Press releases

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Press Releases

Bunte Inuithäuser in einem Vorort von arktischem Haupt-Nuuk

04 May 2021

The economic benefits of air quality improvements in the Arctic

A new report released by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) assessed the biophysical and economic benefits of air pollution policies in Arctic Council countries. The analysis relied on a suite of modeling tools, including the IIASA GAINS model, to project the impacts of increasingly ambitious policy action up to 2050.

Energy, Climate, and Environment (ECE)

Pollution Management (PM)

03 May 2021

Empowering citizens for successful energy transitions

The terms “co-creation” and “co-production”, which denote the possibility for laypeople to participate in decision-making processes that affect their lives, have been gaining popularity. A new IIASA-led study explored options for empowering citizens as a driver for moving from awareness about the need to transform energy systems to action and participation.

Advancing Systems Analysis (ASA)

Cooperation and Transformative Governance (CAT)

Austria

26 April 2021

IIASA researchers on the Reuters Hot List of climate scientists

No less than nine IIASA researchers have made it onto the Reuters Hot List – the media giant’s ranking of the world’s most influential climate scientists – with IIASA Energy, Climate, and Environment Program Director, Keywan Riahi, claiming the top spot.

Umwelt-Tag der Erde in den Händen von den Bäumen, die Sämlinge wachsen Bokeh grünen die weibliche Hand des Hintergrundes

05 April 2021

Conceptualizing “safe and just” for the future of the planet and its people

The Earth Commission laid out its approach to defining a “safe and just corridor for people and planet” in a paper published today in Earth’s Future.

Energy, Climate, and Environment (ECE)

Integrated Assessment and Climate Change (IACC)

Transformative Institutional and Social Solutions (TISS)

Population and Just Societies (POPJUS)

Equity and Justice (EQU)

30 March 2021

New oil palm map to inform policy and landscape-level planning

IIASA researchers have used Sentinel 1 satellite imagery from the European Space Agency to produce a map of the extent and year of detection of oil palm plantations in Indonesia, Malaysia, and Thailand that will help policymakers and other stakeholders understand trends in oil palm expansion to inform landscape-level planning.

Advancing Systems Analysis (ASA)

Novel Data Ecosystems for Sustainability (NODES)

Indonesia

Malaysia

Thailand

Rainbow over Victoria Falls on Zambezi River

22 March 2021

The value of cooperation for sustainable development in transboundary river basins

Can cooperation across sectors and countries help to achieve sustainable development? How do stakeholders in the Indus and Zambezi basins envision the future and how can they make that future a reality? IIASA researchers looked into these questions as part of a large-scale initiative with international partners.

Biodiversity and Natural Resources (BNR)

Tanzania, United Republic of

Zimbabwe

19 March 2021

Strengthening water resources planning in East Africa

IIASA researchers worked with local stakeholders from the East African Community to explore and co-develop regional water scenarios that can enhance understanding of the up- and downstream water sector interactions in the extended Lake Victoria Basin to facilitate rational water resource planning.

Biodiversity and Natural Resources (BNR)

Water Security (WAT)

19 March 2021

Is it worth investing in solar PV with batteries at home?

Solar energy is a clean, renewable source of electricity that could potentially play a significant part in fulfilling the world’s energy requirements, but there are still some challenges to fully capitalizing on this potential. Researchers looked into some of the issues that hamper the uptake of solar energy and proposed different policies to encourage the use of this technology.

Austria

16 March 2021

A new way to measure human wellbeing towards sustainability

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are a blueprint to achieve a better life for all and to ensure that no one is left behind. The partly overlapping and contradictory objectives of the SDGs can however make it difficult to assess overall progress. A group of researchers have proposed a new, tailor-made metric that measures development based on long-term human wellbeing.

Population and Just Societies (POPJUS)

Social Cohesion, Health, and Wellbeing (SHAW)