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Energy technology & innovation

The EU currently depends on fossil fuels – mostly imported – for 70% of its energy needs. This must change fast to meet our climate change commitments and safeguard the security of our energy supply.

To make this change, we urgently need to innovate. High-performance, low-carbon, cost-effective technologies can create the sustainable, competitive and secure energy system we envisage for 2030 and beyond.

The Strategic Energy Technology Plan (SET-Plan) brings together industry, academia and policymakers across Europe to streamline and accelerate research and innovation in the energy technologies which can best help us achieve the energy transition, taking them closer to commercialisation and deployment.

In this context, timely, reliable and independent information to underpin decision-making is paramount. This is the objective of the Commission’s Strategic Energy Technologies Information System (SETIS), which is led by the JRC.

The JRC also monitors EU research and innovation activities on clean energy technologies through the Clean Energy Technology Observatory (CETO), which was set up in 2022 to provide a repository of techno- and socio-economic data on the most relevant technologies and their integration into the energy system. CETO produces a series of annual reports that form a basis for the annual Competitiveness Progress Report on clean energy technologies, which accompanies the State of the Energy Union report.

To advance international cooperation on clean energy innovation, the Commission continues its engagement in Mission Innovation (MI) and the Clean Energy Ministerial (CEM) on behalf of the EU. MI is the key forum for the Commission to globally stimulate action and investment in research, development and demonstration to make clean energy affordable, attractive and accessible to all. The JRC is a member of the MI Steering Committee, Technical Advisory Group and Secretariat, and manages the Insights Module.

 

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To find out more about the JRC's work on similar topics, explore the related JRC portfolios:

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Energy solutions

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