Innovations for Holistic and Sustainable Transitions

Abstract

Energy system planning has evolved from a narrow focus on engineering and supply works towards addressing more complex, multifactorial challenges. Increasingly challenged by climate change, extreme events, economic shocks, and altered supply demand patterns, the analysis of energy systems requires holistic approaches based on data-driven models, taking into account key socio-economic factors. We draw insights from reviewing the literature, indicating the need to cover the following major gaps: the shift to transdisciplinary approaches, incorporating environmental system analysis; resilient and sustainable energy designs based on flexible portfolios of renewable mixes; the integration of socio-economic aspects, economic analyses and behavioural models to ensure energy systems are not only technically sound but socially acceptable and viable; the need for stakeholder engagement considering the human angle in energy security and behavioural shifts. Responding to these pressing challenges and emerging needs, the Global Climate Hub (GCH) initiative, operating under the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network, offers a conceptual framework, leveraging transdisciplinary approaches. In this Concept Paper, we present for the first time the idea of the GCH as a framework that we believe has the potential to address the modern holistic needs for energy system analysis and policymaking. By setting the conceptual/theoretical ground of our suggested approach, we aim to provide guidance for innovative combinations of cutting-edge models, socio-economic narratives, and inclusive interaction with relevant stakeholders for the development and the long-term implementation of sustainable pathways.

1. Introduction

The considerations underpinning energy policies have evolved significantly. Initially, the focus was on providing electricity (primarily) through large-scale infrastructure projects like power plants, transmission lines, and dams [1]. This supply-side approach dominated the energy landscape, with governments and utilities investing heavily in centralized generation and distribution systems [2]. Over time, the limitations of this narrow, supply-side approach became clear, as the (often overlooked) environmental and social impacts of such projects became increasingly evident [2]. The construction and operation of power plants, dams, and transmission lines often led to habitat destruction, water scarcity, air pollution, and community displacement [3]. To provide a few examples justifying these impacts, there have been studies highlighting the deforestation and biodiversity risks of energy investments, revealing that significant portions of forests and biodiversity are threatened due to infrastructure projects, including energy developments [4]. Other studies show how the ecosystem services can be affected by certain energy development decisions [5]. Also, the broader ecological impacts of traditional energy generation methods such as fossil fuel- and nuclear-powered plants, have been reported long ago [6,7].

The gradual realization of such impacts coincided with an increasing sensitization of the broader sustainability transition of the economy and energy systems [8]. Sustainable energy policies have become a key focus in recent international policies, most notably within the framework of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. SDG 7 specifically aims to “ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable, and modern energy for all”, recognizing energy as a critical enabler for inclusive development. This goal emphasizes the importance of universal access to energy, increasing the share of renewable energy and improving energy efficiency, as essential components for achieving broader development objectives [9]. Furthermore, energy is interconnected with all other SDGs, including health (SDG3), climate action (SDG13), and sustainable cities (SDG11), highlighting its central role in fostering sustainable economic growth (SDG8) and addressing global challenges [10,11]. Also, the interaction between energy and digital transition, the need for automation and AI integration in energy assets performance management (APM) approach and the impact on demand patterns in industrial sector are leading to the interconnection of energy with additional SDGs, such as SDG9 (Industry Innovation and Infrastructure) and SDG12 (Responsible Consumption—also related to circular economy principles). The urgency of transitioning to sustainable energy systems is underscored by the need for integrated approaches that optimize energy’s effects across various sectors, ensuring equity and inclusiveness in the process [12].

Countries are making varied progress in energy decarbonization, with some leading the way while others face significant challenges [10,13], with income inequalities being the main driver of the potential to use more renewable energy sources [14]. Despite some advancements [15], no country is fully on track for a complete energy transition. Moreover, failures and setbacks are not uncommon, as showcased by the cancellation of major projects, policy reversals, and public opposition to certain energy technologies [16,17,18,19]. This generates more difficulties in the efficient use of resources that are absolutely necessary for the deployment of clean energy, such as water reservoirs, or electrical infrastructure. Moreover, the extreme temperature limits (both around high or low temperature limits) accelerate the need for more cooling or heating demand. This underscores the need for stronger policies and financing, based on solid and holistic data-driven pathways and socially acceptable solutions to accelerate the shift and achieve global climate goals.

