Meetings – CD-LINKS

CD-LINKS Summer School on Integrated Assessment Models: A Tool for Science-Based Policy Making

In cooperation with CMCC, IIASA, and the support of EAERE, the CD-LINKS project is launching a Summer School aimed at providing advanced training for young international scholars on integrated assessment models. It will take place at the Palazzo Artigianelli, Venice, Italy, from 30 June to 6 July, 2019.

As environmental policy making becomes increasingly informed by model simulations, it becomes crucial for researchers involved in this science-to-policy dialogue to obtain a basic understanding of how such models work, how they are developed and how to interpret their output.

Objectives
The objective of the summer school is to create a community of young scholars from a broad range of disciplines, ranging from environmental and natural resource economists to energy engineers, physicists, system analysts and environmental scientists, interested in the topic of modelling human activities and the earth system in an integrated framework, commonly referred to as Integrated Assessment Modelling.

The school will cover the process of modelling the interactions between economic activities and the energy system, land use, forest and agriculture, water, and atmosphere, and whether and how these multi-dimensional implications could be aggregated or traded-off.

Topics

History of the Integrated Assessment modelling of human activities and the earth system
Past socio-demographic trends and implications for energy: future major trends
Overview of land use, agriculture and food
Overview of the modelling of impacts of climate change
Modelling Sustainable Development Goals: The expansion of Integrated Assessment Models and bringing everything back together
Integrated Assessment Model development and their use: three national experiences

Note: We received a record number of applications, and therefore only contacted candidates who were accepted to the program. All accepted candidates were notified as of 5^th April 2019. Thank you again for your interest in the Summer School. – CD-LINKS Consortium and Summer School Faculty.

Important dates

Application deadline: CLOSED

Announcement of accepted applicants: 5^th April 2019

Summer school held: 30^th June to 6^th July 2019

Any questions contact: cd-links.summer-school(@)iiasa.ac.at

Sustainable national roadmaps towards the global objective of 1.5 and 2°C – the Indian perspective: Summary report CD-LINKS stakeholder & expert workshop

Researchers of think tanks, NGOs, businesses and government staff participated in a stakeholder and expert workshop for the CD-LINKS project in New Delhi, India on 19^th March 2018 hosted by The Energy Resources Institute (TERI) and the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA). The purpose of the workshop was to inform Indian stakeholders and experts of the research conducted under CD-LINKS and to benefit from the knowledge and insights of the participants and ensure that the research is relevant for Indian decision makers.

Welcome and introduction from Keywan Riahi, IIASA – photo credit/ TERI

CD-LINKS is an evidence-based project that examines policy successes and failures to inform integrated assessment modelling at the international and national level. For example, examining the success of rural electrification and national solar policies in India has been one aspect covered by the CD-LINKS project. One important question central to the CD-LINKS project and of relevance to India is how trade-offs between climate policy and the sustainable development goals (SDGs) can be managed.

Workshop audience during first question and answer session – photo credit/ TERI

The design of inclusive climate policies is of importance as they should, in addition to the primary goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions, shield the poor from adverse effects due to increasing energy and food prices. India is an important country for climate mitigation because the demand for energy services is expected to grow rapidly over the coming decades and investment patterns need to change fundamentally compared to the current situation. For example, greater investments should be directed to low-carbon electricity generation and transmission system enhancements (e.g., electrical storage to integrate variable renewable sources), with reductions in fossil fuel, in particular coal-related, investments.

The first session of the workshop featured presentations by policy-makers and national modelling teams, including the results of the Indian researchers contributing to the CD-LINKS project. The Director General of TERI, Ajay Mathur provided an opening statement, during which he explained that the energy infrastructure of India is yet to be built, thereby presenting the opportunity for this new infrastructure to be chosen in a manner that minimises carbon emissions. It was noted by Prodipto Ghosh, one of the advisers of the CD-LINKS project, that India faces huge development challenges, with half the population below the age of 25 and India’s per capita energy consumption well below the world average.

