Cross-sectoral Linkages Research Articles

Strengthening university capacity in regional innovation ecosystem through the participation in the European Universities initiative

ABSTRACT In this paper, we explore how participation in the strategic partnerships of the European University Alliances (EUAs) facilitates university capacity in regional development. The study utilizes the Quadruple Helix theoretical model and contributes to the literature on transnational university alliances in regional innovation ecosystems. A qualitative analysis of policy documents, media reports on EUA developments, alliance goals, and university implementation strategies is conducted within the context of Lithuanian higher education. In Lithuania’s case, the primary rationale for participating in the EU initiative is both academic and economic. Furthermore, it is framed as addressing higher education challenges such as a low internationalization level, a mismatch between human capital and labour market needs, and the attractiveness of higher education. To achieve the strategic goals of the alliances, universities build networks including cross-sectoral linkages and engage in co-creation activities. The expanded and deepened interactions among different organizational spheres (helices) aim to foster innovation in national HE policy, strengthen university capacity through organizational innovation, and re-design teaching and research to drive social and economic transformations.

Decarbonizing the US Energy System

Recent rapid and unexpected cost reductions in decarbonization technologies have accelerated the cost-effective decarbonization of the US economy, with greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions falling by 20% from 2005 to 2020. The literature on US economy-wide decarbonization focuses on maximizing long-term GHG emissions reduction strategies that rely mostly on renewable energy expansion, electrification, and efficiency improvements to achieve net-zero GHG emissions by 2050. While these studies provide a valuable foundation, further research is needed to properly support decarbonization policy development and implementation. In this review, we identify key decarbonization analysis gaps and opportunities, including issues related to cross-sectoral linkages, spatial and temporal granularity, consumer behavior, emerging technologies, equity and environmental justice, and political economy. We conclude by discussing the implications of these analysis gaps for US decarbonization pathways and how they relate to challenges facing major global emitters.

Assessment of Nature and Cultural Conservation and Achievement of The SDGS in The Hargotirto Tourism Village Area, Kulonprogo

The government continues to encourage the development and development of tourism in Indonesia, which is oriented towards regional development that relies on the community and is empowering the community, which includes various aspects, such as human resources, marketing, destinations, science and technology, cross-sector linkages, cooperation between countries, empowerment of small businesses, and responsibility in the utilization of natural and cultural resources. The main purpose of this study is to assess the preservation of nature and culture as an asset of a tourist village in Hargotirto, Kulonprogo. The study method is carried out using a qualitative descriptive data analysis technique, which is a research method that utilizes qualitative data and describes it descriptively. This type of qualitative descriptive data analysis is frequently used to analyze events, phenomena, or circumstances in a social way. The assessment results were carried out on Water Resources Management, Water Use Management System, Waste Management, Waste Management, and Waste Management, which have varying levels of importance.

Not all REITs are alike: modelling the dynamic connectedness of sectoral REITs and the US yield curve

ABSTRACT We model the dynamic connectedness between key sectoral REITs and the yield curve’s constituents. We employ both return and volatility of REITs and conduct analysis in static as well as time-varying framework. Our static analysis reveals Office REITs as the net spillover transmitter to the system, whiles Mortgage, Timber, and Infrastructure REITs are net recipients of return and volatility spillovers. We document that despite the high interdependencies between sectoral REITs, their response to return and volatility spillovers is heterogenic. Our findings divulge low idiosyncratic spillovers in sectoral REITs, suggesting that controlling the transmission and admission of exogeneous shocks need to be paramount to both investors and policymakers. Our dynamic analysis discloses the consistency of Industrial, Mortgage, and Timber REITs as diversifiers (safe havens) in tranquil (tumult) trading periods. We document contagion in the connectedness of sectoral REITs during crises periods. Therefore, timely policy actions in stressed market conditions are recommended to lessen the degree of effect on fundamental cross-sector linkages through contagion. We discuss the implications of our findings for portfolio management and market regulation.

The critical role of the health-care sector in promoting employment for women and migrants in the EU. A multicountry input-output analysis

A disproportionate concentration of women in low-pay and low-status sectors is a trend that has grown in significance with the globalization of production systems. For the health and social care sector, this has interesting socio-spatial implications, particularly in terms of immigration, the dimensions of which are worth investigating. This study employs the novel extended multiregional input-output FIGARO database to estimate the employment-generating capacity of the sector in the EU28, with a focus on the gender and geographic origin of its workers. The analysis takes into account both indirect and induced effects and considers both cross-country and cross-sectoral linkages. The findings identify the healthcare sector as a key source of employment for both national and immigrant women in more than half of EU countries. At the same time, this sector contributes to the earnings disadvantage experienced by women, which suggest that equality policies should consider the sectoral distribution of employment.

