Population and Climate Change (PCC)

The Population and Climate Change (PCC) Program, a planned five-year project, was launched in January 2005 and concluded in December 2009. It aimed to improve integrated assessments of the climate change issue and develop new analyses within three areas:

• The Demography, Energy, and Emissions Project investigates the potential influence of demographic change on energy use and greenhouse gas emissions;
• The Uncertainty and Learning Project develops new approaches to accounting for uncertainty and its potential changes over time in climate change assessments;
• The Medium-term Strategies Project investigates options for climate change policy over the next 30-50 years.

Work in these three areas is closely related and complementary. A better understanding of demographic factors will improve future scenarios of energy use, land use, and emissions; research on uncertainty will develop new ways to account for the range of possible outcomes and responses; and medium-term policy strategies aim to keep open a range of long-term options for climate change targets while uncertainties are reduced.

The program involves disciplinary research in both the natural and social sciences, but its main aim is effective integration in support of policy-relevant analysis. It adopts a range of methodological approaches, including historical analysis, national case studies, decision analysis, and global integrated assessment modeling. Results are intended to be relevant to national and international climate change policy, to the scientific integrated assessment community, and to related disciplinary research areas in demography, economics, and climate science.

This program was primarily funded by the FWF Austrian Science Fund as part of the European Young Investigator (EURYI) Awards scheme in collaboration with the European Science Foundation.

For detailed information and a complete list of project outcomes please visit the program website.