The environmental dimension of digital sovereignty

Overview

Without adequate energy and material infrastructures, data governance and storage remain incomplete and structurally vulnerable. Understanding how frameworks such as the Critical Raw Materials Act are implemented in practice, including diversification mechanisms and stockpiling strategies is essential.

Frontier research on energy-efficient computing, circular hardware systems, and low-impact data infrastructures is crucial to reframing sustainability not as a parallel objective but as a foundation for sovereignty. The environmental footprint of digital infrastructures represents a structural bottleneck that directly affects strategic resilience. In this regard, it is worth recalling that digital sovereignty must align with the EU’s net-zero commitments and climate targets, ensuring that strategic choices in the digital domain reinforce, Europe’s long-term decarbonisation pathway.

Expert Investigation

A pool of experts is to investigate digital sovereignty and data sharing, focused on identifying approaches, challenges, and opportunities related to the development and implementation of Digital Sovereignty in the European Union. The work will contribute to a better understanding of how Europe can strengthen its capacity to act independently and responsibly across the digital stack, covering people, markets, infrastructures, and governance, while maintaining openness, interoperability, and alignment with EU values.

They will assess the environmental implications (energy use of infrastructures, green computing, etc.) that different approaches to Digital Sovereignty may have within the EU. To achieve this, the expert will analyze and document governance models, dependencies, and enablers that shape the EU’s ability to exercise digital sovereignty, as well as to assess their implications for innovation, security, rights, and inclusion.

Publication

PUBLICATION AVAILABLE:  JRC Publications - Environmentally Sustainable Digital Sovereignty