UNESCO SCIENCE REPORT

UNESCO SCIENCE REPORT
EU had already achieved an 18% reduction in greenhouse gas
emissions over 1990 levels and is, thus, expected to meet its
2020 target of a 20% reduction.
Europe needs to embrace sustainable development to
overcome a range of challenges that include overdependence
on fossil fuels, environmental degradation, natural resource
depletion and the impact of climate change. The EU is also
convinced that environmentally sustainable (green) growth
will increase its competitiveness.
Indeed, according to the latest State of the Environment
Synthesis Report published by the European Environment
Agency (2015), the environment industry had been one of
the few European economic sectors to flourish in terms of
revenue, trade and jobs, despite the 2008 financial crisis.
The report emphasizes the role of research and innovation
in furthering sustainability goals, including social innovation.
The EU has partly supported its ambitions with regard to
energy sustainability and climate change, for example,
by funding relevant research projects within its Seventh
Framework Programme (2007–2013) and, furthermore, by
emphasizing responsible research and innovation across
its new framework programme for research, Horizon 2020.
Europe is in a historically unique position to usher in a more
sustainable society through research and innovation. In
order to fulfil its potential, however, a shift in focus might be
required to ensure that innovation is viewed more as a means
to an end, rather than as an end in itself. (See, for example,
van den Hove et al., 2012.)
In the Seventh Framework Programme, the following five
themes for co-operation projects focused particularly on
sustainability and environmental protection: agriculture;
energy; environment; health; and materials (Table 9.9).
More than 75% of the topics under these themes can
Table 9.9: Number of projects within Seventh Framework Programme related to sustainable development, 2007–2013
Agriculture Environment Energy Health Materials All projects
Note: The total for the Seventh Framework Programme includes non- thematic cooperation projects.
Source: CORDIS (www.cordis.europa.eu), data downloaded on 4 March 2015
Share of
sustainability
projects (%)
Austria 145 157 71 191 188 2 993 25.1
Belgium 331 214 140 295 355 4 552 29.3
Bulgaria 43 45 18 23 19 590 25.1
Croatia 25 23 14 21 9 351 26.2
Cyprus 15 21 15 10 11 436 16.5
Czech Republic 85 63 22 77 111 1 216 29.4
Denmark 197 130 97 200 186 2 275 35.6
Estonia 29 21 11 54 13 502 25.5
Finland 148 83 55 166 232 2 089 32.7
France 419 275 198 551 530 8 909 22.1
Germany 519 425 285 776 970 11 404 26.1
Greece 147 140 72 117 165 2 340 27.4
Hungary 87 57 23 96 75 1 350 25.0
Ireland 108 55 35 109 117 1 740 24.4
Italy 460 296 183 509 659 8 471 24.9
Latvia 24 11 13 17 14 267 29.6
Lithuania 24 19 12 24 27 358 29.6
Luxembourg 7 10 4 19 15 233 23.6
Malta 9 9 3 4 5 177 16.9
Netherlands 467 298 169 558 343 6 191 29.6
Poland 100 76 53 96 166 1 892 26.0
Portugal 123 94 69 68 125 1 923 24.9
Romania 41 69 17 48 81 898 28.5
Slovakia 26 19 15 18 41 411 29.0
Slovenia 55 55 23 48 81 771 34.0
Spain 360 291 211 388 677 8 462 22.8
Sweden 145 135 88 255 258 3 210 27.4
UK 508 379 191 699 666 12 591 19.4
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