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Options Summer 2020: Brazil could potentially expand biofuel production without significantly affecting food production or increasing adverse land use impacts and deforestation, according to a recent IIASA study.

Options Summer 2020: IIASA researchers used systems analysis methods to measure trade interdependencies between US states and found that the country’s current food supply chain is often not optimized for using available natural resources.

Options Summer 2020: According to IIASA research, appropriate indicators are needed to characterize the sensitivity of ecosystems and help inform effects-based emission reduction policies to ensure surface water recovery from acidification by 2050.

Options Summer 2020: An analysis of China’s iron and steel industry highlighted that the tradeoffs and co-benefits of energy and resource efficiency, climate, and air quality must be taken into account when designing plans and policies to achieve multiple targets.

Policy Brief #26, April 2020. Collaboration between researchers from IIASA, WU, WIFO, and the IHS provides scenarios of the medium-run economic effects of the lockdown in Austria using the IIASA macroeconomic simulation model. The analysis suggests that the return to the business-as-usual trend may take up to three years after a steep initial economic downturn due to the lockdown, and a gradual recovery thereafter.

Policy Brief #25, December 2019. There is growing recognition that using the properties of nature can help provide viable and cost-effective solutions to a broad range of societal challenges, including disaster risk reduction.

Policy Brief #24, July 2019. Investment in low-carbon energy is making a difference. IIASA research now provides decision makers with valuable data on the capital required to ramp up renewables, boost energy efficiency, redirect energy portfolios, and fill investment gaps.

Policy Brief #23, June 2019. IIASA research has found explanations for variations in estimates of global greenhouse gas emissions by 2030. According to the researchers, actions set out in countries’ nationally determined contributions are described ambiguously, introducing uncertainty into the stocktaking process. This poses a danger that action plans will not be strengthened sufficiently to avoid dangerous levels of climate change.

Policy Brief #22, June 2019. A study of seventeen climate and energy policies offers design guidelines for more effective policymaking and implementation.

Policy Brief #21, December 2018. IIASA research shows substantial benefits of climate mitigation and achieving the 1.5°C target, as well as where action is most urgently required to reduce the vulnerability of the world’s poorest to unavoidable climate impacts.

Policy Brief #20, October 2018. New research has identified several adaptive actions that can both support national economies and prepare countries for a future shaped by digitalization.

Policy Brief #19, September 2018. With the launch of the global Sustainable Development Goals agenda in 2015 comes an opportunity to critically reflect on the role of education in, through, and for sustainable development.

Policy Brief #18, July 2018. Research shows that large parts of forests in the mid-latitude region, including in Ukraine, are under serious threat of being obliterated by the end of the century unless urgent adaptive action is taken.

Policy Brief #17, July 2018. Jordan is entering a critical phase in terms of planning its future electricity supply architecture. The results of a four-year collaborative study by researchers from IIASA, Jordan, and Sweden, has led to the development of several recommendations for the Jordanian energy-policy process.

Policy Brief #16, April 2018. Life expectancy at birth has increased dramatically across the globe. The widely held assumption that health and survival improved due to higher living standards with medical progress also contributing, is being disputed by new research indicating that education in fact drives all these changes.

Impact Sheet #17, February 2017. Food, energy, water, and land: secure provision of these resources is essential for the survival of humankind. Moreover, they are closely linked, and policies that alter one sector can have large impacts on the others. IIASA has developed methods to improve integrated management and help policymakers design robust, sustainable policies, which take into account trade-offs and synergies between all four sectors. This work has fed into national policy in Ukraine.

Impact Sheet #16, February 2017. IIASA analysis has formed the backbone of European air pollution policy since the 1980s, including the latest agreement which became law in December 2016. Scientists at the institute are now applying their expertise to the urgent air pollution situation in other parts of the world.

Impact Sheet #15, February 2017. IIASA provided Brazil with a clear, quantitative basis to its climate commitments, leading to robust policy that the government could be sure of delivering.

Impact Sheet #14, February 2017. IIASA played a significant role in bringing under control toxic air pollutants that damage human health and the environment. The Regional Acidification Information and Simulation (RAINS) model, developed at IIASA, was at the center of international environmental negotiations to achieve cleaner air in Europe at lowest cost.

Impact Sheet #13, February 2017. The IIASA Young Scientists Summer Program (YSSP) brings talented PhD students to Laxenburg, Austria, to work on independent research projects in collaboration with top researchers in their fields. IIASA also runs a thriving postdoctorate program and many capacity-building events and workshops for scientists and policymakers worldwide.