Limiting global temperature increase to two degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, a target agreed to by more than 100 countries, requires dramatic cuts in carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas emissions. Such a transformation necessitates a fundamental restructuring of the way energy and land are managed, driven by unparalleled policy commitment and coordination from all of the world’s major economies.
The LIMITS (Low Climate Impact Scenarios and the Implications of Required Tight Emission Control Strategies) project assesses a series of questions that are critical for developing climate policies that can achieve the stringent two-degree goal. The focus of the project is on technological challenges, economics, required policy regimes, implementation obstacles, and local and national air quality and energy security impacts.
The project assesses the implementation of emissions reductions strategies in terms of:
LIMITS is a 3 year research project (started in October 2011), with ten partners from Europe, China, India, and collaborators from the US and Japan. The project is coordinated by FEEM (Project Director: Massimo Tavoni) and managed by a coordination board which includes, besides FEEM, Elmar Kriegler (PIK), Keywan Riahi (IIASA) and Detlef van Vuuren (Utrecht University). LIMITS consists of 7 main workpackages and aims at carrying out and disseminating original research in the field of climate and energy policies. Several project and stakeholders meeting are expected to be held in Italy, Austria, Germany, the Netherlands, China and Belgium. The project can count on a very strong team, with 10 authors of the IPCC 5th assessment report WGIII participating in the project. Key integrated assessment models, including all the ones that generated the Representative Concentration Pathways (RCPs), will be involved in the generation of integrated low carbon scenarios.
Researchers from IIASA’s Energy Program are using the MESSAGE-MACRO integrated assessment model to analyze the benefits of climate mitigation and the implications for strategies intended to achieve the two-degree goal. Program scientists will also examine historical trends in the diffusion of technology in order to inform future technological feasibility. IIASA’s Ecosystems Services and Management Program will use the GLOBIOM model to assess the environmental and economic implications of land use changes under the two-degree scenarios.
CONTACT DETAILS
Program Director and Principal Research Scholar Energy, Climate, and Environment Program
Principal Research Scholar Integrated Assessment and Climate Change Research Group - Energy, Climate, and Environment Program
Principal Research Scholar Pollution Management Research Group - Energy, Climate, and Environment Program
Principal Research Scholar Sustainable Service Systems Research Group - Energy, Climate, and Environment Program
Guest Senior Research Scholar Sustainable Service Systems Research Group - Energy, Climate, and Environment Program
Guest Senior Research Scholar Integrated Assessment and Climate Change Research Group - Energy, Climate, and Environment Program
International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA)
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