“4th Call for Proposals of the Programme for the Support of Applied Research, Experimental Development and Innovation in the Field of Environment – Environment for Life”
The contextual policy framework for the project Centre for Socio-Economic Environmental Policy Impact Research (SEEPIA, 2021-2026) is the Green Deal for Europe, which was put forward by the European Commission in late 2019 as a strategic vision for the transition to a carbon neutral, more sustainable and greener economy while reinforcing the value of protecting and restoring natural ecosystems, sustainable use of resources and improving human health. This transformation will require both the mobilisation of concentrated innovation potential that will change the functioning of industrial production, agriculture and the service sector, and a radical transformation of lifestyles, consumption patterns and value orientations of the Czech, European and global population.
The aim of the project is to create an interdisciplinary research centre that will provide long-term professional capacity for socio-economic research in the field of environment. The Centre will develop methods for policy impact assessment, foresight and behavioural research and provide expert support to the Ministry of Environment and other governmental authorities in the development of policies and strategies based on the Green Deal based on research on current and future impacts on the environment, economy and society. The outputs will be presented to the professional and general public. The Centre consists of 12 research organisations, universities and companies with a wide range of expertise and will focus on achieving 3 main objectives:
- Environmental and socio-economic policy evaluation.
The Centre will develop quantitative methods and procedures for ex post evaluations and assess the effectiveness of environmental policies. The Centre will evaluate the ex ante impacts of the Green Deal, build a macro-econometric and CGE model, and use optimization and simulation models, including regional input-output analysis, to validate the impacts of scenarios. The Centre will create a knowledge transfer hub for policy co-design, as a shared analytical database with information transfer between the sponsors of the different parts of the strategic cycle. - Development and application of foresight methods.
The Centre will develop foresight methods to identify new trends and reflections in the form of development scenarios that contribute to the understanding of transformative processes in society, research and technology, as a prerequisite for identifying current and future socio-economic and environmental challenges and their impacts. - Incorporating public attitudes and behaviour into the policy-making process.
The Centre will develop approaches drawing on behavioural and experimental economics, social psychology and sociology. Behavioural experiments will be designed and implemented to assess the effectiveness and acceptability of measures and readiness for structural change along the lines set out in the Green Deal. Continuous sociological research on the development of public opinion in relation to the environment will strengthen the means of communicating policies.
Principal Investigator: Charles University
Project partners:
- CENIA, Czech Environmental Information Agency;
- University of Economics in Prague;
- Cambridge Econometrics Hungary Kft;
- Technology Centre of the Czech Academy of Sciences;
- Chamber of Renewable Energy Sources, z.s.;
- Idealab, s.r.o.;
- EEIP, a.s.;
- Datlab s.r.o.;
- Silva Tarouca Research Institute for Landscape and Ornamental Horticulture, v. v. i.;
- Czech University of Agriculture in Prague;
- Institute of Sociology of the CAS, v. v. i.
More information about the project is available directly on the project website https://seepia.cz/.
Contact:
Tereza Kochová, tereza.kochova@cenia.cz