This Concept Paper supports this assertion by presenting an overview of the evolution of energy policy toward transdisciplinarity and the inclusion of more sophisticated technical aspects, and the integration of socio-economic and human-centric perspectives, and environmental modelling to control for unintended impacts. We examine examples that highlight the necessity for such approaches and their growing prevalence. Building on these findings, we provide a way forward to cover these gaps. We discuss how these aspects can be effectively integrated into a comprehensive, innovative, and transferable framework, which we present here for the first time. This framework is the blueprint of a research-led initiative, the Global Climate Hub, aimed at fostering holistic and sustainable energy policymaking. We present its conceptual structure and innovative elements, setting the theoretical grounds for more holistic and inclusive energy policy assessments and applications, based on this idea.

2. Bridging Transdisciplinary Science with Society

2.1. Towards Transdisciplinarity: From Engineering Works to Integrated Modelling

The transition from the large energy-supply engineering works to a new era of carbon-neutral and energy-autonomous (or decentralized) systems is characterized by a broader sustainability transformation. This has meant moving beyond a focus on electricity supply to incorporate demand-side management, energy and economic efficiency, renewable energy and smart grids [20] that aim to be resilient to other complex challenges, such as natural hazards and economic market shocks [21,22,23]. The sustainability transition we seek today emphasizes renewable energy, energy efficiency, demand-side management, and smart grid technologies. Energy policy has also shifted towards more integrated approaches, based on model-driven simulations of the demand and fuel availability for different economic sectors, providing policymakers with multiple plausible scenarios and solutions [24,25].

One prominent example of more holistic simulation modelling is the Low Emissions Analysis Platform (LEAP), a widely used scenario-based software tool that supports a range of methodologies for energy policy analysis and climate change mitigation assessments [26,27]. LEAP allows users to track energy consumption, production and resource extraction in all sectors of an economy, while accounting for greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions [28]. LEAP supports bottom-up end-use accounting techniques as well as top-down macroeconomic modelling on the demand side [26]. On the supply side, it provides accounting and simulation methodologies for electric sector generation and capacity expansion planning [29]. Another example is the Balmorel model, an open-source partial equilibrium model that simulates the electricity and combined heat and power sectors [30]. Balmorel optimizes investments and operations in electricity and district heating systems, considering demand, transmission, storage, and generation technologies [31,32]. Numerous other applications offer similar capabilities, including the PRIMES model, developed by E3Modelling, that addresses energy demand, supply, prices, and emissions across European countries, integrating microeconomic foundations with engineering aspects to assess policy impacts [33,34]. The MATRIX model focuses on energy price shocks and stabilization policies, providing insights into macroeconomic dynamics and policy responses [35,36]. Furthermore, custom applications like the European Electricity Market Model (EMMA) analyzes the market value of variable renewables and their integration into energy systems [37,38].

These integrated modelling approaches represent a shift from traditional siloed approaches to energy policy. By considering multiple sectors, explicit economic factors, new technologies, the environmental angle of energy policies through GHG emissions and fuel sources availability, and different future scenarios (often connected with other disciplines, e.g., climate science, natural hazards, economics, or public health), they enable a more holistic and transdisciplinary understanding of the energy system [39]. This is crucial for navigating the complex challenges of the sustainability transition, which requires coordinating across disciplines, stakeholders, and scales [40,41].

However, implementing a truly transdisciplinary approach remains challenging. Fragmentation between disciplines, difficulties in data and knowledge exchange, and the need to integrate social, economic, market, and technical aspects of the energy transition, along with the required workforce, are ongoing barriers [10,12,42]. Overcoming these challenges will require continued innovation in modelling methodologies, innovative model coupling in terms of environmental and socio-economic feedbacks, stakeholder engagement and efficient communication, and the application of systems thinking to energy policy [43].

2.2. Towards Resilience and Sustainability

In the face of climate change, with increasing extreme events such as heatwaves, storms, floods, and hurricanes disrupting energy infrastructures, the need for building resilient societies has become imperative [44]. Such challenges, combined with cyberattacks, geopolitical tensions and population movements changing the energy demand patterns, underscore even more the need for developing resilient energy systems that can adapt to and withstand the growing frequency and intensity of such phenomena and challenges, ensuring a stable, reliable, and sustainable energy supply for the future [45].