Indian farmer digging in front of sprinklers/ shutterstock

During the presentation on the main challenges of India: government/ policymaker perspective by NITI Aayog’s RP Gupta, it was noted that the electricity subsidies in the agricultural sector lead to overexploitation of scarce water resources for irrigation, because of no scarcity signal reaching farmers. During the question and answer session there were discussions on the merits of managing solar energy in India via grid integration or off-grid including storage, and the political ramifications of various policies, such as the management of electricity subsidies in the farming region of the Punjab state.

Presentations were then given by representatives of the Indian integrated assessment modelling teams, Ritu Mathur, TERI and Saritha Sudharmma Vishwanathan, Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad (IIM). The objectives of their modelling work were to explore national Indian transformative strategies for addressing climate change, to synergise climate actions with SDGs, and to contribute to the development of coherent national and global low carbon development pathways within the CD-LINKS project.

Panellist and presenter Saritha Sudharmma Vishwanathan, IIM – photo credit/ TERI

Several different scenarios were modelled with numerous insights highlighted during the presentations, such as the need for renewable electricity storage to be developed into a viable technology, or the important role for energy efficiency. During the question and answer session a discussion on the use of compressed natural gas (CNG) for transport and the experience with widespread deployment of CNG in Delhi was discussed; a question was also posed on the inclusion of land-use and non-CO₂ gases in IIM’s analysis, which was found to be the plan for the next phase of modelling.

The second session of the workshop was a series of panel discussions, titled ‘From Paris to the SDGs in India and globally – How can science contribute?’ With the first part of the discussions focusing on climate, energy, air pollution and the second part on energy-water nexus, energy access and food security. Each panellist gave a five minute teaser statement on various topical areas.

Hindu God Ganesha decorated with LED bulbs/ shutterstock

During the first panel Ajay Shankar, TERI, presented India’s climate policy process and international role, during which the need to focus on energy efficiency, such as the high penetration of light-emitting diodes (LEDs), was emphasised. Speaking also on energy efficiency, Abhay Bakre, from the Bureau of Energy Efficiency, noted the lack of funding in India to address this challenge. It was also emphasised the need for a national roadmap as targets/ goals only provide guidance on what needs to be done. Chintan Shah from the Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency Limited (IREDA) claimed that India is the most cost-effective country in the world to produce renewables. It was stressed again that it is necessary to reduce the demand for electricity by advocating energy efficiency and to decarbonise the supply side by promoting, in particular, renewables. The close relationship that climate change has with air pollution was noted by Sumit Sharma from TERI. In India there are more than 200 air quality measuring stations, with most exceeding national standards, which has a substantial impact on health. Climate policies will beneficially affect air pollution, and this needs to be taken into consideration when designing policy.

Following the five minute teaser statements from presenters, a question and answer session took place that included a discussion on the planned coal power plants in India and the concern for power cuts being avoided. A question was also posed as to why electrical vehicle penetration is low in India, with an observation from a panellist member that successful policies are when the private sector participate and the government also creates suitable conditions for the policy.

The second panel discussion covered the energy-water nexus, energy access and food security, with opening remarks from the panel’s moderator Anil Jain, Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change. Household energy access was the first short teaser statement topic from Purnamita Dasgupta, Institute of Economic Growth. Biomass has an important role particularly in rural areas of India, as it is the major energy source for the majority of households (e.g. cooking or heat).A need to change from biomass to other more efficient energy sources such as kerosene or liquefied petroleum gas is preferable not only from the climate change perspective, but also from the health perspective due to the indoor air pollution. It was emphasised that households do engage and are willing to make a change, but a different approach is needed to ensure that the change from biomass is not just temporary and endures over the long term.

Audience members posing questions – photo credit/ TERI

Kirit Parikh from IRADe presented on water availability and agriculture, posing the question ‘what can be done to help make groundwater use sustainable?’ Water availability is insufficient for what is needed for the Indian population, agriculture, or industry. Agriculture is the largest water-consuming sector, with the majority of water for irrigation obtained from groundwater sources. The tragedy of the commons ensues, as groundwater is an essentially unregulated resource in India. Excessive pumping of water for use in irrigation is a result of electricity provided at a subsidised rate, thus resulting in a lack of incentives to reduce water use.

