Every year in February, the EESC adopts an opinion on the Annual Sustainable Growth Survey (ASGS), which the Commission usually presents at the end of November the year before. The Committee present a opinion before the March Council discussion on the topic. To reinforce the Committee's impact throughout the entire annual semester cycle, an additional opinion is regularly produced by October taking into account the overall annual Semester process and Recovery and Resilience Facility developments and providing a timely input for the next cycle.
Opinions
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Semiconductor chips are the essential building blocks of digital and digitised products. From smartphones and cars, through critical applications and infrastructures for healthcare, energy, mobility, communications and industrial automation, chips are central to the modern digital economy. They determine performance characteristics of digital systems, among them security and energy-efficiency – essential to the EU’s digital and green transitions. They are also crucial to key digital technologies of the future, including artificial intelligence (AI), 5G and edge computing, as set out in the EU’s 2030 Digital Decade. Put simply, there is no “digital” without chips.
The current F-gas Regulation 517/2014 intends to reduce the EU’s F-gas emissions by two-thirds by 2030 compared with 2014 levels. At EU level, F-gases currently account for 2.5 % of total greenhouse gas emissions. In line with the Climate Law, the new F-gas proposal will contribute to reducing emissions by at least 55% by 2030 and making Europe climate-neutral by 2050.
Practical information
Composition of the Study Group
Administrator: David Hoić, Assistant: Nadja Kačičnik
This Directive will set out a horizontal framework to foster the contribution of businesses operating in the single market to the respect of the human rights and environment in their own operations and through their value chains, by identifying, preventing, mitigating and accounting for their adverse human rights, and environmental impacts, and having adequate governance, management systems and measures in place to this end.
The aim of the opinion is to bring the civil society's perspective on the proposed revisions of the Industrial Emissions Directive and of the Regulation on the European Pollutant Release and Transfer Register in order to achieve the reduction of industrial emissions and to provide environmental information to EU citizens that allows them to make informed participation in environmental decision-making on major industrial activities.
The EU is acting on its space ambitions by addressing two pressing issues: space-based secure connectivity and Space Traffic Management. Space technology is essential to facilitating our daily lives and contributing to a more digital, green and resilient future for our planet.
The EU's Space Programme already provides valuable data and services for a wide array of daily applications, in support of transport, agriculture, crisis response or the fight against climate change, among many others.
However, the EU’s space policy needs to constantly evolve and adapt to new challenges to continue enjoying the benefits space brings to our citizens. These new proposals will help safeguard the efficiency and security of our current assets, while developing cutting-edge space technology to strengthen the European space power.
European citizens are interested in developments in the implementation of digital technology solutions, with a view to simplifying the necessary administrative procedures in relation to the authorities or in everyday life in society. A digitally literate population can benefit, through digital identity, from simplified access to the services provided by public authorities or the business environment.
The advantages of digitalisation are obvious, but the rapid implementation of digital systems, and making citizens' access to some services of general interest conditional on having a digital identity, could in practice lead to a significant number of European citizens being denied the right to access these services.