WRR-Newsletter May 2023

The Netherlands Scientific Council for Government Policy (WRR) has added three projects to its work programme. First, ‘The Expert Government’ project is focused on examining what in-house knowledge, skills and competences the government needs to possess or regain, in order to able to play a more substantive and guiding role in addressing complex societal issues. Second, in its project ‘The Netherlands in an Ageing World’ the Council studies the implications of ageing worldwide for the structure of the Dutch economy, labour market, macro policy and pensions. A third new project is ‘Tilting World Order: Government and Decision Making under Multipolarity and Multidimensional Power Politics’. The Council aims to contribute to a broadening of policy perspectives on the emergence of a new global power equilibrium and changes in the multilateral order.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) should be considered a system technology, similar to the steam engine, electricity, the combustion engine and computer. Taking this approach helps to look beyond the issues of the day and instead make long-term recommendations about how AI can be embedded in society. That is what the WRR argues in its newly published book Mission AI. The New System Technology in the Springer Series: Research for Policy.

On 7 March, the Netherlands Scientific Council for Government Policy (WRR) organized the national kick-off for the EU project ‘Building capacity for evidence-informed policymaking in governance and public administration in a post-pandemic Europe’. European societies face complex problems and major societal challenges, such as COVID-19 and climate change. It is therefore crucial that governments are able to base their policies on scientific knowledge. This new EU project aims to increase the involvement of scientists, evaluators and policymakers in each other’s work to improve knowledge sharing, processes and policies.

Dutch society faces enormous challenges in the coming decades. Greenhouse gases must be reduced. We are going to make the country resistant to floods, heat and drought. In addition, we will also suffer from increasing damage as a result of increasingly more extreme weather. This comes at a cost. It is important that these climate costs are distributed fairly, argues the WRR, because an unjust distribution is disastrous for the support for any good climate policy, including the energy transition. Although exact amounts cannot be estimated reliably. There is no doubt that these 'climate costs' will rise considerably in the near future. Policy measures are currently being intensified. And the effects of climate change will be felt more deeply than before. Council member Suzanne Hulscher and staff members Annick de Vries and Victor Toom wrote an essay on this topic for Energeia, the platform for discussion and knowledge sharing in the energy sector.