New, data driven and user-friendly tool to support decarbonisation in the EU

Today, the Commission has set up the Energy and Industry Geography Lab, a user-friendly online tool that provides geospatial information for companies and energy infrastructure planners. This map-based interface enables online data management, visualisation and analysis of data related to energy and industry, helping policymakers to plan the key changes needed to decarbonise the economy. The Energy and Industry Geography Lab shows where to find clean energy, if the necessary infrastructure is in place, or whether there is land available for the installation of renewable energies. It also hosts socio-economic information, and offers forward-looking capabilities, as it includes geospatial data from scenario work by the Commission and third parties. Commissioner for Innovation, Research, Culture, Education and Youth, Mariya Gabriel, said: “Science and technology will help us to tackle concretely the ongoing global threats and challenges, such as the green and digital transitions. For the first time, data on energy and industrial infrastructure have been brought together in a single map and for free, to better plan the decarbonisation we all need to achieve the European Green Deal.” Commissioner for Internal Market, Thierry Breton, said: “For the green transition to bring genuinely sustainable competitiveness, industry needs access to abundant, affordable and decarbonised electricity, and additional efforts are required in this regard. The Energy and Industry Geography Lab will help industry, policymakers, and national authorities to plan the key changes needed to decarbonise the economy and shape industrial ecosystems on the road to a climate-neutral transition”. The Energy and Industry Geography Lab was announced in the Industrial Strategy Updatepublished last May. The Lab was developed by the Commission’s Joint Research Centre in collaboration with relevant industry. It will support the development of the transition pathway and Common Industrial Technology Roadmap for the energy-intensive industries ecosystem. Free access to the Energy and Industry Geography Lab is available here.