Blog: 'The Twin Transition – An Introduction'

As societies strive to meet the challenge of decarbonisation, a variety of technological, institutional and social innovations are changing the way we live our lives. Two major transformations are particularly important today: the green transition and the digital transition. But what exactly are these transitions, how do they interact, and what does that mean for our energy future?

In the context of decarbonisation, the EU leads through its Green Deal by targeting sustainability and addressing climate change and environmental degradation (Muench et al., 2022). Notably, digital technologies are positioned as a key enabler of these goals (European Commission, 2019), which sparks the twin transition: smart innovations to boost green aims (Paiho et al., 2023). The Twin Transition Blog, published by the Groningen Centre of Energy Law and Sustainability (GCELS), explores this interaction in the context of energy systems, asking how data-driven technologies can enable low-carbon energy infrastructures, and what legal, regulatory, societal and technical conditions need to be in place for that to happen justly and securely.

Although the twin transition has attracted growing interest from scholars and practitioners, significant knowledge gaps remain (Tabres et al., 2015, Diodato et al., 2023). Therefore, to understand the implications of the twin transition in practice, it is important to examine how digitalisation and decarbonisation interact in everyday energy use. On the one hand, the digital transition makes appliances and energy systems smarter, while the green transition drives innovation by promoting sustainable energy sources. At the same time, the relationship works in both directions: digital technologies enable sustainability, while sustainability increasingly reshapes the development and deployment of digital technologies. An example of this is smart washing machines connected to smart home energy management systems that can automatically start when solar panels generate excess electricity, allowing households to optimise the use of renewable energy. In turn, the green transition enables the generation and use of renewable energy sources, such as solar power, to sustainably power these technologies.

Green transition-related goals are expected to reshape the digital transformation. In increasingly decentralised electricity systems with high shares of renewable energy sources, digitalisation and automation become essential for grid operation rather than merely supportive tools. Therefore, despite the role of digital solutions in promoting sustainability, the sustainability of digital technologies is also a concern within the twin transitions. Designing, testing, and implementing digital solutions depend on the availability of (natural) resources that are at risk of depletion, including water, energy, and critical raw materials (Faggian et al. 2025). Those resources are essential to ensure the functioning of the necessary infrastructure. Together, these facts demonstrate the deep interconnection between digitalisation and decarbonisation, which will be explored in this blog.

By Jamie Behrendt (Assistant Professor, Groningen Centre of Energy Law and Sustainability) & José Grabiel Luis Cordova (Assistant Professor, Groningen Centre of Energy Law and Sustainability & STeP research group)