ECE’s overarching vision is to provide evidence-based, scientific roadmaps for feasible systems transformations that simultaneously meet the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and ambitious climate change mitigation targets.
Emphasis is placed specifically on local policy decisions and actions required in the short term to put the world on track to achieve long-term targets while assuring human health, wellbeing, and the reduction of social inequalities in a socially and economically sustainable manner. The program’s systems analytical tools enable it to act as an objective scientific broker in support of sustainable transformational processes. ECE combines the research portfolios of the former Air Quality and Greenhouse Gases, Energy, and Transitions to New Technologies programs.
The ECE program is organized in four Research Groups which encompass different thematic areas of research:
ECE Research Groups

Integrated Assessment and Climate Change (IACC)
The IACC Group leads the development of tools for a new generation of “coupled” global transformation pathways that are able to represent bottom-up local constraints and opportunities at the national and sub-national scale, which is a major focus of the ECE Program.

Pollution Management (PM)
The PM Group focusses on solving immediate and near-term environmental (health and ecosystems impacts from pollution), climate (non-CO2 greenhouse gases), and social (widening inequality gaps) problems in a cost-effective way, providing support to policymaking at local and regional scales.

Sustainable Service Systems (S3)
The S3 Group focuses on demand-side systems as entry points for sustainable transformations. The group analyses demand for energy and materials through the lens of service provision of mobility, shelter, and consumer goods, as well as how lifestyle changes can contribute to consumption reduction.

Transformative Institutional and Social Solutions (TISS)
The TISS Group explores innovative solutions to environmental issues that integrate social, institutional, and governance drivers with technological and economic considerations, with an emphasis on improving conditions for the most deprived and marginalized in society.
Current ECE Research Themes
Models, tools, datasets
Projects
Staff
News

13 September 2023
IIASA Flagship Report: Illuminating the path to sustainable wellbeing

30 August 2023
Performing artists and scientists take the stage at Vienna’s MuTh theatre

23 August 2023
Solar powered irrigation: a game-changer for small-scale farms in sub-Saharan Africa
Events
09 August 2023 Virtual event
IIASA Voices #9 - Getting to net-zero: Latest findings from the IPCC Synthesis Report
06 October 2023 MuTh, Am Augartenspitz, 1020 Vienna
Eco-theater: What we want - Breath and a Piece of Cake
Focus

08 September 2023
Climate change will affect hydropower – African countries must be prepared
Africa has great potential for the implementation of hydropower, but there are political and environmental concerns that planners must consider if they want to ensure a more reliable power supply for their citizens. IIASA researcher Giacomo Falchetta delved into this issue in an article recently published on The Conversation.

31 July 2023
Extreme heat is particularly hard on older adults – an aging population and climate change put ever more people at risk
Scorching temperatures have put millions of Americans in danger this summer, with heat extremes stretching from coast to coast in the Southern US. IIASA researcher Giacomo Falcetta and colleagues from Boston University looked into this issue in an article recently published on The Conversation.
28 June 2023
Promoting sustainable rural development in sub-Saharan Africa

Publications
Hunt, J. , Nascimento, A., Tong, W., Zakeri, B., Jurasz, J., Patro, E., Ðurin, B., de Jesus Pacheco, D.A., de Freitas, M.A.V., Filho, W.L., & Wada, Y. (2023). Perpetual motion electric truck, transporting cargo with zero fuel costs. Journal of Energy Storage 72 e108671. 10.1016/j.est.2023.108671. Rychła, A., Amon, B., Hassouna, M., van der Weerden, T.J., & Winiwarter, W. (2023). Costs and effects of measures to reduce ammonia emissions from dairy cattle and pig production: A comparison of country-specific estimations and model calculations. Journal of Environmental Management 344 e118678. 10.1016/j.jenvman.2023.118678. Poblete Cazenave, M. & Rao, N. (2023). Social and contextual determinants of heat pump adoption in the US: Implications for subsidy policy design. Energy Research & Social Science 104 e103255. 10.1016/j.erss.2023.103255. Achakulwisut, P., Erickson, P., Guivarch, C., Schaeffer, R., Brutschin, E. , & Pye, S. (2023). Global fossil fuel reduction pathways under different climate mitigation strategies and ambitions. Nature Communications 14 e5425. 10.1038/s41467-023-41105-z. Lutz, W. & Pachauri, S. (2023). Systems Analysis for Sustainable Wellbeing. 50 years of IIASA research, 40 years after the Brundtland Commission, contributing to the post-2030 Global Agenda. IIASA Report. Laxenburg, Austria: International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA) 10.5281/zenodo.8214208.