Accelerating the green transition: focus on the role of digital infrastructures in decarbonising #cities, #energy and mobility sectors

The second publication, a report by the Fraunhofer Institute supported by DG CONNECT, highlights the transformative potential of digital infrastructures in advancing decarbonisation, particularly at the intersection of energy and mobility. 

Significant investments are required to interconnect sectors like energy, mobility, industry, and agriculture.  

Our highlights are as follows: 

• Electrification is key to reducing GHG emissions, but the EU faces an annual infrastructure investment gap of over €406 billion. Bridging this gap is essential for the green transition through innovative cross-sectoral solutions, such as bidirectional charging of electric vehicles (EVs).  
• The concept of the Digital Spine aims to address this gap by leveraging advanced digital technologies. The concept is designed to address the above-mentioned gaps by facilitating decentralised intelligence through enhanced communication and standardisation at the interfaces of various sectors. This approach increases the efficiency and sustainability of existing infrastructures and optimises the use of renewable energy sources (RES). This digital layer enables the optimal use of RES across sectors, reducing the need for extensive physical infrastructure investments.  
• This, in turn, streamlines the deployment of renewable energy solutions and energy flexibility measures that accelerate progress towards European sustainability goals, while ensuring long-term economic competitiveness of the EU. 

Note that Generative AI (GenAI) plays a crucial role in the Digital Spine by optimising smart grids, integrating RES, and coordinating EV charging to balance grid loads. This aligns with the broader sustainability objectives of the new European law on AI, namely the EU AI Act, which was analysed in our recent post. 

The Fraunhofer report concludes with four critical Building Blocks:  

1. Enabling bidirectional charging through digital identity management  
2. Establishing cross-border EV charging infrastructure 
3. Connecting bidirectional charging with smart energy applications 
4. Building cross-sector connections to close digital infrastructure gaps 

A cross-sectoral deployment of AI, including GenAI, optimising smart grids and integrating renewable energy in mobility and transportation, has also recently been underlined and developed by our President, Dr. Monique Calisti, along with the deployment of Data and Robotics. In her keynote presentation at the European Convergence Summit 2024, Dr. Calisti highlighted and developed on the potential of the most advanced digital technologies to help address several socio-ecological challenges across various sectors. She emphasised the contribution of these technologies to improving several impactful activities relevant for the present analysis, including: 

• Optimising resource management and efficiency 
• Optimising processes and supply chains 
• Improving environmental monitoring and analysis  

Read the full analysis and insights here. 
Overall, immediate European-level action and investment in the most critical digital infrastructures and technologies is necessary to accelerate the green transition, achieve climate neutrality, and ensure long-term economic competitiveness in and of Europe at all levels.