Drivers of carbon intensity decline during the new economic normal: A multilevel decomposition of the Guangdong case

The New Economic Normal is a revolutionary change in China's economic development model, and it is of great significance to understand the characteristics and drivers of carbon intensity (CI) under the New Economic Normal at multiple levels for formulating carbon mitigation plans. By coupling subsystem analysis and structural decomposition analysis, this study examines the characteristics and drivers of Guangdong's CI from 2007 to 2017 from multiple demand-side perspectives. It reveals in detail the impact of economic structural changes on CI during the New Economic Normal, especially demand transformations. Moreover, it outlines a methodology for providing further insights into the mechanisms of drivers in reducing CI from an industrial linkage perspective. The results show that 1) Interprovincial trade has replaced investment as the demand type with the highest CI during the New Norm. 2) Production restructuring has replaced energy efficiency improvement as the largest driver of CI decline. In contrast, changes in consumption patterns and demand conversion within the economic inner-cycle strategy impeded CI decline. 3) Production or demand restructuring has differential impacts on CI of different sectors or demand types, with offsetting effects even sometimes leading to insignificant overall impacts. 4) In industrial linkage, restructuring promoted CI associated with internal linkages and suppressed CI associated with cross-sectoral linkages, further altering the linkage characteristics of CI. The findings and research methodology will provide theoretical support for the formulation of carbon mitigation strategies in Guangdong and other regions.

PROVISION OF GLOBAL SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT AS A FACTOR IN THE FORMATION OF LOCAL WELFARE

The subject of the article is the problem of ensuring the welfare of the population in the context of achieving the goals of sustainable development. The authors define the concepts of "sustainable development", "hromadas" (territorial communities), "welfare", and systematise the prerequisites for the formation of welfare at the local level. The paper aims at developing approaches to determining the priority tasks of territorial development in the system of sustainable development goals. It is noted that sustainable development is impossible without achieving a certain level of welfare. To achieve the research goal, the authors analyses and assesses the level of welfare of hromadas, and also considers a set of indicators for assessing welfare based on a combination of "hard" (objective) and "soft" (subjective) factors. The methodology for assessing the welfare of territories (on the example of Ukraine) and studying its impact on the level of sustainable development of the country is applied. The methodology is based on the construction of a non-linear regression model, which demonstrates the high significance of the factors "number of educational institutions" and "number of cultural and sports institutions". The publication also identifies the main reasons that, according to the respondents, impede the development of hromadas in the region under study: poor quality of education; insufficient public initiative and activity of residents; lack of opportunities for self-realisation and meaningful leisure; poor quality (lack of) road surfaces; unemployment; spread of crime, alcoholism, corruption; environmental pollution; drinking water pollution; deterioration of engineering networks; population ageing; lack of investment; lack of entrepreneurship of hromada residents; lack of hromada awareness; unfavourable conditions for business development. The conclusion of the research is that local and regional plans should provide a systematic vision of territorial development and define strategies based on an integrated and multidimensional approach to inclusive and sustainable development. They should be defined, implemented and monitored with the involvement of key territorial stakeholders in the governance process. Based on the analysis, recommendations will be made to identify territorial development priorities in the system of sustainable development goals at local and global levels. In particular, to establish local priorities, existing local and regional programmes should be reviewed to identify the main needs, priorities, gaps and cross-sectoral linkages of the territory and their relationship with the SDGs and national priorities.

Barriers and facilitators of cross-sectoral data linkage to inform healthy public policy and practice: lessons from three case study projects in Scotland.

