Publications

Brussels, European Commission, Directorate-General for Research, 2009, pp. 64.

Sustainable development (SD) is a necessity to safeguard the interests of future generations and, driven by the environmental and economic challenges, already occupies a central position in EU strategies. This report explores what it means to harness European research to SD and how this could be achieved and measured. Three aspects are covered, addressing changes in: execution of research; elaboration of research policies and developing indicators of the contribution of research to SD. The report has emerged from a structured dialogue between an expert group and stakeholders from the research and policy communities.

The 2006 renewed EU Sustainable Development Strategy calls for the European Commission to monitor the progress against the challenges laid out in the Strategy and specifically to draw up a comprehensive set of Sustainable Development Indicators (SDIs). To this end, Eurostat, the Statistical Office of the European Commission, has established a set of SDIs whose development is ongoing. The Directorate General for Research also contributes to this process through the research projects of the EU Framework Programmes (FPs) for Research and Technological Development. This report was commissioned by the Directorate General for Research to assess the main FP6 and selected FP7 projects which refer to SDIs in order to identify trends and gaps in the research agenda and produce recommendations on further research. The report suggests that further work may be needed to fundamentally rethink and restructure the SDI landscape.