European Green Deal

The European Green Deal is the European Sustainable Growth Strategy. It is a package of policy initiatives aimed at enabling European citizens and businesses to benefit from sustainable green transition, realising the goal of no net emissions of greenhouse gases by 2050 in the EU and decoupling economic growth from resource use. It is about protecting fragile ecosystems, investing in research and innovation, and improving the well-being of people via a path that is just and socially fair, leaving no individual or region behind.

Windmills for renewable electric production in Zaragoza Province, Spain

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Research report
New

2 December 2025

Sustainable tourism in a digital age: Implications of the twin transitions for employment, working conditions and industrial relations
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Ricardo Rodriguez Contrerasand 4 other authors
This report assesses the impact of the green and digital transitions on the EU’s tourism sector in relation to employment, skills, work organisation and working conditions. It also examines the contribution of social dialogue to addressing these challenges. The sector is both directly and indirectly affected by climate change.
Research report
New

2 December 2025

Crisis in the EU automotive industry: Can the sector remain competitive in the context of the twin transitions?
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Tina Weberand 4 other authors
This report assesses the impact of the green and digital transitions on the EU automotive sector in relation to employment, skills, work organisation and working conditions. It also examines the contribution of social dialogue to addressing these challenges.

About European Green Deal

Learn more about this topic and its relevance for EU policy making.

Highlights for European Green Deal

This is a selection of the most important outputs for this topic.

30 June 2024

Research report

Job quality side of climate change

Workers will experience the effects of climate change in many ways: job insecurity, changes to their work tasks and responsibilities, and changes in their workplaces that may involve different work practices and the development of new activities and products. Climate change risks are associated with increased exposure to hazards, leading to lower standards of job quality, productivity loss and greater job and work insecurity. Nearly half of workers in the EU will experience profound changes in their job tasks as economies adapt to climate change and climate mitigation strategies are implemented. In addition, work is likely to change as a result of company responses to climate change. These changes in work, while increasing the vulnerability of some workers, offer opportunities to improve some dimensions of job quality. This report outlines the complex relationship between job quality and climate change, including the implication of green tasks in selected sectors.

2 August 2023

Research report

Green, clean and keen to converge? A convergence analysis of environmental quality of life in the EU

This report explores the dynamics of the environmental performance of the EU Member States and the extent to which the disparities in their performance have narrowed since the early 2000s. The report is a product of cooperation between Eurofound and the European Environment Agency, with the technical expertise in convergence of the former meeting the expertise in European environmental issues of the latter. It focuses on three levels of analysis: headline indicators, residential-level indicators and household-level indicators. In order to explore the multifaceted issue of environmental quality of life in the EU, the report investigates environmental indicators through a convergence analysis. The results suggest that the EU is on the right track to becoming carbon neutral, although the speed of the greening process varies among the Member States. A fast and steady improvement in performance can be seen for most of the indicators. One noteworthy finding is that the economic downturns of the past two decades negatively affected the household-level indicators examined, which focused on energy poverty.

19 June 2023

Research report

The transition to a climate-neutral economy: Exploring the socioeconomic impacts

The EU’s transition to a climate-neutral economy requires nothing short of a clean industrial revolution. This report explores the potential socioeconomic implications of such fundamental change for different European regions and population groups, following a foresight approach. Scenario-focused engagement with stakeholders and experts was conducted to gain a better understanding of emerging economic and social inequalities at EU and regional levels. The research findings are presented together with policy pointers on developing measures to achieve a just transition that leaves no one behind.

29 October 2021

Other

Exploring the social challenges of low carbon energy policies in Europe

This briefing is co-produced by the European Environment Agency (EEA) and Eurofound. It is based on the results of two complementary analyses by the EEA and the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions (Eurofound) on the socioeconomic effects of climate policies, in the context of the European Green Deal and the EU transition to a carbon-neutral economy. The EEA focused on the understanding of distributional aspects of climate change policies, while Eurofound sought to identify, based on national experiences, the climate policies with significant distributional effects and explore how these are being addressed in EU Member States. This briefing focuses on the effect on citizens of climate mitigation policies in the energy, transport and building sectors, through the impacts of these policies on their daily lives (jobs, mobility, housing, etc.).