Resilient energy systems are characterized by high redundancy, functional diversity, adaptability, and modularity, allowing them to withstand disruptions, maintain essential energy services and recover quickly [46]. The literature is rich on resilient energy systems, focusing mainly on their technical and modelling aspects, while recognizing that building resilience is not enough; energy systems must also transition towards sustainability to mitigate long-term threats like climate change [44,47,48]. We argue that the proper consideration of the environmental system, and the socio-economic drivers of the societies, are the main levers we need to look at in order to achieve sustainability.

The overall transition and direction towards covering these gaps, summarizing the main findings of the literature review of this section, are outlined in

Table 1. The transition from one-sided and technocratic solutions towards more holistic, multifactorial and transdisciplinary approaches in energy planning.

Existing/Prevailing Approaches	Future Research and Policy Directions
Engineering works mainly focused on energy supply	Integrated modelling, considering different energy sources, flexible portfolios, environmental and social implications.
Building resilient energy infrastructure	Resilience to various and diverse hazards and systems disturbances, including climate and extreme phenomena, altered demand patterns and economic shocks. Sustainability is also an increasing factor, as energy planning includes the management of environmental and socio-economic factors.
Predominantly technocratic solutions	Combination of environmental modelling, socio-economic assessments, including environmental valuation and human perspective for just and equitable decarbonization pathways.

.

2.2.1. Integrating Environmental Modelling, Flexible Solutions and Energy Portfolios

With respect to the environmental system, as mentioned in the previous section, most energy models consider factors such as GHG emissions and fuel source availability. Although this is a significant first step, environmental modelling must be integrated into energy system modelling, as the feedbacks between energy sources—such as water, wind, solar—and their impacts on GHG emissions, pollution, and resource depletion are deeply interconnected [49].

It is well established that energy is a big part of ‘nexus’ approaches, namely, the coupled modelling or at least the joint consideration of water–energy–food–climate–ecosystem nexuses [50,51,52,53]. Understanding and modelling these resources for energy production while considering their roles as pollution receptors and recognizing their finite nature are crucial. For instance, a one-sided reliance on any one resource, like water for hydropower, can lead to depletion, habitat destruction, and long-term environmental degradation, as well as unintended economic consequences [54,55,56]. By diversifying their energy mix, countries can mitigate environmental risks, ensure stability in power generation, and reduce the risk of overdependence on a single source, while accelerating decarbonization [57]. Thus, the two “keywords” we need to highlight at this stage are integrated energy-environmental modelling and flexibility of energy mixes and solutions, developing portfolios of renewable sources (e.g., wind, solar, hydropower, geothermal energy, circular solutions along with storage infrastructure), to achieve autonomy, balance usage and preserve critical natural resources.

2.2.2. Integrating Socio-Economic Considerations

With respect to the socio-economic angle, it is required to provide (a) economically feasible solutions that support the full deployment and market uptake of renewables; (b) integrated information to policymakers, by considering the environmental values through environmental valuation; (c) solutions that can act as sustainable pathways, supported by strong financial instruments; (d) behavioural changes to own and manage such pathways, and adopting new technologies.

In particular, economically feasible solutions should not only align with environmental goals but should also be cost-effective and financially viable for both consumers and industries, ensuring that the transition to sustainable energy systems will not create financial burdens, but will be accessible, fair, and competitive in the market [58]. In promoting the energy transition, one should not underestimate the issue of energy poverty, which undermines social inclusion and hinders people’s ability to benefit from the technical advancements in green energy. In addition, scholars and policymakers should also consider the distinction between energy poverty in the Global North, which is mainly associated with affordability, and the Global South where the pivotal issue is accessibility.

Besides the economic and technical data, environmental values must be taken also into account. This is in line with what we described in the previous sub-section regarding the integration of environmental modelling, as it is crucial to incorporate environmental valuation insights in energy policymaking. Environmental valuation practically quantifies the economic worth of ecosystem services (e.g., clean air, water, soil, etc.) and the costs of environmental degradation, helping policymakers make informed decisions that balance development with environmental protection [59,60].

Robust and tailored financial instruments, such as green bonds, subsidies, and public–private partnerships, should support such policies meeting our energy needs in a sustainable manner by incentivizing investments in sustainable energy technologies and infrastructure, renewable mixes and flexible portfolios [61,62,63]. The state and international financial institutions have a material part to play in the energy transition by financing basic research, provide the necessary de-risking for private sector engagement in the most ambitious projects and contribute directly to value creation through research and application.

