28.4.2023
EN
Official Journal of the European Union
C 149/49 Thursday 20 October 2022
88.
Encourages the ongoing work to revise the Directive on Energy Taxation with the aim of aligning taxation policies to the energy and climate targets for 2030 and 2050, while assessing its impacts, including on consumers, energy poverty and transportation poverty;
89.
Stresses that although Europe is working towards meeting its ambitious goals, achieving global net-zero emissions by 2050 at the latest will require coordinated global action; highlights that developing countries will require international assistance in order to achieve their green transition; stresses the importance of enhancing close cross-border cooperation and the sharing of best practices with international partners in the fields of policy-making and science, including technology transfer, in order to promote energy efficiency and investments in sustainable energy technologies and infrastructure; notes the Commission’s recent adoption of its communication on the EU external energy engagement, which includes its determination to engage with third countries across the globe and ‘to encourage partner countries to enhance their climate ambition and define their pathways to climate neutrality, but also to establish long-term relationships that are mutually beneficial, in particular in the area of energy’;
90.
Welcomes the Commission’s intention to adopt an action plan in 2022 for the digitalisation of the energy sector in order to position the EU as a technological leader and to enable a more integrated energy system with intelligent solutions in specific sectors and with improved funding for the 2021-2027 period; recalls the importance of addressing cybersecurity risks in the energy sector in order to ensure the resilience of the energy systems;
Research, innovation, digital technologies and space policy
91.
Welcomes the role of the Horizon Europe programme and its contribution to climate neutrality; is of the opinion that the partnerships under Horizon Europe, including the Joint Undertakings, will foster the collaboration between the public and the private sectors with the goal of contributing to the achievement of the green transition, while ensuring that innovations are sustainable, available, accessible and affordable; underlines the importance of improving SME access and participation to Horizon Europe calls and of better communication to and involvement of citizens about the results of European R&D projects and new technologies, including lighthouse projects, in order to increase public uptake and make the role of the Union more visible to its citizens;
92.
Welcomes the role of the Copernicus programme and new EU Knowledge Centre on Earth Observation for land, atmosphere and marine environment monitoring Service; underlines the importance of satellite observation capacities for monitoring, modelling, predicting and supporting policy-making on climate change;
93.
Highlights the need to attract more investment, both public and private, in the research, innovation and deployment of new sustainable technologies, including in labour-intensive industries, in necessary new infrastructure networks and projects contributing to the goals of the European Green Deal and the Paris Agreement; stresses that future research and technology should take into account sustainability and circularity; emphasises at the same time the importance of basic research, as well as of collaborative and transdisciplinary approaches in research and innovation (R&I), in addressing climate challenges; points, further to the need for supporting the social innovation that is essential to addressing unmet societal needs and challenges while empowering people during the green transition;
94.
Underlines the importance of ensuring coherence and consistency in incentives to foster innovative technologies to achieve the 2030 and 2050 targets, addressing the deployment of already mature technologies as well as investments in new technologies that need to be developed to reach the Union’s goal of climate neutrality by 2050 at the latest;
95.
Stresses the need for a twin transition, where the digital and green transitions go hand in hand; underlines the fundamental role that digital technologies can play in the Union’s green transition; recalls that the Union’s recovery requires the creation of a stable regulatory framework conducive to progress, including market-driven progress, in research, innovation and development of sustainable technologies, and the appropriate conditions for their financing;