The new ed* explains how digitisation and climate change are challenging social security schemes.

On 27 June, the European Representation of the German Social Insurance (DSV) celebrated its 30th anniversary at a specialist conference in Brussels. Under the title "140 years of social insurance - 30 years of the internal market. Bismarck on the move: Get digital. Go green" two major social developments that are also bringing about drastic changes in social security were analysed: Digitisation and climate change. The current Theme letter ed* from DSV includes the key messages from the event.

"Get digital" - Mobile working in the digital transformation and social protection

Digitisation is fully underway in all areas of life. It not only affects the operational processes used by the social security institutions. It is intended to make a significant contribution to better enforcing labour rights throughout Europe, further developing the coordinating of social security in a citizen-friendly manner, simplifying the cross-border mobility of workers and improving cooperation between authorities throughout Europe.

Highly complex, major differences

The EC has launched a series of initiatives to digitalise social security. Some of these - such as EESSI, the electronic exchanging of data between European social security institutions - are already running very well. Other initiatives such as the Single Digital Gateway (SDG), the European Social Security Passport (ESSPASS) or the European Digital Identity are still in their infancy or are in the preparatory testing phase. The experience gained with EESSI has shown one thing above all else: large-scale digital projects are extremely complex and require meticulous attention to detail. This is because the systems differ considerably in some cases, place different demands on digital solutions and reach different feasibility limits that vary from country to country. If implementation is to succeed, then the relevant social security organisations and national authorities must be involved at an early stage and be able to contribute their expertise so that the proposals can pass the practical test.

"Go Green" - social insurance in a changing climate

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), climate change is the greatest global health threat of the 21st century. Its consequences will also affect social security systems. The healthcare system has to prepare for new health risks caused by heat, radiation, the spread of infectious agents and psychological stress. Emergency and medical care structures will also come under massive strain due to the increasing frequency of environmental disasters. Workers will be exposed to increasingly extreme weather conditions and they will need effective protection in the workplace. Whereas new green technologies might be more sustainable, they could also involve new job risks.

Knowledge gaps and data deficits

Climate and social policies have been researched separately to date. There are still no systematic and adequately-targeted data acquisition processes that cover climate-related impacts on the health and social services. Conversely, all supply areas must also be scrutinised. The healthcare sector in particular makes a significant contribution to the problem by releasing greenhouse gases both directly and indirectly. Here, too, there is a general lack of data available for determining effective countermeasures.

Linking social and climate policies

Climate change acts like a magnifying glass and it magnifies the existing problems of over-, under- and misuse in the systems. An example of this is the still inadequate investment in prevention. Social imbalances also threaten to intensify if no political countermeasures are implemented. The EU has accepted this. Through its "Fit for 55" package of measures for the green transition, it is committed to ensuring a fair and socially just transition when realising its climate targets and taking social policy objectives into consideration. This must also apply in the other direction: Climate policy objectives must be embedded in the social policy in order to create a socially climate-neutral Europe.

Communication is important

The same applies to both trends - digitisation and climate change: The necessary changes can be frightening. This is why it is important to take the people with us, to develop awareness of the problem and to motivate them to face up to the challenges. Communication will make a decisive contribution to how well the transformation processes are managed.