patterns of pollution to better identify sources 
and  design  cleaner  and  non-toxic  products  and  services  (e.g.  through  precision 
farming). The European Commission has set out its vision in the 2020 White Paper on 
Artificial  Intelligence184 and defined its policy through the recent  Communication185 
‘Fostering a European approach to Artificial Intelligence’ and the legislative proposal 
for a Regulation on a European approach for Artificial Intelligence186 highlighting the 
benefits of using AI for achieving environmental objectives.  

  Blockchain (or distributed ledger technologies-DLT) is a technology that makes it 
possible  for  people  and  organisations  that  may  not  know  each  other  to  reach 
agreement on and permanently record information in a transparent way, without need 
for a central authority to oversee the process. It has been recognised as an important 

182 A. Hedberg & S. Šipka: ‘Towards a green, competitive and resilient EU economy: How can digitalisation 
help?’ Policy paper published by the European Policy Centre (EPC) in June 2020. 
183 Annex of COM(2021) 205: Coordinated Plan on Artificial Intelligence 2021 (Review) 
184 COM(2020) 65 
185 COM(2021) 205 
186 COM(2021) 206 

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tool for building a fair, inclusive, secure and democratic digital economy. Blockchain 
can be used to support low pollution and toxic-free products and processes including 
e.g.  labelling  information  or  environmental  permitting.  It  can  help  create  ‘smart 
contracts’  contributing  to  ensure  compliance  as  part  of  the  next  generation  of 
pollution  monitoring,  reporting  and  verification.  The  EU  has  set  up  a  European 
Blockchain Partnership and supports the setting up of a European Blockchain Service 
Infrastructure.187 

  Cloud  computing  allows  the  storage  of  data  on  remote  computing  services,  which 
can  be  accessed  via  the  Internet.  It  is  already  used  to  manage  data  and  enhance 
knowledge for pollution monitoring and control. A number of actions and significant 
investments in cloud infrastructure are promoted by the Commission’s European Data 
Strategy.188 

  Digital twins are, traditionally, virtual models or digital replicas of physical objects. 
Such twins can be used, for example, to predict the operation life-cycle of a product. 
Building  on  this  knowledge,  the  design  and  performance  of  the  product  can  be 
improved.  Digital  twins  can  also  be  used  to  e.g.  optimise  waste  management 
operations  and  production  systems,  making  them  more  sustainable.  However, 
specifically  for  the  assessment  of  societal  challenges  due  to  environmental  and 
socioeconomic pressures, Digital Twins can also represent digital replicas of complex 
interconnected  natural  and  socio-economic  systems  that  will  give  users  not  only 
passive access to high-quality information, services, models, scenarios, forecasts and 
visualisations, but enable them to actively interact with the system in order to test the 
efficiency  and  effectiveness  of  policy  and/or  technical  measures  against  such 
pressures.  This  will  result  in  the  availability  of  real-time  data  and  feedback  to  the 
physical asset, allowing real-time policy responses. 

  Earth  observation,  satellite  imagery,  sensors,  cameras,  drones  or  robots  can  be 
used to gather data and monitor the environment. They can support greener practices 
to optimise production, using fewer resources. They can also enhance performance of 
and compliance with existing rules to ensure that, for example, farming practices are 
aligned  with  climate  and  environmental  standards.  Such  data  can  be  used  either  for 
pure data analytics or also for decision support approaches combining data and model 
analytics (digital twins). 

187 https://ec.europa.eu/digital-single-market/en/blockchain-technologies 
188 COM(2020) 66 

46 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
                                                           
  Internet  of  things  (IoT)  and  connected  devices  merge  physical  and  virtual  worlds, 
creating smart  environments. For example, everyday physical objects or devices can 
be  connected  to  the  IoT,  where  they  can  ‘identify’  themselves  to  other  objects.  The 
IoT  can,  for  example,  be  used  to  predict  when  machines  require  maintenance  or 
upgrades  and  thus  prolong  their  lifetime  or  micromanage  their  operation  to  reduce 
pollution. Low-energy sensors or cameras are increasingly being deployed to collect 
and transmit real time data including pollution data, e.g. on air or noise emissions or 
plastic  pollution.  The  Commission  has  aimed  to  unleash  the  innovation  potential  of 
IoT already since the 2015 Digital Single Market agenda189 but the opportunities for 
environmental protection and pollution control have yet to be fully exploited.  

