The European Union launched the NextGenerationEU recovery plan in 2020 to address the economic crisis caused by the Covid pandemic. In Spain, this plan has taken the form of investments that aim to increase productivity and growth, transitioning towards a greener, more digital and inclusive society. These objectives are aligned with the European Green Deal presented before the pandemic, which introduced the idea of a twin transition: green and digital.

The Spanish recovery plan has 12 Strategic Projects for Economic Recovery and Transformation (PERTE) that include measures aimed at reinforcing strategic areas such as renewable energy. The funds allocated to projects in this area exceeded €8.4 billion in February 2025, the largest amount in all the projects.

A study by the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (UOC), published as open access, has examined 263 projects funded by the PERTE for renewable energy, renewable hydrogen and storage, which included digital technologies. The aim was to determine the extent to which these initiatives achieved the objective of the twin transition – energy and digital – targeted by the EU.

"In our study, we found that there is no transition taking place in the sense of ending the use of fossil fuels and replacing them with renewable energy sources. Instead, the consumption of renewable energy sources is being added to the existing consumption of fossil fuels, which is continuing to grow," explained Zora Kovacic, a researcher at the UOC’s Urban Transformation and Global Change Laboratory (TURBA Lab) and co-author of the study, which has been published in the journal Environmental Science and Policy.

The analysis shows that the difficulty in replacing one energy source with another is not an issue of insufficient digitalization. Kovacic, who is also a member of the Faculty of Economics and Business, offers transport as an example. "Digitalization isn't the key: both a combustion engine and an electric engine can be used in a vehicle with digital technologies. We expect digitalization to provide answers to a complex challenge like the energy transition, but digitalization is only part of the answer."


The challenges of the twin transition

The study, co-authored by Cristina García Casañas, a fellow researcher at TURBA Lab, covered projects with funding decisions published between 2020 and September 2023. In these projects related to the energy transition, the researchers identified the digital technologies concerned: artificial intelligence and intelligent robotics, data-driven technologies, the Internet of Things, computing infrastructure, software and technology services, distributed ledger technology, and augmented reality and metaverses.

Based on these projects, the authors considered three questions: what does the digitalization of the Spanish energy sector entail in practice? To what extent does digital innovation contribute to the energy transition? Does digital innovation in the energy sector live up to the claim that the benefits are socialized, in terms of the idea of a fair energy transition.

The study shows that despite the enthusiasm surrounding digital innovation, and although the projects analysed have too short a time span to determine whether or not digitalization can contribute to the energy transition, the outlook may be similar to that of smart grids, which have been in development for two decades with no clear results for sustainability.

"The challenge isn't to achieve the twin transition, but to ensure that the two transitions don't create more problems than the benefits they provide: digitalization has very high costs in terms of energy, water and rare materials if it's implemented on a large scale, which seems to be the aim of the digital transition, and it can lead to significant environmental problems," Kovacic said.


The major beneficiaries of 'green' funding

As for the possible socialization of benefits, the study shows the growing involvement of technology developers and private actors. The calls studied primarily provide funding for consortia (82% of the projects), which are often led by energy sector companies including Naturgy, Repsol, Técnicas Reunidas, Iberdrola and Cuerva Energía. According to the study, the operators and owners of the grid will inevitably be the main beneficiaries of funding for its transformation.

"Our political discourse suggests that focusing digitalization on major social challenges is a way to socialize its benefits, but in practice, given how policies are designed and implemented, it's obvious that this is difficult to achieve," Kovacic pointed out.

Although the study focuses on the case in Spain, the authors say that their study is relevant for all EU countries that have received funding from the NextGenerationEU programme, as it requires that the funds be targeted towards the green and digital transitions. It may also be useful for countries outside the EU, such as Brazil, India and South Africa, which are developing smart grid projects.

The study forms part of the Digital Turn in Environmental Governance: Insights from the energy and agri-food systems (DEMO) project funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation with NextGenerationEU funds for the twin transition.


This research contributes to Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 7, Affordable and Clean Energy.


Research at the UOC

Specializing in the digital realm, the UOC's research contributes to the construction of future society and the transformations required to tackle global challenges.
Over 500 researchers and more than 50 research groups make up five research units, each with a mission: Culture for a critical society, Lifelong education, Digital health and planetary well-being, Ethical and human-centred technology and Digital transition and sustainability.

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The goals of the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and open knowledge are strategic pillars that underpin the UOC's teaching, research and knowledge transfer activities. For more information, visit research.uoc.edu.