ECE’s overarching vision is to provide evidence-based, scientific roadmaps for feasible systems transformations that simultaneously meet the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and ambitious climate change mitigation targets.
Emphasis is placed specifically on local policy decisions and actions required in the short term to put the world on track to achieve long-term targets while assuring human health, wellbeing, and the reduction of social inequalities in a socially and economically sustainable manner. The program’s systems analytical tools enable it to act as an objective scientific broker in support of sustainable transformational processes. ECE combines the research portfolios of the former Air Quality and Greenhouse Gases, Energy, and Transitions to New Technologies programs.
The ECE program is organized in five Research Groups which encompass different thematic areas of research:
ECE Research Groups
Integrated Assessment and Climate Change (IACC)
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.
Pollution Management (PM)
The PM Group focusses on solving immediate and near-term environmental (health and ecosystems impacts from pollution), climate (non-CO2 greenhouse gases), and social (widening inequality gaps) problems in a cost-effective way, providing support to policymaking at local and regional scales.
Sustainable Service Systems (S3)
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.
Transformative Institutional and Social Solutions (TISS)
The TISS Group explores innovative solutions to environmental issues that integrate social, institutional, and governance drivers with technological and economic considerations, with an emphasis on improving conditions for the most deprived and marginalized in society.
Themes
Nutrient cycling
Non-CO2 greenhouse gas sources
ECE Nexus
Just and Feasible Transitions
Scenario Services and Scientific Software
Access to Energy Services
Heterogeneities and Inequalities
Finance
Modeling for National Transformations
Materials
Extreme Weather and Climate Dynamics
Sustainable buildings
Stakeholder Engagement in Climate Science
System dynamics of climate-economy-society interactions
Models, tools, datasets
Model for Energy Supply Strategy Alternatives and their General Environmental Impact (MESSAGEix)
The NExus Solutions Tool (NEST)
AR6 Scenario Explorer and Database
Greenhouse Gas and Air Pollution Interactions and Synergies (GAINS)
Projects
Response of the Earth System to overshoot, Climate neUtrality and negative Emissions (RESCUE)
Energy Demand changes Induced by Technological and Social innovations (EDITS)
Staff
Fabian Wagner
Principal Research Scholar (PM, TISS); CDAT Dean and Principal Research Scholar (CDAT)
Mia Werning
Researcher (IACC, ICI)
Xiaoyang Zhong
Guest Research Scholar (S3)
Charlie Wilson
Senior Research Scholar (S3, TISS)
News
24 June 2026
IIASA experts among the world’s most highly cited climate scientists
Eight IIASA experts have been included in Carbon Brief’s latest ranking of the world’s 500 most highly cited climate scientists, while IIASA itself ranks among the world’s leading institutions for climate research, highlighting the Institute’s continued leadership in advancing climate and sustainability science.
24 June 2026
Small island, big systems: Barbados and IIASA sign letter of intent to pioneer regenerative economy partnership
The Government of Barbados and IIASA have signed a letter of intent, formally launching Barbados’ path toward membership in the Institute and establishing a new partnership to apply advanced systems analysis and global modeling to the design of a regenerative economy.
19 June 2026
Using less, living better: Demand-side climate action wins public support
A new IIASA-led study finds that climate strategies that cut energy and resource demand tend to improve quality of life across a broader range of dimensions than supply-side alternatives and shows that communicating these wider benefits can strengthen public support.
Events
Hybrid: online and at the Austrian Academy of Sciences
Public lecture: Digitalization and AI within planetary boundaries
Online (closed expert workshop)
Expert workshop on food waste emissions methodologies and MRV systems
Focus
Annual Report 2025
Annual Report 2025: Energy, Climate, and Environment Program Highlights
The transition to a low-carbon future requires both ambitious action and a clear understanding of what works. In 2025, the Energy, Climate, and Environment Program produced research that helped clarify the opportunities, trade-offs, and practical pathways for accelerating climate mitigation and strengthening environmental sustainability.
27 April 2026
Cleaning the air in South Asia: Why science and cooperation matter
IIASA researchers Pallav Purohit and Zbigniew Klimont examined the urgent challenge of air pollution in South Asia and the opportunities to address it through science-based policy and regional cooperation. In the run-up to the recent International Vienna Energy and Climate Forum, they drew on recent research and real-world examples to highlight how integrated approaches to energy, climate, and air quality can deliver cleaner air, improved health, and more resilient economies for nearly one billion people.
Publications
Eker, S. , Reiter, C. , Liu, Q., Kuhn, M., & Lutz, W. (2026). Wellbeing cost of carbon. Global Sustainability 9 e1. 10.1017/sus.2025.10042.
Nishiura, O., Fujimori, S. , & Oshiro, K. (2026). Development of a computable general equilibrium model representing direct air capture and carbon dioxide utilization. Energy and Climate Change 7 e100250. 10.1016/j.egycc.2026.100250.
Mastrucci, A. , Maracchini, G., Kikstra, J. , Zaini, T. , & van Ruijven, B. (2026). Veni, vidi, vixi: Heterogeneities in residential floor space and energy consumption across households in Italy. Energy and Buildings 367 e117745. 10.1016/j.enbuild.2026.117745.
Wang, K., Tang, R., Zheng, H., Wagner, F. , Zhou, D., Ding, A., & Wang, H. (2026). Aerosol-induced dimming and deposition limit solar PV potential in China: regional heterogeneity and clean-air co-benefits. Atmospheric Environment 381 e122129. 10.1016/j.atmosenv.2026.122129.
Zhou, Y., He, H., Zhang, S. , Yu, F., & Yi, B. (2026). Impact of renewable energy resource endowment on capacity configuration optimization for wind-solar-storage-transmission systems. Energy Conversion and Management: X 31 e101957. 10.1016/j.ecmx.2026.101957.