It was also noted in the presentation that the Ganges is heavily polluted, with fertiliser and pesticide run off contributing to water pollution. Kirit Parikh emphasised the need to improve water quality, but questioned how this could be achieved in India. The final presentation in this panel was by Vaibhav Chaturvedi, CEEW. Reiterating the issues related to water, it was stated that India is a water-scarce nation, with an increase in water usage expected in the power sector, with Vaibhav Chaturvedi questioning how the energy sector will be when water is a constraint.

Morning prayers at the Ganges River bank, Varanasi India/ shutterstock

Dry cooling could be an option that India pursues, similar to what China has undertaken in its water-scarce regions. However, the cost increases are estimated to be in the range of 20%, resulting in no action being taken in India. A question and answer session followed the panel presentations, during which it was noted that dry cooling is possible in China as the ambient air temperature is lower, which is not the case in India; there was also concern as to how interest in the energy supply can be encouraged in Indian farmers.

The findings of the stakeholder and expert workshop emphasised the importance of examining climate change as part of the boarder picture, as development constraints also need to be considered when designing policies. The CD-LINKS project has several papers under development analysing climate change and the SDGs that feature India in the analysis. The feedback from the workshop in Delhi has contributed to an improved understanding of the nuances of Indian policy making and the particular local issues encountered when addressing climate change, along with the impact this can have on other SDGs; as demonstrated by the discussion on agriculture management and its relationship with electrical subsidies. These findings and feedback from the workshop will further contribute to the work of the CD-LINKS project and will be taken into consideration in its next phase.

This report is available to download as a PDF from here and the agenda is available here.

CD-LINKS travels to Delhi, India

CD-LINKS travels to Delhi, India 19^th to 22^nd March for an action-packed week of a stakeholder workshop, project meeting and a capacity building workshop.

The CD-LINKS project brings together a consortium of 19 leading international research organizations to explore national and global transformation strategies for climate change and their linkages to a range of sustainable development goals. The CD-LINKS project is funded by the European Commission under the Horizon 2020 framework and brings together a unique set of partners, comprised of European organisations and collaborators from Brazil, China, India, Japan, Russia, Republic of Korea and the USA.

Stakeholder workshop 19^th March

The International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA) and The Energy Resources Institute (TERI) are organising a half day stakeholder workshop for the CD-LINKS project. Invitees of the event include researchers of think tanks (e.g. NITI Aayog), staff from NGOs (e.g. World Wildlife Fund India), businesses (e.g. Tata Power) and governmental staff of various ministries in India (e.g. Ministry of Environment, Forest & Climate Change and Ministry of New and Renewable Energy).

The main focus of the workshop is ‘Sustainable national roadmaps towards the global objective of 1.5 and 2°C – the Indian perspective’.

The first session will be presentations by policy-makers and national modelling teams, including the results of the Indian researchers participating in the CD-LINKS project. The second session will be a series of panel discussions, titled ‘From Paris to the SDGs in India and globally – How can science contribute?’ With the first part of the discussions focusing on climate, energy, air pollution and the second part on energy-water nexus, energy access, food security.

The workshop is being hosted by TERI at Juniper Hall, India Habitat Centre, New Delhi starting at 12.00pm with lunch.

The agenda is available from here.

Project meeting 20^th to 22^nd March

The consortium will be gathering in Delhi for their 5^th (and second from last) meeting of the CD-LINKS project. The meeting will provide an opportunity for the researchers to work together face-to-face as they are based in locations across the global, spanning several time zones.

In addition to focusing on the progress and implementation of the project so far and planning for the coming year, there will be several break out groups scheduled that will focus on in-depth specialised topics, such as climate change adaptation or carbon lock-in. Carbon lock-in is the self-perpetuating tendency of fossil fuel-based energy systems to remain unchanged and inhibits public or private efforts to establish alternative energy technologies.

Discussions are also planned to be held on clarifying the final messaging of the project and innovating ways to present the research findings to policymakers.

The agenda is available from here.

Capacity building workshop 22^nd March

The capacity building workshop is aimed at junior researchers and PhD students interested in integrated assessments and systems analysis, modelling, and visualisation tools.