ObjectivesWe sought to describe barriers and facilitators faced by three research projects aiming to link routinely-collected data across various sectors, to produce evidence to inform healthy public policy. We conducted these case studies as a part of a wider research project on cross-sectoral sharing and linkage of secondary data. ApproachWe selected the case studies to cover a range of target populations and datasets. The chosen projects investigated (1) the health of care-experienced children; (2) the intersection of homelessness, justice involvement, drug use, and severe mental illness; (3) multi-morbidity among adults receiving social care. Information about timelines and governance processes was collected from lead investigators, including specific barriers and facilitators encountered, using a standardised pro forma and follow-up interviews. Thematic analysis was carried out by the research team, informed by themes identified in a parallel scoping review of existing literature on evidence use for healthy public policy and practice. ResultsEach project involved between 6 and 11 agencies, with co-ordination across multiple institutions and geographies proving challenging. Due to challenges encountered, all projects had to amend their original geographical or demographic scope. Forty-four barriers and facilitators to sharing and linkage of cross-sectoral routinely-collected data for public health research were identified. These included but were not limited to: integration of current data in an ever-changing linkage landscape; the need for timely feedback in undertaking the study; standardisation of information governance processes; highlighting the resourcing and funding issues for data linkage projects; the need for data controllers to recognise the value of such projects; and issues relating to staff turnover and workload pressures. ConclusionThe interconnected nature of barriers and facilitators identified by the case studies suggests the importance of a whole-systems approach to cross-sectoral linkage. While literature offers relatively few case studies of cross-sectoral linkage for health research, the value of their insight into the linkage landscape derived from real-life experience is substantial.

The cross-sectoral linkage between cultural heritage and security: how cultural heritage has developed as a security issue?

ABSTRACT The understanding of cultural heritage as a growing issue in contemporary security has been described as a heritage-security nexus recognising the protection of cultural heritage as a cross-sectoral topic. It represents an urgent issue in international security politics and in the related field of heritage studies. This article shows how the protection of cultural heritage has found its way into rhetoric relating to security politics, thus placing it on political agendas. This development has had an important impact on the academic field of heritage studies. Therefore, this article seeks to identify the linkage between cultural heritage and security threats and the recognition of it as a new theme in academia during the last two decades. The study argues for a newly defined research field that combines heritage studies with security studies in academic fields such as political science and international relations. Finally, this article argues that the academic field of heritage studies, as well as the heritage institutions and related organisations, needs to have a critical approach to the securitisation process. Involved parties need to consider the intentions and causes of the securitising actors and how they usually benefit from security policies.

Personnel Management System in Healthcare Institutions: Foreign and Domestic Experience

The primary role in the organisation of healthcare facilities belongs to the medical worker, and the development of an effective personnel management system is the main task of personnel management managers in this field. The current health care system in Ukraine faces the difficult task of adapting to market conditions of business through systematic restructuring and improvement of its state regulation mechanisms, and most importantly, implementation of the integrated development and management of medical personnel, on which the performance of the system’s tasks depends. The article aims to compare the personnel management system in healthcare institutions, considering foreign and domestic experience. In addition, the authors carried out a scientific and theoretical justification of the place and role of personnel management in the healthcare field in the current conditions of the European integration of Ukraine. Within the framework of this study, the authors investigated the directions of scientific publications devoted to personnel management systems in the healthcare field. Data containing bibliographic information about scientific publications in peer-reviewed publications were obtained from the Scopus database. The results showed that scholars research human resources management in healthcare institutions, mainly focusing on personnel development, HRM, total quality management, organisational culture, personal loyalty, leadership, gender issues, and psychological aspects. The analysis of the experience of European countries with a developed healthcare system allows us to conclude that there is a need to implement optimal mechanisms for the development of human resources aimed at training, support, preservation and effective use of available resources, which is one of the important areas of personnel management of the institution. In addition, the reform strategy emphasises the need for cross-sectoral linkages (between education, health, labour and finance sectors), practical analytical justification and alignment of political decisions between sectors of the economy.

Governing complex environmental policy mixes through institutional bricolage: lessons from the water-foresty-energy-climate nexus

ABSTRACT Policy mixes come in many shapes and sizes. This poses many challenges to policy design, especially when mixes extend across sectors and have multiple levels. This is the case with the Water-Forest-Energy-Climate (WFEC) nexus, a complex policy mix that involves not only significant cross-sectoral linkages and the potential complementarities and conflicts which are examined in other articles in this special issue, but also deals with sectors which involve significant national and trans-national elements. This complex multi-sector, multi-level policy assemblage also lacks the cohesion provided by a treaty-based international regime which allows multi-level co-ordination and integration of policy designs in areas such as trade or finance. In such policy non-regime or weak regime complexes, regional agreements and the negotiated nature of interactions within such agreements (which we see as a form of ‘policy bricolage’) are critical but overlooked factors affecting policy success.

