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

26 May 2023
President of the UN General Assembly visits IIASA

23 May 2023
Limiting global warming to 1.5°C would save billions from dangerously hot climate

28 April 2023
How solid air can spur sustainable development
Events
06 June 2023 Virtual event
IIASA Public Webinar #8: IIASA Voices - The role of science in catalyzing sustainability transformation
16 October 2023 Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
RE4AFAGRI, IIASA and World Resources Institute (WRI) joint Workshops
Focus

06 December 2022
Challenges and opportunities for a South American waterway system
Julian Hunt writes about the challenges and opportunities that the development of a South American Waterway System could bring to the region.
29 November 2022
Bridging the gap between science and policy

28 November 2022
Improving water-energy access in Central Asia

Publications
Tong, W., Lu, Z., Zhao, H., Han, M., Zhao, G., & Hunt, J. (2023). The structure and control strategies of hybrid solid gravity energy storage system. Journal of Energy Storage 67 e107570. 10.1016/j.est.2023.107570.
Liu, Q., Yang, J., Gao, L., Dong, Y., Guo, Z., Moallemi, E.A., Eker, S. , & Obersteiner, M. (2023). Robust sensitivity analysis to uncertainties in environmental and socio-economic scenarios: A perspective from a global socio-ecological system model. Journal of Cleaner Production 410 e137244. 10.1016/j.jclepro.2023.137244.
Trimmel, H., Hamer, P., Mayer, M., Schreier, S.F., Weihs, P., Eitzinger, J., Sandén, H., Fitzky, A.C., Richter, A., Calvet, J.-C., Bonan, B., Meurey, C., Vallejo, I., Eckhardt, S., Santos, G.S., Oumami, S., Arteta, J., Marécal, V., Tarrasón, L., Karl, T., & Rieder, H. (2023). The influence of vegetation drought stress on formaldehyde and ozone distributions over a central European city. Atmospheric Environment 304 e119768. 10.1016/j.atmosenv.2023.119768.
Lenton, T.M., Xu, C., Abrams, J.F.., Ghadiali, A., Loriani, S., Sakschewski, B., Zimm, C. , Ebi, K.L., Dunn, R.R., Svenning, J.-C., & Scheffer, M. (2023). Quantifying the human cost of global warming. Nature Sustainability 10.1038/s41893-023-01132-6. (In Press)
Pachauri, S. , Pelz, S. , Bertram, C., Rao, N. , & Riahi, K. (2023). Response to comment on “Fairness considerations in global mitigation investments”. Science 380 (6646) 10.1126/science.adh1463.