Presentations will be given from invited experts who are participating in the CD-LINKS project. One session of the workshop will be focused on the analysis of data and how to present modelling results in a more engaging and useful format. The second session would be focused on modelling methodology. Participants will be from the CD-LINKS partner institutes and other local universities, such as think-tanks based in Delhi or TERI University.

To register for the event contact: cd-links.secretariat(@)iiasa.ac.at

The agenda is available from here.

CD-LINKS at COP23

The CD-LINKS project had a busy two weeks during the 2017 United Nations Climate Change Conference twenty-third Conference of the Parties (COP23), with a total of six activities. Two official CD-LINKS side events took place in the Bonn Zone, two presentations were given at separate events at the World Wide Fund for Nature pavilion, one side event was held in the Interconnections Zone hosted by the German Development Institute; in addition, prior to the opening of COP23 insights from the CD-LINKS project were presented at a plenary discussion for an event hosted at the German Development Institute titled ‘Climate Action and Human Wellbeing at a Crossroads: Historical Transformation or Backlash?’

Background

Two significant agreements were formulated in 2015: the Paris Agreement within the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the establishment of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) adopted at the UN Sustainable Development Summit. The transformation by countries to low a carbon future in order to meet the 1.5 or 2°C temperature targets outlined in the Paris Agreement is expected to have significant impact on the SDGs. The SDGs are inherently connected, and of paramount importance for climate policy. Understanding how climate policy will influence the other SDGs is critical to incentivise further action and to understand how climate policy trade-offs can be avoided. For example, actions taken to reduce climate pollutants from transport or agriculture could help reduce global warming and would also have a positive effect on SDG 3 good health and well-being, because of the harmful effects of climate pollutants to public health. However, some climate change mitigation policies may need large-scale land based measures such as bioenergy production or afforestation that could have a negative impact on SDG 2 zero hunger because of the implications for food security.

Interconnections Zone, 13 November © German Development Institute / Deutsches Institut für Entwicklungspolitik

To maximize synergies between the two agreements made in 2015 and to support national policy making within climate and development issues, interactions between climate policies and the SDGs need to be better understood. The research project CD-LINKS brings together a consortium of 19 leading international research organizations to explore national and global climate transformation strategies and their linkages to a range of SDGs. The project is financed by the European Commission’s Horizon 2020 programme.

Crossroads, 4 November © German Development Institute / Deutsches Institut für Entwicklungspolitik

CD-LINKS at COP23

Each of the three CD-LINKS side events during COP23 presented the most recent outcomes of the CD-LINKS project and examined the links between climate and development. The scientists of the CD-LINKS project made comparisons of the strategies to reach the 1.5 and 2°C goals for key countries like Brazil, China, the European Union, and India, along with a comparison of the current ambition level of the Nationally Determined Contributions, which are the efforts by each country to meet the goals of the Paris Agreement in reducing national emissions and adapting to the impacts of climate change.

Interconnections Zone, 13 November © German Development Institute / Deutsches Institut für Entwicklungspolitik

There were animated and informative dialogues that took place following the presentations, with panel discussions, along with question and answer sessions with the audience. The CD-LINKS side event hosted at the Interconnections Zone benefited from panel members from the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network and the European Commission who were able to provide the policymakers’ perspective. Of particular concern was what actions need to be taken now in order to ensure deeper emission reductions in the future, and what the social dimensions of decarbonization are.

For Brazil’s transition to low carbon the role of biofuels and carbon capture and storage was shown to be important, along with an increase in electrification of the transport sector. It was also noted that land use change would need to be managed to allow for the increase in crops for biofuels and enabling afforestation. For India there is a need to increase access to electricity, as 304 million people currently are without access, with the Indian government establishing a target of 100% village electrification by 2019. This will need to be achieved in parallel while significant changes are made to India’s power sector that provides this electricity, such as the retiring of old and inefficient coal power plants, replacing them with clean coal technologies and other low carbon technologies such as solar, wind or nuclear. An important role is also attributed to actions to improve energy efficiency in buildings such as changing to light-emitting diode (LED) light sources and energy efficient air conditioners.

