The European Data Centre (EDC) is working in partnership with two other EDCs to carry out the proposed project.

The AD4GD Project, a three-year initiative led by Joan Masó, a researcher at CREAF, has made significant strides in creating a secure and transparent data sharing environment for the European Green Deal.

The Green Deal, a firm commitment by the EU to protect the environment, promote sustainable economic growth, and ensure a healthier and fairer future for its inhabitants, is an ambitious plan established by the European Union with the objective of transforming the block's economy into a more ecological and resilient one. The Green Deal aims to make Europe the first continent to be carbon neutral by 2050.

Data exchange is the heart of a data space, and the projects advocated for using federated, standardized technologies that respect GDPR norms. For data harmonization, the projects suggested promoting the use of existing international standards, expanding them to new realities, and betting on the use of conversion tools.

Reliable data is crucial to know if the proposed objectives of the Green Deal are being met. Hundreds of gigabytes are transferred daily between researchers, governments, and companies through various platforms. However, sensitive information such as the exact position of protected species or the location of an urban sensor network on private balconies cannot be given openly with the usual technologies. There are data that cannot be opened due to privacy regulations, potential misuse, or restrictive intellectual property.

To address these challenges, the AD4GD Project has demonstrated the application of its developed pieces in three pilot cases: water quality in small lakes, habitat connectivity evaluation, and air quality measurement using low-cost sensors in cities. Semantic interoperability aims to make data easily understandable to people and machines, and this is achieved by avoiding individual solutions and reusing well-defined concepts grouped in stable vocabularies.

The collaborative policy brief presents recommendations primarily for the Directorate-General for Communications Networks, Content and Technology of the European Commission, focusing on five fundamental pillars: data harmonization, semantic interoperability, metadata, data exchange, and governance. The AD4GD Project has collaborated with three other Horizon Europe projects to distill these recommendations for the European Commission and the European SAGE project, responsible for building the Data Space for the Green Deal.

Metadata curation is crucial and should be recognized economically, with curation done using formats adapted to the needs of users. Governance should be participatory, inclusive, and prioritize the general interest and progress towards the sustainability objectives of the European Green Deal.

Open science is putting valuable information about climate, biodiversity, and pollution at the disposal of the whole world. However, there is currently no unique method for securely, reliably, automating, and easily sharing data that cannot be opened to everyone. The AD4GD Project is working to fill this gap, paving the way for a more sustainable and transparent future for Europe.

The European Data Centre (EDC) is working in partnership with two other EDCs to carry out the proposed project.