Constructing Narratives of the Twin Transition: Digitalization and Sustainability in EU Foresight

The European Union's strategy for achieving climate neutrality by 2050 places the twin transition—digitalization and sustainability—at the core of its policy frameworks, as reflected in the European Green Deal. These transitions have been framed as both technological and societal, requiring not only innovation but also governance capable of anticipating and shaping future transformations. This context sets the stage for examining how the EU's foresight processes construct and disseminate narratives that guide public understanding and policy development related to the twin transition. The construction of these future narratives raises questions about how societal and environmental changes are framed. To shed light on how narratives about the twin transition are constructed, this paper analyzes key EU policy documents, as well as larger frameworks such as those developed by the IPCC Working Group III. Using narrative analysis, the paper identifies how digital technologies and sustainability strategies are framed within broader social, economic, and political contexts. This approach allows for an examination of how these narratives position digitalization as essential to achieving sustainability while embedding these developments within sectoral and societal transformations. The findings show that while the narratives are predominantly technocratic, there is an increasing emphasis on contextualizing digital and green transitions within a wider set of social and political dynamics. The narratives analyzed reflect both the potential and limitations of how digitalization is seen as a driver of sustainable futures, revealing the performative nature of foresight in shaping expectations and policy directions. This paper thereby contributes to understanding how current anticipatory knowledge practices, such as those embedded in EU foresight, influence societal agency and the construction of future imaginaries. The paper highlights the role of digitalization within broader sustainability strategies and reflects on the implications of these narratives for envisioning transformative futures.