The CD-LINKS project also includes global analysis by integrated assessment models that determine whether current policies are on-track to reducing greenhouse gases in line with the Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs). The analysis shows that the policies fall short of the NDCs and have also calculated how much more reductions are needed to meet the Paris Agreement targets of 1.5 or 2°C. The findings show that further strengthening is needed in all countries, with some countries being close to meeting their NDCs. However, these same countries would then have to make significant increases in effort (i.e. ratcheting up the ambition level of their NDCs) to enable them to meet the Paris Agreement targets. The CD-LINKS project has provided a wide range of outcomes useful in this stocktaking process.

Highlights of the discussions between the 270 guests at the German Development Institute’s Crossroads event included the topics global cooperation and multilateralism, as well as different sectors of the transformation towards sustainability (e.g. mobility, digitisation, financing the transformation and agriculture). The conclusions of the conference are summarised in a Memorandum titled: ‘The Climate – Justice – Cooperation Nexus: 10 Cornerstones of the Great Transformation towards Sustainability’.

Presentations during the three CD-LINKS COP23 side events

Monday 6^th November, Climate & Development Links: National decarbonization pathways toward 1.5 & 2°C and impacts on SDGs, Bonn Zone

Introduction – Keywan Riahi, IIASA
Informing the global stock-take: National midcentury strategies and global 1.5°C and well below 2°C pathways – Elmar Kriegler, PIK
Sustainable development implications of global pathways and national mid-century strategies – Volker Krey, IIASA
Mid-century decarbonisation pathway for the E.U. – Zoi Vrontisi, ICCS
Mid-century decarbonisation pathway for China – Sha Fu, NCSC

Monday 13^th November, Ratcheting up nationally determined contributions (NDCs): Consistent national roadmaps towards the global objective of 1.5 and 2°C, German Development Institute/Deutsches Institut für Entwicklungspolitik (DIE)

Introduction – Keywan Riahi, IIASA
Burden-sharing, regional budgets and dialogue process – Detlef Van Vuuren, PBL
Sustainable development implications of the transformation pathways – Volker Krey, IIASA
Policy perspective on the NDCs – Niklas Höhne, WU
National transformation pathways: case of Brazil – Roberto Schaeffer, COPPE
National transformation pathways: case of India – Amit Garg, IIMA
Policy perspective – panelist discussion – Tom van Ierland, EC and Guido Schmidt-Traub, UNSDSN

Wednesday 15^th November, 1.5 & 2°C strategies, SDGs and green growth – EU Research Projects CD-LINKS and GREEN-WIN, EU Pavilion

Introduction – Volker Krey, IIASA
National and global decarbonization pathways – Elmar Kriegler, PIK
Climate policies and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) – Volker Krey, IIASA
Reconciling climate and economic goals through green-growth and green-business models – Jochen Hinkel, GCF
Climate clubs and the macro-economic benefits of international cooperation – Antoine Mandel, Paris School of Economics

The three side events were in partnership with:

Alberto Luiz Coimbra Institute for Graduate Studies and Research in Engineering (COPPE)
Centro Euro-Mediterraneo sui Cambiamenti Climatici (CMCC)
Global Climate Forum (GCF)
Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad (IIMA)
Italian Society for Climate Science (SISC)
PBL Netherlands Environmental Agency (PBL)
Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK)
Wageningen University and Research Centre (WU)

3rd Project Meeting

12 December 2016

The third CD-LINKS project meeting was hosted by ERI in Beijing, China, on 1-3 December 2016.

During the meeting, the project partners discussed the results to date, and set a work plan until the next meeting that will take place in May 2017 in Potsdam, Germany.

An important part of the meeting was to receive feedback of the project Advisory Board on the progress to date and the plans ahead.

In total, 43 persons participated in the meeting. The agenda is available here.

2nd CD-LINKS project meeting

27 May 2016

Euro-Mediterranean Center on Climate Change (CMCC), Venice, Italy

The second CD-LINKS project workshop was hosted by the Euro-Mediterranean Center on Climate Change (CMCC) in Venice, Italy, on 18-20 May 2016.

During the meeting, the project partners discussed short- and long-term plans of the project, and set a timeline for activities until the next project meeting to be held in December in Beijing, China.