Technological advances in areas like weather forecasting, demand response, and energy storage are enabling the integration of high shares of variable renewable generation and greener fuels without compromising reliability [64,65,66]. Public support and social acceptance are crucial for the adoption and diffusion of sustainable energy technologies and renewable sources, as well as for more efficient energy demand and consumption management [67,68]. However, this requires behavioural changes that are likely to happen through public engagement, education and sensitization, and making equitable access and fairness in the distribution of costs and benefits central aspects of energy policymaking [69,70]. Energy transitions that are designed with local communities in mind—considering their needs, preferences, and concerns—are more likely to succeed and avoid opposition. Public acceptance of sustainable energy projects, for instance, can be improved by ensuring that local communities are engaged and understand the ways that they can directly benefit from the deployment of wind, solar, or hydropower projects, as well as through job creation and market incentives focusing on the adoption of new technologies, improved infrastructure, or shared ownership models.

2.3. The Human Angle

Energy policymaking should aim to create resilient systems that are environmentally sound, while considering their socio-economic components. However, another aspect that must also be taken into account, is the human angle and this is also reflected by the relevant literature [71,72]. In order to make energy systems equitable and reach long-term sustainability and public trust, the human perspective is a key element. Key aspects to consider, as part of this human perspective, include cultural factors, individual and community well-being, public acceptance, and economic considerations [73].

Understanding cultural contexts can enhance the design and implementation of energy policies, ensuring they resonate with local values and practices (e.g., energy sources, fuel types, infrastructure characteristics, and demand and consumption patterns) [74]. As analyzed in the previous section, public acceptance is key for the success of energy policies, and it should be clear that it often hinges on the perceived fairness and benefits of proposed changes, resulting from human/personal drivers of any community [73]. Moreover, prioritizing well-being involves addressing how energy systems impact daily life, health, and comfort, which can foster greater public trust and support for sustainability initiatives [75]. Such elements of personal feeling, trust, culture and well-being characteristics are recognized as decision-making drivers, and they can lead to more effective and widely supported solutions [76].

A crucial element here is the notion of human security, which is linked to the need for individuals and communities to feel safe and secure in their access to energy, especially electricity and heating [77]. This concept is closely related to environmental security, water security, energy security, and the overall sense of security that can be studied at a personal or community scale [78]. Access to affordable and clean energy is inextricably linked to environmental security; nonetheless, it is also associated with economic security as well as personal security. Communities that are left behind in the energy transition also face significant economic adversities through higher energy costs, technological lock-in and outflow of skilled individuals and are expected to experience societal and political tensions. This is especially evident and crucial during extreme weather events, economic crises, or other shocks and disturbances, where energy insecurity can exacerbate vulnerabilities [79,80]. Human security focuses on the individual rather than the nation state, which is conceptually intertwined with the SDGs framework, underscoring the need for societies to eradicate violent conflict, hunger, multidimensional poverty, hunger, disease, and oppression of any minority or group [77].

Despite the recognition of the need to consider the human angle in energy policymaking, and its increasing trends in the literature, it is still an overlooked issue that needs more attention, and robust metrics to measure it [81,82]. A people-centered approach helps to develop a locally attuned understanding of energy security (and human security in general) and shaping informed responses tailored to the contextual attributes of different communities. In the future, it is likely that researchers will focus more systematically on effectively measuring the dimension of human security—and all its aspects—as a contextual factor that is necessary to significantly influence and shape sustainable energy behaviors and ensure the acceptability of policies.

3. The Approach of the Global Climate Hub as a Response

The previous section shows the trend towards and importance of considering comprehensive interdisciplinary approaches encompassing environmental, social, economic and human systems related to energy systems and policy. By employing integrated approaches that consider these elements, policymakers can design interventions that not only promote renewable energy adoption but also enhance overall societal well-being. In this section, we present a framework to successfully and efficiently combine these elements and support the sustainability of long-term energy solutions.

Under the United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network (UN SDSN), we developed the Global Climate Hub (GCH), an international research-led and research-funded initiative aiming to meet the needs mentioned in Section 2, while providing long-term sustainable policies and energy secure pathways. The GCH acts as an initiative for change, leveraging science-based models and solutions for a holistic and equitable transition towards a more resilient and sustainable world.