Exploring the role of the fisheries sector in China’s national economy: An input–output analysis

In China, fisheries include a combination of capture and aquaculture activities. In the context of China Fisheries and Aquaculture Statistics Yearbooks, the fisheries sector includes three economic sub-sectors: the fisheries primary sector (e.g., saltwater or freshwater, wild or farmed capture, and aquaculture), the fisheries secondary sector (e.g., aquatic processing, fisheries machine and tools manufacturing, fisheries feed, and construction), and the fisheries tertiary sector (e.g., fisheries products storage, transportation service, and leisure fishery). This study disaggregates these three fisheries sub-sectors as exogenous and investigates the role of the fisheries sectors in China from 2000 to 2018. Through an input-output (I–O) analysis, we quantify their socioeconomic impacts by determining the cross-sectoral linkage effects, the production-inducing effects, the supply-shortage effects, and the employment-inducing effects. Finally, these findings provide reliable information for policymakers to understand the fisheries value chain and to formulate fisheries regulations.

Making Linked Data accessible for One Health Surveillance with the "One Health Linked Data Toolbox"

In times of emerging diseases, data sharing and data integration are of particular relevance for One Health Surveillance (OHS) and decision support. Furthermore, there is an increasing demand to provide governmental data in compliance to the FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable) data principles. Semantic web technologies are key facilitators for providing data interoperability, as they allow explicit annotation of data with their meaning, enabling reuse without loss of the data collection context. Among these, we highlight ontologies as a tool for modeling knowledge in a field, which simplify the interpretation and mapping of datasets in a computer readable medium; and the Resource Description Format (RDF), which allows data to be shared among human and computer agents following this knowledge model. Despite their potential for enabling cross-sectoral interoperability and data linkage, the use and application of these technologies is often hindered by their complexity and the lack of easy-to-use software applications. To overcome these challenges the OHEJP Project ORION developed the Health Surveillance Ontology (HSO). This knowledge model forms a foundation for semantic interoperability in the domain of One Health Surveillance. It provides a solution to add data from the target sectors (public health, animal health and food safety) in compliance with the FAIR principles of findability, accessibility, interoperability, and reusability, supporting interdisciplinary data exchange and usage. To provide use cases and facilitate the accessibility to HSO, we developed the One Health Linked Data Toolbox (OHLDT), which consists of three new and custom-developed web applications with specific functionalities. The first web application allows users to convert surveillance data available in Excel files online into HSO-RDF and vice versa. The web application demonstrates that data provided in well-established data formats can be automatically translated in the linked data format HSO-RDF. The second application is a demonstrator of the usage of HSO-RDF in a HSO triplestore database. In the user interface of this application, the user can select HSO concepts based on which to search and filter among surveillance datasets stored in a HSO triplestore database. The service then provides automatically generated dashboards based on the context of the data. The third web application demonstrates the use of data interoperability in the OHS context by using HSO-RDF to annotate meta-data, and in this way link datasets across sectors. The web application provides a dashboard to compare public data on zoonosis surveillance provided by EFSA and ECDC. The first solution enables linked data production, while the second and third provide examples of linked data consumption, and their value in enabling data interoperability across sectors. All described solutions are based on the open-source software KNIME and are deployed as web service via a KNIME Server hosted at the German Federal Institute for Risk Assessment. The semantic web extension of KNIME, which is based on the Apache Jena Framework, allowed a rapid an easy development within the project. The underlying open source KNIME workflows are freely available and can be easily customized by interested end users. With our applications, we demonstrate that the use of linked data has a great potential strengthening the use of FAIR data in OHS and interdisciplinary data exchange.

Innovation, upgrading, and governance in cross-sectoral global value chains: the case of smartphones

Abstract The fourth industrial revolution challenges the existing understanding of innovation and upgrading in the global economy. It blurs traditional sectoral boundaries based on distinctive products and technologies and calls into question a traditional global value chain (GVC) perspective, which, similar to the sectoral systems of innovation approach, examines innovation and upgrading from a sector-based orientation. Building upon the recent reformulation and extension of GVC governance theory, this article proposes the notion of cross-sectoral GVC governance to capture the new stage of platform-based industrial development. It specifies the conceptual dimensions of cross-sectoral GVC governance in terms of the mode of governance (i.e., driving, linking, and normalizing), the overall GVC structure in terms of polarity, and firm strategies of managing GVCs. The proposed framework is illustrated using the case of smartphones as a platform product, focusing on four lead firms—Samsung, Apple, Huawei, and Google—to showcase divergent firm strategies for governing cross-sectoral linkages related to innovation and upgrading.