An important part of the meeting was to receive feedback of the project Advisory Board on the progress to date and the plans ahead.

In total, 53 persons participated in the meeting. The agenda is available here.

Multi-disciplinary dialogue on poverty and inequality in climate modeling

27 May 2016

Leading experts from various disciplines, including development economics and policy, climate modeling, food, water and energy, gathered in Venice, Italy on 17-18 May 2016 to discuss poverty and inequality as part of a workshop which aimed at discussing effective and feasible ways of improving the representation of poverty and inequality in climate change modelling. Reducing poverty and inequality are two of the global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and underpin many of the other SDGs.

The expert workshop on modeling poverty and inequality was organized within the framework of the CD-LINKS project and hosted by one of the consortium members, The Euro-Mediterranean Center on Climate Change (CMCC). IIASA’s Energy Program is leading the project’s consortium.

CD-LINKS aims at creating national and global transformation pathways that show how reducing greenhouse gas emissions in the future could occur in conjunction with sustainable development objectives. The CD-LINKS consortium hosts the world’s leading modelers who create these pathways through Integrated Assessment Models (IAMs).

The IAM community informs climate change policy, and its main results are reviewed in the reports by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), forming the scientific basis of international climate negotiations.

Poverty and inequality have been recognized as key outcomes of interesting in assessing climate change damages and the socio-economic impacts of climate change mitigation policies. Both outcomes and their evolution have been neglected in integrated assessment models. This is due to several factors, ranging from the difficulty in disentangling drivers of inequality, which makes projections difficult, up to the fact that inequality has been a marginalized topic in recent decades even in the field of economics.

Bringing together experts from various different fields is an important first step in integrating poverty an inequality research in IAMs. The experts, who represented academia, NGOs and development organizations, presented an overview on research related to poverty and inequality, and how they are interpreted and modeled in different disciplines, such as macroeconomics and development policy. The workshop provided a platform for starting a dialogue between these different disciplines. This newly established network of experts will be maintained and facilitated by the CD-LINKS project.

For more information, see agenda and list of participants.

CD-LINKS Kick-off meeting

CD-LINKS kick-off meeting

1 October 2015

The CD-LINKS project was launched with a 4-day long kick-off meeting, hosted by IIASA in Laxenburg, Austria on 28 September – 1 October 2015. All 18 project partner and collaborator institutes from Europe, Asia and Latin America participated in the meeting.

The objective of the meeting was to start the project implementation with a common vision of project objectives, deliverables, key milestones and activities. Further, the meeting aimed to develop a plan for the near term tasks and how they feed into long term objectives and to identify cross-cutting activities and information flows between work packages. During the meeting, all the project’s Work Packages were discussed, and work plans and next steps were developed for each one, taking into account the necessary interactions with other Work Packages.

Further, an important goal of the meeting was to receive feedback from the project’s advisory board, stakeholders and experts. The advisory board participated throughout the kick-off meeting and provided the project with highly valuable comments and feedback on the implementation plans.

As part of the kick-off meeting, a one-day stakeholder and expert workshop was carried out. Read more about the stakeholder and expert meeting here.

Stakeholder and Expert Workshop to discuss integrated climate and development solutions

30 September 2015

The CD-LINKS project organized a first stakeholder and expert workshop as part of its kick-off meeting, hosted by IIASA in Laxenburg, Austria on 30 September 2015. The objective of the workshop was to receive feedback for the project start from key stakeholders and experts in the field, especially regarding the project’s near term plans in the area of empirical policy analysis and on how these feed into long term objectives. A total of 47 persons participated in this workshop representing academia, the public sector, NGOs, and the CD-LINKS project partner institutions.

The stakeholder and expert workshop provided the project with excellent comments, ideas and suggestions right at the start of its implementation. More concretely, especially for Work Package 1, the workshop provided hands-on ideas on how to start developing the empirical policy analysis. For instance, the development of the guidelines for case study design was enriched with considerations on good policy practices and on measuring policy effectiveness.

During the four years of the project, several stakeholder and expert workshops will be organized on topics relevant for CD-LINKS in order to give direction to the project through a science-policy dialogue.

For more information, read the stakeholder and expert meeting report.