The GCH is a diverse group of research teams with the necessary expertise to tackle modern sustainability challenges, including energy-related challenges, in a coordinated way. It provides actionable pathways resulting from comprehensive modelling of natural/physical systems, resilience assessments of climate change and extreme phenomena, socio-economic models, and living labs with extensive and transformative stakeholder engagement and co-development of solutions [83].

The GCH’s approach covers all the gaps and areas outlined in the previous section [84]. It combines different disciplines (e.g., climate, natural systems, energy systems, public health, economics and social science, among others); it is transdisciplinary in the way it coordinates and uses this diverse expertise to develop holistic solutions; it considers the socio-economic aspects and involves co-developing solutions with relevant stakeholders, ensuring their wide co-ownership, and accelerating the necessary investments for their implementation; it develops and uses innovative metrics to account for the human security angles of the policies under consideration; it provides programs for long-term training and education to sustain the proposed sustainable pathways.

The described research approach is unique and powerful in its holistic nature and transferability. It can be applied to any country/region, capitalizing on the UN’s SDSN network consisting of multiple local and regional hubs and dedicated research teams worldwide [85].

In order to further specify how the GCH’s approach works in practice, it is necessary to explain the five pillars/innovations on which the solutions’ development is based (Figure 1).

I.

Development of advanced cross-sectoral system dynamics models

Cutting-edge models, built on data-driven and mathematical simulations, are essential for capturing the trade-offs and dynamics across natural and infrastructure systems. These models analyze interactions among various systems (such as energy, water, land, atmosphere, food, etc.), allowing us to simulate scenarios and predict system behavior under different conditions. These conditions can refer to climate change projections, extreme phenomena and shocks, and management or policy scenarios to evaluate their impacts.

II.

Support through an AI-driven digital infrastructure

A robust AI-driven digital infrastructure has been developed to support the management of large datasets generated by cross-sectoral simulations and facilitate the different models’ integration. It automates the harmonization, updating, and handling of big data, while enabling the development of digital twins—virtual replicas of physical systems. This infrastructure is crucial for integrating different modelling results that are particularly useful to study together and for providing visualizations that enhance understanding.

III.

Bridging holistic scientific approaches with civil society

To ensure that sustainable pathways are fair and publicly acceptable, there must be a connection between holistic scientific models and civil society. This is achieved by developing socio-economic narratives that are tailored to specific cases, integrating economic models, valuation approaches, equilibrium models, and analyses of trade-offs. These narratives help to contextualize scientific insights in a way that is relevant to the everyday lives of individuals, promoting policies and solutions that are equitable, sustainable, and economically sound.

IV.

Transformative participatory frameworks for stakeholder engagement

Engaging stakeholders in the co-design of sustainable pathways is critical to ensuring these solutions are both scientifically grounded and socially accepted. Transformative participatory frameworks involve communities, policymakers, and experts throughout the process, promoting collaboration and shared ownership of the outcomes. The GCH has an entire research unit working on such frameworks using state-of-the-art models, technologies and tools for living labs in a human-centric way, ensuring that solutions are tailored to the needs and values of stakeholders who must develop a sense of ownership of these solutions and their long-term sustainable and trusted implementation.

V.

Open science and open access principles for sustainable pathways

All our data, models, and scientific tools developed are openly accessible, allowing for broad participation in the scientific process. We strongly believe that the sustainable pathways we develop should be built on the principles of open science, ensuring transparency and collaboration. This ensures that the knowledge and infrastructure developed can be used by researchers, policymakers, and the public alike, fostering innovation and enabling more comprehensive, inclusive solutions that are freely shared for the common good.

As mentioned, the GCH consists of nine research units, each one with its own research head and committed members. These units cover a wide range of expertise in digital applications, climate science, land–water–food–energy–biodiversity systems, human health, solutions acceleration, labour markets, policy, finance, participatory approaches, education and training programs (Figure 2). It is their coordinated and systemic work that enables the provision and implementation of holistic, sustainable pathways, triggering the necessary transformations in all layers of the complex challenges our societies face [86]. This coordinated approach follows the five principles (innovations) of Figure 1, making the applications possible for any problem, scale and region. Indeed, such problems include the just decarbonization of energy systems, while considering the environmental and socio-economic implications highlighted in the previous sections.