  Online  platforms  are  digital  services  that  facilitate  online  interactions  between 
interdependent  users.  Examples  of  online  platforms  include  online  marketplaces, 
content  crowdsourcing  platforms  and  data  harvesting  platforms.  They  support 
information  exchange  and  decision-making.  They  allow  managing  large  amounts  of 
cross-domain data and involving stakeholders. 

  3D  printing  or  additive  manufacturing  are  computer  processes  which  create  a 
three-dimensional  object.  These  processes  often  use  less  material  than  traditional 
manufacturing  methods.  These  technologies  allow  the  on-site  production  of 
components on the basis of a digital template, and can thus help reduce pollution by 
reducing  transport  and  storage  of  spare  parts.  Moreover,  the  components  produced 
may  be  lighter  or  more  durable  which  can  reduce  the  environmental  footprint  of 
products. 

189 https://ec.europa.eu/digital-single-market/en/internet-of-things 

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Annex II: Funding and investment opportunities 

The  new  financing  instruments  under  the  Multi-Annual  Financial  Framework  (MFF)  have 
been agreed in the end of 2020 and the programming for each instrument is still ongoing. The 
examples and information below are based on the situation at the moment of drafting. More 
information will be available at the references provided below.  

  European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) 

The  ERDF  provides  financial  support  for  the  development  and  structural  adjustment  of 
regional  economies,  economic  change,  enhanced  competitiveness  as  well  as  territorial 
cooperation throughout the EU. The key priority areas of ERDF investments are innovation 
and research, the digital agenda, support for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and 
low-carbon  economy.  These  priority  areas  could  have  potential  applications  in  the  area  of 
digital solutions for zero pollution. More information here. 

  Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) 

The new CAP highlights the importance of greater use of knowledge and innovation as well 
as  aiming  for  higher  environmental  and  climate  action.  Applications  in  the  area  of  digital 
solutions for zero pollution in the agricultural sector could find funding from the CAP. More 
information here. 

  European Maritime Fisheries and Aquaculture Fund (EMFAF) 

EMFAF  funding  can  provide  opportunities  for  digital  solutions  in  zero  pollution  in  the 
marine  environment.  These  potential  applications  could  relate  to  e.g.  sustainable  fisheries 
management and aquaculture, marine environment protection and sustainable blue economy. 
More information here.  

  Horizon Europe 

Horizon Europe is the EU’s next funding programme for research and innovation and it will 
offer funding opportunities for research and innovation projects, which could include projects 
with applications related to digital solutions in zero pollution. More information here.  

  Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) 

The  CEF  supports  trans-European  networks  and  infrastructures  in  the  sectors  of  transport, 
telecommunications  and  energy.  Especially  the  CEF  Telecom  could  have  relevant 
applications for digital solutions in zero pollution. More information here. 

  Digital Europe Programme 

The Digital  Europe Programme will build the digital  capacities of the EU and facilitate the 
wide  deployment  of  digital  technologies.  Various  sections  of  Digital  Europe  could  provide 
opportunities  for  funding  of  digital  solutions  for  zero  pollution,  including  in  the  context  of 
smart cities and communities. More information here. 

  LIFE Programme  

The  LIFE programme is  dedicated to  environmental and climate objectives. The next  LIFE 
will contribute to the protection and improvement of the quality of the environment, the shift 

48 

 
 
 
 
 
to  a  circular  economy  and  halting  biodiversity  loss.  As  LIFE  funds  green  technologies, 
applications in the area of zero pollution could also be available. More information here. 

  European Solidarity Fund Plus (ESF+) 

The ESF+ aims at  supporting Member States to tackle the crisis  caused  by the coronavirus 
pandemic, achieve high employment levels, fair social protection and a skilled and resilient 
workforce ready for the transition to a green and digital economy. More information here. 

  Neighbourhood,  Development  and  International  Cooperation  Instrument 

(NDICI) 

The NDICI can help create business opportunities for EU and foreign companies on the twin 
green  and  digital  transition,  connect  Europeans  and  foreigners  to  advance  it.  More 
information here.  

In addition to the MFF, the Recovery and Resilience Facility offers many opportunities to 
implement the application of digital solutions in national programmes and projects. Member 
States are currently preparing their national Recovery and Resilience Plans with the objective 
to  allocate  at  least  20%  and  37%  of  their  expenditures  to  reforms  and  investments  that 
support  the  digital  and  green  transition  respectively.  These  can  include  investments  into 
research and development, the greening of the digital sector, as well as investments into green 
and digital skills that can accelerate the transition.  

Finally, the private investments triggered by the EU’s Sustainable Finance policy can be 
an important driver for innovation and harvesting business opportunities resulting from 
applying digital solutions. 

49