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.

Economic Frontiers © Jon Anders Wiken | Dreamstime.com

The S3 Group have two overarching research objectives. First, to understand the evolution of behaviors and lifestyles around energy services and assess their environmental impacts; and second, to identify and understand policy interventions that can change behaviors and lifestyles to minimize environmental impacts. The group’s research binds together work on three domains that are critical for a transformation toward sustainable societies, namely buildings, mobility, and consumer goods, which are connected through changes in infrastructures and lifestyles. S3 aims to establish and lead a research community on demand-side transitions and to innovate conceptual frameworks for demand-side model comparisons.

Themes

Scenario Services and Scientific Software

Access to Energy Services

Finance

Models, tools, datasets

gas pipeline

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

Photo 134399877 © Designer491 | Dreamstime.com

ENGAGE Scenario Explorer

Photo 258300272 © Paradee Paradee | Dreamstime.com

NGFS-IIASA Scenario Explorer

IPCC

AR6 Scenario Explorer and Database

Projects

Beige and colored pawns grouped together

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

Grossglockner Austria

Next generation of AdVanced InteGrated Assessment modelling to support climaTE policy making (NAVIGATE)

urban greenery

Energy Demand changes Induced by Technological and Social innovations (EDITS)

Sustainable development goals

Sustainable development pathways achieving Human well-being while safeguarding the climate And Planet Earth (SHAPE)

Staff

Measrainsey Meng profile picture

Measrainsey Meng

Research Scholar (IACC, S3)

Alessio Mastrucci profile picture

Alessio Mastrucci

Research Scholar (S3, TISS)

David McCollum profile picture

David McCollum

Guest Senior Research Scholar (ECE, IACC, S3)

Alaa Al Khourdajie profile picture

Alaa Al Khourdajie

Guest Research Scholar (IACC, S3)

News

NGFS Scenarios

13 November 2024

IIASA researchers help central banks to assess climate risks in the financial sector

IIASA researchers provide over one hundred central banks all over the world with scenarios that help them make the financial sector more resilient to climate change. The scenarios have recently been updated to reflect advances in climate policies and assess risks more comprehensively. This work was conducted by a scientific consortium to support the Network for Greening the Financial System (NGFS).
SDGs

30 October 2024

Three pathways to achieve global climate and sustainable development goals

Sustainable lifestyles, green-tech innovation, and government-led transformation each offer promising routes to make significant progress towards the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the Paris Agreement, according to a new study by the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK), to which IIASA scientists contributed. Contrary to the belief that the path to sustainable development is increasingly out of reach, the results show that humankind has a variety of pathways to depart from its current unsustainable trajectory.
CircEUlar

09 October 2024

The CircEUlar project: bridging business practices and consumer behaviours in circularity

Last month, CircEUlar had its third in-person consortium meeting hosted by the University of Groningen at the, very appropriately named, House of Connections. Twenty-eight CircEUlar members from across 12 research organizations met over three days of collaborative working. The meeting was also an opportunity for T6 Ecosystems, University of Groningen and CircEUlar’s sister-project CircoMod, to design, plan and deliver a stakeholder workshop, "Towards Net-Zero through a Circular Economy: the consumer and business perspectives". 

Events

Focus

Icons depicting environmental cooperation, collaboration for a sustainable environmental future superimposed on picture showing hands typing on a laptop

25 September 2024

How policymakers make informed decisions for climate action

Have you ever wondered how policymakers make informed decisions for climate action? "That’s an easy one," you might say. "With science of course!" But even for scientists, understanding the world's climate is complex, and forecasting potential future developments is even more so. IIASA 2024 Science Communication Intern, Moritz Boeswirth explored this topic.

Transformation from caterpillar to butterfly, analog to digitalization, concept illustrated in origami paper folding

14 June 2024

Expert workshop on digitalization narratives and climate change mitigation

Charlie Wilson and Elena Verdolini share insights and experiences from an expert workshop on the impacts of digitalization on energy, materials, the economy, markets, lifestyles, and society, and how these impacts directly or indirectly affect greenhouse gas emissions.

Publications