According to the illustrated approach of Figure 1, the research units of Figure 2 use state-of the-art tools, models and approaches (for their respective fields) to provide new, innovative, and socially acceptable pathways. The solution pathways provided by the GCH can be applied anywhere and be tailored to any context, and there are several ongoing projects for various case studies at national, regional, and continental scales, taking advantage of the wide, global SDSN coverage (Figure 2).

4. The GCH Concept Example for Analyzing Energy Systems

In this section, we provide a more in-depth explanation of what sort of work and what tools can be used by each one of the nine research units of the GCH, indicatively for energy systems analysis, along with some application examples.

The “climatology” unit (unit 2) provides climate change scenarios, and their projections downscaled to the region of interest, allowing us to explore their impacts on key variables (e.g., impact of future temperature and rainfall on energy demand and consumption). This practically can be achieved by downscaling Regional Circulation Models (RCMs) for instance, providing sets of plausible future conditions in a studied region/area, that can affect energy-related parameters and patterns [87,88]. Also, the study of extreme phenomena (e.g., historic floods, earthquakes, hurricanes, etc.) is covered by this unit in order to provide a description of a similar disturbance. Thus, the energy systems’ performance can be tested against such phenomena to explore how to make them more resilient [89].

The “systems modelling” unit (unit 3) focuses on the modelling of natural/physical systems to provide us with integrated assessments to understand how such systems function. In particular, we develop and apply models simulating land-use changes, land productivity, and mainly monitor urbanization (based on remote sensing techniques, according to [90,91]) rates that directly affect energy demand. Such insights are connected to models of the dynamics of land, agriculture, food production and diets (based on the FABLE Calculator [92]), which also affect energy use patterns. Another key parameter in energy planning is hydropower, so we also employ water management and hydrological models to obtain estimates on the availability and potential use constraints [93].

The “energy” unit (unit 4) is dedicated to the development and application of energy-emissions models to provide data-driven insights for all sectors of the economy. In particular, we use the Balmorel model [94], a fully sector-coupled energy system approach to explore plausible cross-sectoral decarbonization pathways based on the adoption of greener fuels as supply sources [95]. Also, we use the LEAP model for more thorough assessments of the energy demand, costs and prices, and affordability of various policy scenarios [26]. This unit covers all sectors of the economy, namely residential, services, agriculture and forestry, industry, and transportation. In particular, for the maritime sector, we have developed the MaritimeGCH model, which integrates economic, energy, fuel, emission and environmental factors, with economic and European policy considerations to provide pathways for sustainable shipping [96].

The “public health” unit (unit 5) analyzes the effects of various energy policies in human health. These can be associated with emissions, their future evolution and the impact of different decarbonization pathways [97]. The tools used are econometric models for the impact assessment and policy analyses to provide mitigation recommendations [98].

The “economics” unit (unit 7) develops the socio-economic narratives for the integration of several of the parameters and results mentioned above into robust economic models, providing finance options for a just transition [99]. The tools used by this unit cover environmental valuation techniques to integrate their insights into energy policymaking to make it more holistic [100] and equilibrium models for the description/simulation of the overall picture of the economy under recent policies and sustainable decarbonization solutions [101,102]. An innovative example of this approach that is worth mentioning is the use of the environmental valuation of the ecosystem services (the benefits of having healthier ecosystems by adopting flexible renewable mixes) and the health impacts (better health due to reduces GHG emissions) to develop subsidies for certain energy policies. These aim to boost the uptake of innovative and more sustainable measures by local energy suppliers. Such measures refer to the use of energy-autonomous solar power units, enabling the operation of recycling and/or water reuse options. Furthermore, solutions related to finance opportunities and labour markets are also developed to ensure that the decarbonization pathways will be fully sustainable and will not happen at the expense of economic outputs or employment, but will in fact lead to increased productivity and the creation of greener jobs [103,104].

The “transformative participation” unit (unit 8) includes the whole process of stakeholder engagement, spanning from the early stages of model development (interacting with the aforementioned units) to the common understanding of the problems that must be tackled, the existing solutions and approaches, and the development of sustainable pathways by both researchers and diverse stakeholders. Sophisticated tools and software such as LivingLabModeler [105] or MIRO [106] and technologies (e.g., Virtual Reality) are used to make the experience realistic and efficient. This unit ensures the inclusion of the social and human/personal angle in energy policymaking and planning. The development of novel Human Security metrics and newly developed Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) enable the measurement of a crucial decision-making driver for sustainable energy transitions, revealing hidden elements (e.g., psychological, safety, etc.) for more efficient development of implementable solutions [77].

