Online, Monday 26 June 13.30 – 15.30 2023
Download a PDF version of this invitation
Horizon Europe ECOSENS-project.eu will develop and test a sustainability assessment methodology, integrating a societal perspective, for a future energy system in Europe that includes advanced and innovative technologies (comparing renewable and nuclear sources). As part of the assessment, ECOSENS seeks to predict the energy demand for the next decades to the mid XXI century, together with the available options to generate the required energy, and estimating the evolution of future energy markets in terms of driving forces. All these contextual elements will contribute in the ECOSENS assessment to draw the possible role of nuclear power: (i) in the next decades, (ii) in 2050, and (iii) beyond 2050.
In March 2023, project partners RATEN and SYMLOG convened specialist and non-specialist stakeholders in a workshop entitled “Decarbonizing Europe’s energy system: Checking and choosing indicators for a sustainability assessment”, reviewing the proposed methodological approach and associated indicators, providing critical observations and recommendations. The detailed report will soon be made public on .
In June 2023, ECOSENS will organize a 2-hour webinar requesting stakeholders to weigh in again. “Decarbonizing Europe’s energy system 2: Clarifying non-linear assumptions about energy demand to 2050” will refine the realism of the assessment scenario.
The European Reference Scenario 2020 employed essentially linear projections of energy supply and demand through 2050, failing to take into account any possibility of disruption, crisis, or other profound evolutions in Europe. ECOSENS by contrast assumes that significant changes may be observed in factors driving energy demand.
The energy sector is influenced by policies, consumer behaviors, goals and actions to enlarge electrification, power smoothing strategies and advances, and energy efficiency measures, but also by the development of disruptive technologies (such as AI, IoT, 3D printing, big data, drones, biotechnologies, advanced materials, etc.) and by economic and energy crises. Additionally, the current classical growth-oriented paradigm of development may give way to one focused on a healthy, “sufficient” economy designed to prosper but not necessarily to grow.
Predicting the influence of such driving forces in the regional market and economic interconnections is a significant challenge alongside estimating the role of nuclear power after 2050. In the webinar to be conducted in late June 2023, a dozen specialist and non-specialist stakeholders will review and tune assumptions on possible demographic, environmental, economic, technological, and political evolutions, as well as social and cultural trends.
Resulting assumptions will be reviewed again in a new, 60-minute face-to-face round on Tuesday 29 August 2023, with all persons attending the ECOSENS Scientific Event, prior to the RICOMET conference held at Tabloo, Dessel, Belgium. The same morning, all interested stakeholders are invited to step directly into the year 2050, for a separate but related ECOSENS Scenario Workshop gauging the influence of disruptive climate change events on potential evolutions in citizen energy choices. Visit ecosens-project.eu/events/ to get more information and request your invitation.
Your participation in any or all of these events is welcomed!
Preregister by 22 June 2023 at Eventbrite
- The 2-hour webinar is expected to be organized in the week of 26 June 2023 – date to be set by Doodle (request access to the Doodle: workshops@ecosens-project.eu).
- The webinar will be very interactive, with short opening presentations followed by group discussions and collaborative tasks.
- The outcome will be a written synthesis of participants’ judgments and advice regarding the prediction of evolutions in drivers of energy demands. It is not planned to seek consensus, but rather to record different perspectives.
- Upon registration, participants will receive a short report clarifying the workshop task.
- After the webinar, participants are encouraged to consider attending the pre-RICOMET events (2050 Scenario Workshop by invitation; ECOSENS Scientific Event by pre-registration). To facilitate this participation, a limited number of grants will support European travel and local stay will be offered.
Target audience:
The webinar aims to engage with invited representatives of diverse stakeholder groups, including researchers, policy- and decision-makers, civil society organizations, NGOs, industry, authorities, local information committees, and municipalities with nuclear facilities, among others.
Practical details:
The webinar will be conducted on Zoom.
The working language is English.
Organized and moderated by:
Claire Mays and Yasmine Fourari, Institut Symlog (France)
Marin Constantin, RATEN (Romania)
workshops@ecosens-project.eu