Use of administrative record linkage to measure medical and social risk factors for early developmental vulnerability in Ontario, Canada.

BackgroundLinkage of demographic, health, and developmental administrative data can enrich population-based surveillance and research on developmental and educational outcomes. Transparency of the record linkage process and results are required to assess potential biases.ObjectivesTo describe the approach used to link records of kindergarten children from the Early Development Instrument (EDI) in Ontario to health administrative data and test differences in characteristics of children by linkage status. We demonstrate how socio-demographic and medical risk factors amass in their contribution to early developmental vulnerability and test the concordance of health diagnoses in both the EDI and health datasets of linked records.MethodsChildren with records in the 2015 EDI cycle were deterministically linked to a population registry in Ontario, Canada. We compared sociodemographic and developmental vulnerability data between linked and unlinked records. Among linked records, we examined the contribution of medical and social risk factors obtained from health administrative data to developmental vulnerability identified in the EDI using descriptive analyses.ResultsOf 135,937 EDI records, 106,217 (78.1%) linked deterministically to a child in the Ontario health registry using birth date, sex, and postal code. The linked cohort was representative of children who completed the EDI in age, sex, rural residence, immigrant status, language, and special needs status. Linked data underestimated children living in the lowest neighbourhood income quintile (standardized difference [SD] 0.10) and with higher vulnerability in physical health and well-being (SD 0.11) , social competence (SD 0.10), and language and cognitive development (SD 0.12). Analysis of linked records showed developmental vulnerability is sometimes greater in children with social risk factors compared to those with medical risk factors. Common childhood conditions with records in health data were infrequently recorded in EDI records.ConclusionsLinkage of early developmental and health administrative data, in the absence of a single unique identifier, can be successful with few systematic biases introduced. Cross-sectoral linkages can highlight the relative contribution of medical and social risk factors to developmental vulnerability and poor school achievement.

Using cross-sectoral data linkage to understand the health of people experiencing multiple exclusion

Abstract Background People affected by the intersection of homelessness, drug use, and/or serious mental illness have high rates of mortality and morbidity. However, they are often missed from routine information sources on population health, such as surveys and censuses. In many countries, administrative data are available which could help address this knowledge gap. We created a novel virtual cohort using cross-sectoral data linkage in order to inform policy and practice responses to these co-occurring issues. Methods Individual-level data from local authority homelessness services (HL), opioid substitution therapy dispensing (OST), and a psychosis case register (PSY) in Glasgow, Scotland between 2011-15 were confidentially linked to National Health Service records, using a mix of probabilistic and deterministic linkage. A de-identified dataset was made available to researchers through a secure analysis platform. Demographic characteristics associated with different exposure combinations were analysed using descriptive statistics. Results Linkage created a cohort of 24,767 unique individuals with any one of the experiences of interest between 2011-15. Preliminary results suggest that 89.2% of the cohort had one experience; 10.6% two; and 0.2% all three. The most common combination was HL & OST (n = 2,150; 8.7%), with other combinations much less frequent (HL & PSY, n = 279, 1.1%; OST & PSY, n = 188, 0.8%; HL & OST & PSY, n = 51, 0.2%). The odds of male gender increased with number of exposures (2 exposures, OR 2.1, 95% CI 1.9-2.2; 3 exposures, OR 4.1, 95% CI 2.3-7.2), but there was little difference in age. Work is ongoing to incorporate into the cohort additional datasets on criminal justice involvement. Lessons Administrative data linkage is a feasible approach to understanding the health of people affected by multiple exclusionary processes, but requires robust and timely governance. Our initiative can support service planning and evaluation of future policy or service changes. Key messages We describe the creation and characteristics of a novel virtual cohort of people affected by multiple exclusionary processes, using record linkage of administrative datasets. Cross-sectoral linkage has international potential for enhancing public health intelligence, especially for population groups who may be missed from surveys and censuses.

