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.

IACC’s central goal is the development of response strategies and alternative pathways towards a low-carbon economy, taking into account the many linkages to all aspects of society and the environment. For this purpose, the IACC group develops and maintains methods, including the MESSAGEix model which is at the heart of IIASA's Integrated Assessment Modeling framework.

First, the integration of climate change impacts into the IAM framework to account for the main benefits of mitigation, that is, avoided climate change impacts which, in turn, has implications for a wide set of sustainable development objectives. Better understanding how climate impacts will affect different parts of the population, taking into account the aspects of vulnerability and equity and the degree to which affected population segments are able to adapt, will therefore be a key research focus leading to a quantification of the benefits of mitigation beyond simple economic considerations based on monetized impacts.

Second, material cycles are integrated into the IAM framework to broaden the strategy space beyond classic energy- and land-based climate mitigation strategies by including important elements of circular economy approaches. Initially, the focus is on bulk materials such as steel, cement, non-ferrous metals, or plastics, with the aim to also include important critical materials for key low-carbon technologies, such as batteries and fuel cells.

Third, with decision-making support requiring input at different levels - global, regional, national, and subnational - the integration of analysis across different spatial scales is a research focus relevant to all the previously listed topics of the IACC group, requiring further methodological and tool development. Key aspects of this challenge will be, on the one hand, increasing the spatial and temporal granularity of relevant parts of the IAM framework, and on the other, explicitly representing a wider set of policy options, for example, to develop climate action plans at the national or subnational scale.  

Finally, IIASA operates a community data hub for global climate change mitigation and transformation pathways, for example, by hosting multiple key datasets for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and the Integrated Assessment Modeling Consortium (IAMC). These globally-focused efforts are complemented by activities that support the development of national mitigation strategies as well as sector-specific activities such as supporting the finance community in using mitigation scenarios to assess the transition and physical climate change risks of, for instance, investment portfolios.

Models, tools, datasets

gas pipeline

Model for Energy Supply Strategy Alternatives and their General Environmental Impact (MESSAGEix)

India Forest

The NExus Solutions Tool (NEST)

Photo 134399877 © Designer491 | Dreamstime.com

ENGAGE Scenario Explorer

IPCC

AR6 Scenario Explorer and Database

Projects

RESCUE

Response of the Earth System to overshoot, Climate neUtrality and negative Emissions (RESCUE)

Beige and colored pawns grouped together

Exploring National and Global Actions to reduce Greenhouse gas Emissions (ENGAGE)

From linear economy to a circular economy

Developing circular pathways for a EU low-carbon transition (CircEUlar)

Photo 260785013 © Mirko Kuzmanovic | Dreamstime.com

Development of a global integrated assessment modeling system for climate-air pollutants management focused on Northeast Asia (GUIDE)

Staff

Maria Holzinger profile picture

Maria Holzinger

Researcher (ECE, IACC)

Adriano Vinca profile picture

Adriano Vinca

Research Scholar (IACC, TISS)

Alaa Al Khourdajie profile picture

Alaa Al Khourdajie

Guest Research Scholar (IACC, S3)

Shinichiro Fujimori profile picture

Shinichiro Fujimori

Guest Senior Research Scholar (IACC, S3, TISS)

News

COP28 UAE

22 November 2023

Mind the gap: caution needed when assessing land emissions in the COP28 Global Stocktake

The land use, land use change, and forestry sector plays a strong role in achieving global climate targets, but a gap exists between how scientists and countries account for its emissions. A new study highlights how mitigation benchmarks change when assessing IPCC scenarios from a national inventory perspective, with net-zero timings arriving up to five years earlier and cumulative emissions to net-zero being 15-18% smaller.
UNEP Emissions Report 2023

21 November 2023

IIASA scientists contribute to a new UNEP report, emphasizing the need for urgent climate action

As global temperatures break records, the latest UNEP Emissions Gap Report finds that current pledges under the Paris Agreement put the world on track for a 2.5-2.9°C temperature rise above pre-industrial levels this century, pointing to the urgent need for increased climate action.

Events

Focus

11 November 2023

Empowerment through science

Options Magazine, Winter 2023: IIASA Transformative Institutional and Social Solutions Research Group Leader, Shonali Pachauri, explores policy pathways for achieving universal access to basic services and technologies. She was a lead author of the Working Group III contribution to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)’s Sixth Assessment Report (AR6), and a member of the Extended Writing Team for the Synthesis Report.
Options 2023

04 October 2023

ENGAGE Summary for Policymakers

As the world faces the risks of dangerous climate change, policymakers, industry and civil society leaders are counting on Integrated Assessment Models (IAMs) to inform and guide strategies to deliver on the objectives of the Paris Agreement (PA) and subsequent agreements.
ENGAGE Summary for Policymakers

Publications