As the European Union (EU) accelerates its efforts to meet the ambitious goals of the European Green Deal, including cutting greenhouse gas emissions by 55% by 2030 and achieving climate neutrality by 2050, the need for socially inclusive climate policies is pressing and ever growing. The SoGreen project steps into this space with the mission of exploring and understanding the social dimensions of the green transition across generations, regions, and socioeconomic groups.

At the heart of the SoGreen project lies the SoGreen Module, a comprehensive survey instrument developed through an international collaboration among four leading European social science research infrastructures (RIs):

1. The European Social Survey (ESS);
2. The Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE);
3. The Generations and Gender Programme (GGP);
4. Growing Up In Digital Europe (GUIDE).

Why Collaboration Matters

In addition to being relevant for the environment and technology, the green transition is also a social challenge. It affects how people live, work, travel, and engage with their communities. Capturing these nuances requires a multi-generational, multi-disciplinary, and multi-method approach, which no single infrastructure could achieve alone.

By joining forces, the four RIs combined their expertise, data resources, and methodological strengths to develop a module that is inclusive across age groups and life stages, adaptable to a wide range of national contexts, and integrated with environmental and geospatial data. Designed with the future in mind, the module is also robust enough to support longitudinal and comparative research, ensuring its relevance and utility over time.

How the Collaboration Worked

The development of the SoGreen Module has followed a rigorous and iterative process, shaped by close collaboration among the four research infrastructures. The first step involved building a shared inventory, with teams from each RI contributing existing survey items related to climate change and sustainability. This laid the foundation for the next phase – item selection and design – whereby questions were collaboratively chosen and adapted. New items were co-developed by experts in environmental psychology and reviewed collectively by all four teams to ensure relevance and quality.

To further refine the module, a dedicated expert survey was conducted, collecting feedback from stakeholders across academia, civil society, and industry who are actively engaged in the green transition.

A Shared Vision for Socially Just Climate Action

Apart from being a technical partnership, this collaboration is a shared commitment to equity, inclusion, and evidence-based policymaking. Through the integration of survey responses with contextual data (e.g., air quality, transport access), the SoGreen Module offers a holistic lens to examine how environmental policies relate to populations across different ages and socioeconomic groups in European societies. From understanding energy poverty and job insecurity to measuring public trust in climate governance, the module provides actionable insights for designing policies that leave no one behind.

The Future

The SoGreen Module is set to become a cornerstone for comparative research on the social aspects of climate change. It exemplifies how collaboration across research infrastructures can produce tools that are both scientifically robust and socially meaningful. As the module rolls out across Europe, it will empower researchers, policymakers, and communities to co-create a green transition that is sustainable and just.