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.
© 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
Model for Energy Supply Strategy Alternatives and their General Environmental Impact (MESSAGEix)
ENGAGE Scenario Explorer
NGFS-IIASA Scenario Explorer
AR6 Scenario Explorer and Database
Projects
Exploring National and Global Actions to reduce Greenhouse gas Emissions (ENGAGE)
Next generation of AdVanced InteGrated Assessment modelling to support climaTE policy making (NAVIGATE)
Energy Demand changes Induced by Technological and Social innovations (EDITS)
Sustainable development pathways achieving Human well-being while safeguarding the climate And Planet Earth (SHAPE)
Staff
Measrainsey Meng
Research Scholar (IACC, S3)
Alessio Mastrucci
Research Scholar (S3, TISS)
David McCollum
Guest Senior Research Scholar (ECE, IACC, S3)
Alaa Al Khourdajie
Guest Research Scholar (IACC, S3)
News
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).
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.
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
Vienna, Austria and online
IIASA at EGU 2024
Focus
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.
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
Washizu, A., Ju, Y., Yoshida, A., Tayama, M., & Amano, Y. (2024). Modeling the distributed energy resource aggregator services in a macroeconomic framework: The application to Japan. Energy 312 e133561. 10.1016/j.energy.2024.133561. Hirata, A., Ohashi, H., Hasegawa, T., Fujimori, S. , Takahashi, K., Tsuchiya, K., & Matsui, T. (2024). The choice of land-based climate change mitigation measures influences future global biodiversity loss. Communications Earth & Environment 5 (1) e259. 10.1038/s43247-024-01433-4. Jansakoo, T., Watanabe, R., Uetani, A., Sekizawa, S., Fujimori, S. , Hasegawa, T., & Oshiro, K. (2024). Comparison of global air pollution impacts across horizontal resolutions. Atmospheric Environment: X 24 e100303. 10.1016/j.aeaoa.2024.100303. Oshiro, K. & Fujimori, S. (2024). Mid-century net-zero emissions pathways for Japan: Potential roles of global mitigation scenarios in informing national decarbonization strategies. Energy and Climate Change 5 e100128. 10.1016/j.egycc.2024.100128. Yang, L., Yanhui, L., Ju, Y., & Kiyoshi, F. (2024). Forecasting the echelon utilization potential of end-of-life electric vehicle batteries: a province-level investigation in China. Clean Technologies and Environmental Policy 10.1007/s10098-024-03072-x.