The application of these solutions is the focus of the “innovation and acceleration” unit (unit 6). It mobilizes local governance, technology holders, start-ups, public–private partnerships, and all parties involved to uptake the designed pathways [107,108]. They become owners of the proposed solutions, giving particular importance to the inclusive, fair and equitable allocation of their benefits [109].

The “education” unit (unit 9) designs tailored training and upskilling programs to ensure the viability of the solutions [110]. These will be managed by the local stakeholders, after the project is finished to ensure that the necessary expertise stays in place for the successful long-term management of the developed solutions [111].

All the data, models, and insights produced by such a process follow the principles of open science. Unit 1 is currently developing a powerful AI-supported infrastructure to host these insights and make them publicly available.

5. Concluding Remarks

The presented approach of the GCH is a comprehensive and systemic framework that enables researchers and stakeholders to understand the natural and socio-economic systems, realize the multifaceted problems, explore and co-design solutions, and sustain them in the long run. It accomplishes this by addressing the gaps and trends presented in Section 2, as it offers interdisciplinary collaboration, coordination between scientists and stakeholders, ownership of solutions, and integration of socio-economic and human-centered perspectives into the developed pathways.

This Concept Paper is in essence a conceptual description of our vision towards sustainability, while it offers a preliminary picture of how it can practically work. There are currently several projects underway based on this approach, and although none of them are complete, we believe it was necessary and particularly useful to present here its conceptual foundations.

At this point, it is worth mentioning a few examples of such projects that are underway. We have started simulating the climate, energy, social and economic conditions of four European cities, along with the respective risks (natural, climatic, and supply chain) they face. This holistic simulation will be used to develop a tool to help public stakeholders and citizens assess the resilience of energy systems within the built environment, across multiple scales ranging from buildings to urban areas and territories. The aim of this project is to enhance preparedness and responsiveness throughout the life cycle of energy systems. A key element of the approach (in line with what we described in the previous sections) is the inclusion of human well-being, health, and quality of life as core metrics for evaluating resilience. Another example project that recently launched looks at the water–climate–energy–food nexus and its coupling with our socio-economic models to develop net-zero pathways at the European scale. The focus is on job creation, enhanced wellbeing and environmental stability. These projects take the GCH’s multidisciplinary approach, incorporating socio-economic, engineering, climate, and life sciences, while integrating relevant European and international policies and initiatives.

As these projects are underway, we cannot present any results at the moment. However, the aim of this paper was to present the concept of the GCH’s approach and the innovations it mobilizes at a theoretical level, rather to show the specific results of such applications. But it is worth noting two interesting observations from the ongoing research so far that apply for all case studies. First, it is difficult to make stakeholders understand that we need to build resilient energy and environmental systems to increasingly severe climatic threats. The understanding that extreme events for instance are not exceptions, but are likely to be the “new normal” in the future, is key to drive behavioural changes and investments to adaptation and mitigation. Second, the consideration of the social and human perspectives we analyzed is mostly overlooked. It is often omitted from current assessments, or at best perceived as a new parameter to include in energy policy.

We believe that adopting similar comprehensive approaches following the GCH concept holds immense potential for addressing pressing global challenges, such as the development of sustainable and resilient energy systems, with the same or higher economic outputs and job opportunities. In the future, we are optimistic that the research and policymaking will follow such ideas and will start to incorporate elements from these concepts. By mobilizing diverse, interdisciplinary research teams and leveraging the power of collaboration and on-ground research work (through the GCH and its national and regional networks), researchers can foster deeper connections with local communities and consistently drive meaningful action on different scales and problems.

Beyond just participating in projects, it is crucial that the GCH offers researchers the opportunity to remain actively involved in implementing their findings even after the projects are finished, while they can capitalize on their experiences and also apply them in other similar cases and projects.

We hope this approach becomes increasingly prevalent in the future, as we see it as a successful and uniquely holistic framework addressing modern challenges. We are optimistic that the GCH will continue inspiring more committed researchers to embrace this vision and join us in the pursuit of long-term sustainable solutions.