United States

The U.S. financial system is very large, well-diversified, and home to numerous financial institutions which are significant at a global scale. Eight Global Systemically Important Banks (G-SIBs) are incorporated in the U.S., as well as several other large financial institutions, such as asset managers, insurers, and money market funds. Assets of the financial system amounted to about US$100 trillion at end-2019 and accounted for 500 percent of GDP. While the eight G-SIBs dominate the U.S. banking landscape, banking system assets represent only about 22 percent of total financial system assets. The systemic risk assessment (including stress testing) of this FSAP reflect the highly diversified nature of the U.S. financial system and focuses on banks, mutual and money market funds, insurance companies as well as cross-institutional and cross-sectoral linkages and exposures.

Water–food–energy–climate nexus and technology productivity: a Nigerian case study of organic leafy vegetable production

Low agricultural productivity is a major challenge constraining food production in developing countries. Attempts at addressing the problem have resulted in the development and deployment of agricultural technologies, such as organic farming, to help boost productivity, enhance farmers’ income, and their overall livelihood conditions. The deployment of such productivity-enhancing technologies has mostly overlooked their inexplicable interconnectedness and interdependencies with nexus factors such as climate, water, and energy within the embeddings of a food production system. Through a Nigerian case study approach, this study attempts to bridge this gap by qualitatively investigating how organic leafy vegetable production (OLVP) and its anticipated outcomes can be affected by the interface of water, energy, and climate with food production. This was intended to generate exploratory insights that will help underscore why cross-sectoral linkages should be accounted for when deploying agricultural technology interventions. To achieve this objective, we conducted in-depth interviews and focus group discussions, and field visits to the farms of organic farmers in Ajibode, Ibadan, Nigeria. Results indicate that the productivity of OLVP was severely constrained by highly contextual nexus factors such as energy deficit, the water source for irrigation, changes in rainfall patterns, and temperature effect of harmattan. We concluded that location-specific nexus elements that intersect with food production should be accounted for when introducing productivity-enhancing technologies. Otherwise, the opportunity for improved agricultural productivity may remain elusive. Finally, our study shows that the nexus approach can help reveal intricately linked cross-sectoral factors that can constrain the performance of agricultural technologies.

Housing Finance and Markets Dynamics in Tanzania: An Analysis of Cross-sector Linkages

This study examines whether feedback from housing price shocks factored into the availability of mortgage credit in Tanzania between 2008 and 2018. This was done by estimating a Vector Error Correction Model (VECM) with mortgage financing and using three measures of house pricing trends in the luxury, mid-end and economy sub-markets as dependent variables. Results showed that mortgage credit expansion is related to housing price growth in the long-run, but the impact mostly ran from housing price shocks to mortgage growth. In the short-term, changes in price for luxury houses led to a mortgage growth in the first quarter after the shocks, which in turn stimulated changes in housing prices. However, variations on mortgage credit flows had a more significant short-term impact on prices of housing units than it did for houses priced on mortgage credit. The dynamic response between mortgage credit flow and housing prices disappeared when housing price indicators for the economy and mid-end sub-markets were used in the analysis. In addition, both mortgage credit and housing markets were highly persistent, but the effect of previous shocks lasted longer in the mortgage lending process. The paper concludes that the substantial increase in housing prices might be a major concern for policymakers, in particular, because it foreshadows a mortgage crisis.

The potential of sector coupling in future European energy systems: Soft linking between the Dispa-SET and JRC-EU-TIMES models

The relevance of sector coupling is increasing when shifting from the current highly centralised and mainly fossil fuel-based energy system to a more decentralized and renewable energy system. Cross-sectoral linkages are already recognized as a cost-effective decarbonisation strategy that provides significant flexibility to the system. Modelling such cross-sectoral interconnections is thus highly relevant. In this work, these interactions are considered in a long-term perspective by uni-directional soft-linking of two models: JRC-EU-TIMES, a long term planning multisectoral model, and Dispa-SET, a unit commitment and optimal dispatch model covering multiple energy sectors such as power, heating & cooling, transportation etc. The impact of sector coupling in future Europe-wide energy systems with high shares of renewables is evaluated through five scenarios. Results show that the contributions of individual sectors are quite diverse. The transport sector provides the highest flexibility potential in terms of power curtailment, load shedding, congestion in the interconnection lines and resulting greenhouse gas emissions reduction. Nevertheless, allowing combinations of multiple flexibility options such as hydro for the long-term, electric vehicles and flexible thermal units for the short-term provides the best solution in terms of system adequacy, greenhouse gas emissions and operational costs.