Joint Seminar: AFE-IIASA - Toyota R&D Labs

Rationale:

Achieving a carbon-neutral society while enhancing human well-being requires navigating complex trade-offs across technology, environment, and society. This workshop focuses on how system modeling can be used to integrate Negative Emission Technologies (NETs) and Future Mobility Solutions in ways that are resilient, spatially grounded, and socially beneficial.

While NETs and future mobility innovations (e.g., electric, autonomous, drones, and shared vehicles) are key enablers of deep decarbonization, their real-world implementation is influenced by geographic constraints, systemic interdependencies, and natural disturbances such as wildfires, floods, or droughts. These factors affect both the siting and performance of technologies (e.g., bioenergy, direct air capture, EV charging infrastructure) and the resilience of mobility systems and carbon removal pathways.

This interdisciplinary workshop will bring together researchers, and industry practitioners to:

• Explore modeling frameworks that account for natural disturbances and climate variability, helping to assess risks and build resilience into decarbonization strategies;
• Develop approaches to geographically explicit systems optimization, including spatially resolved deployment of NETs and mobility infrastructure under land-use, resource, and socio-economic constraints;
• Advance systems integration methodologies to capture interdependencies between energy, transport, land use, and carbon management systems;
• Evaluate the implications of different policy, technology, and behavioral pathways for carbon neutrality, equity, and societal well-being.

By incorporating spatial and resilience dimensions into systems modeling, the workshop will promote more robust, place-sensitive, and actionable strategies for transitioning to a sustainable future.