6 July 2021

Research report

Distributional impacts of climate policies in Europe

With the European Green Deal, the EU is setting in motion a set of policies and measures aimed at preventing and alleviating the effects of climate change. The main objective is to embark on the transition to a climate-neutral economy. These much needed climate policies, however, may have undesirable distributional effects on individuals and companies. As well as their intended effects, some measures, such as carbon taxes, can have associated regressive effects, negatively impacting on people with lower income levels, and hence lowering their acceptability. Based on the most recent national experiences, this report identifies those climate policies having significant distributional effects and explores how these are being addressed in the various Member States. In addition, the report identifies and describes the main issues and players in the ongoing public debate on the socioeconomic impacts of climate policies.

10 April 2019

Research report

The future of manufacturing in Europe

The pilot project The Future of Manufacturing in Europe is an explorative and future-oriented study. It explores the future adoption of some key game-changing technologies and how this adoption can be promoted, even regionally. The analysis of implications for working life focuses primarily on tasks and skills, not only at the white-collar, tertiary-education level, but also for blue-collar occupations, including a focus on challenges facing national and company apprenticeship systems. The future orientation also includes quantitative estimates of the employment implications of the Paris Climate Agreement, of large increases in global tariffs and of radical automation. It also measures the return of previously offshored jobs to Europe. Other research examines how the deepening globalisation provides opportunities for small companies to engage in international supply chains. This final report summarises the 10 project reports, which are complemented by 47 case studies, 27 policy instruments and 4 associated publications.

See also: The future of manufacturing in Europe - Executive summary [download]

Experts on European Green Deal

Researchers at Eurofound provide expert insights and can be contacted for questions or media requests.

Tina Weber

Senior research manager
Working life research

Tina Weber is a senior research manager in Eurofound’s Working Life unit. Her work has focused on labour shortages, the impact of hybrid work and an ‘always on’ culture and the right to disconnect, working conditions and social protection measures for self-employed workers and the impact of the twin transitions on employment, working conditions and industrial relations. She is responsible for studies assessing the representativeness of European social partner organisations. She has also carried out research on European Works Councils and the evolution of industrial relations and social dialogue in the European Union. Prior to joining Eurofound in 2019, she worked for a private research institute primarily carrying out impact assessments and evaluations of EU labour law and labour market policies. Tina holds a PhD in Political Sciences from the University of Edinburgh which focussed on the role of national trade unions and employers’ organisations in the European social dialogue.

Jorge Cabrita

Senior research manager
Working life research

Jorge Cabrita is a senior research manager in the Working Life unit. He is responsible for formulating, coordinating and managing European-wide research, and promoting the dissemination of findings in the areas of working conditions and industrial relations. His main research areas of interest include working conditions and job quality, working time and work–life balance, workers’ health and well-being, gender equality and the socioeconomic impacts of the transition to a climate-neutral economy. He is currently leading research on working time developments and on social dialogue and collective bargaining during the COVID-19 pandemic. Previously, he worked as a researcher at the Centre for Studies for Social Intervention and at the Research Centre on the Portuguese Economy of the Lisbon School of Economics, and as a trainer and consultant in the areas of strategic management, organisational communication, leadership and team building. He holds a BSc in Economics and an MSc in Socio-Organisational Systems of Economic Activity from the Lisbon School of Economics.

John Hurley

Senior research manager
Employment research

John Hurley is a senior research manager in the Employment unit at Eurofound. He took up the role of research manager in February 2012. He contributes to a number of research projects including the European Jobs Monitor and has authored or co-authored over 20 reports as well as journal contributions and edited collections during his time at Eurofound. His main research interests are in the areas of comparative labour market analysis, restructuring and the changing world of work. John is a graduate of both Trinity College Dublin and University College Dublin.

All content for European Green Deal

This section provides access to all content that has been published on the topic.

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European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions
The tripartite EU agency providing knowledge to assist in the development of better social, employment and work-related policies