1. A Sustainable Europe

1.1 A changing world

While the Covid-19 pandemic has been disrupting our society only the past months, Europe has been facing global long-term changes that are reducing our choices for the future, such as climate change, loss of biodiversity, ageing population, and increasing inequalities.

The Covid-19 crisis is unprecedented and the world has been struggling to contain the pandemic. More than ever, an anticipatory, rapid and effective R&I response is crucial.

While R&I is at the core of the response to the pandemic itself in the areas of virology, vaccines development, treatments and diagnostics, it will be also crucial in the economic recovery from the crisis, not only to spur economic activity, but also to accelerate the transitions that our planet and society need - a new economy for health and wellbeing in a broad sense (physical, mental, skills, social, environmental and economic aspects).

In global emergencies, such as the Covid-19 pandemic, it is essential to remove all obstacles to the free flow of data, researchers and ideas. AI and other digital technologies can also help to track the spread of the virus and speed up the process of diagnosis, detection and monitoring.

R&I can also help building system-wide resilience.

Europe should strive to make its economic recovery truly transformative, by investing massively in science-driven and innovative solutions that accelerate the transitions that our planet and society need.

Technologies already help alleviate, at least partially, the severity of the economic shock, with digital technologies being at the core of business continuity in several sectors.

At the same time, Europe and the world are facing major long-term environmental and social challenges.

These range from climate change, biodiversity loss, and depletion of natural resources to an ageing population and growing inequalities.

These megatrends are shaping a whole new different world and we need to be ready for it.

Among these megatrends, climate change poses an existential threat that can only be matched with higher ambition and greater coordinated action at the EU and global level.

The scientific case for climate action is overwhelming. A business-as-usual scenario, with continued pollution and greenhouse gas emissions, driven by economic and population growth, will further impact on global warming, the acidification of oceans, desertification and climate patterns.

This has immediate implications for food security, rising sea levels and storms affecting coastal areas, health, migration, and economic damage. At the same time, the Earth’s biodiversity and resilience shows persistent declining trends.

Another trend is the ageing population in the EU.

In 2018, 20 % of the EU population was aged 65 years or more. By 2100, the share of people aged 80 years or more is expected to more than double, reaching 14.9 % of the whole population.

Consistently low birth rates and high life expectancy are reshaping the EU age pyramid. The median age in the EU28 is projected to increase from 43.1 in 2018 to 47.8 years by 2080. In some Member States, such as Cyprus, Malta, Slovakia and Portugal, the median age is expected to rise substantially.

The number of people of working age is expected to shrink further in the EU, while the EU will have more and more retired people.

Inequalities are growing, in the context of digitalisation and technology acceleration.

There are concerns that new technologies may exacerbate social and geographical inequalities through job and wage polarisation, income and regional disparities, and ‘winner takes most’ markets and industries.

More inequality and underperforming productivity and growth dynamics are becoming big challenges in Europe’s social and political agenda.

Europe is a more equal place to live in comparison to other countries, by virtue of its distribution of incomes and resources.

Nevertheless, Gini coefficients show that EU income inequality has increased over the last two decades.

Gender inequalities remain in Europe, with an average EU gender pay gap of 16 % and slow progress over time.