News

Latest news from the Energy, Climate, and Environment Program.

30 November 2021
Climate action can lessen poverty and inequality worldwide

Climate change disproportionately affects the world’s most vulnerable populations. Not only are these effects compounding and magnifying existing inequalities, but the impacts will increase in severity over time, affecting both current and future generations. A new international study shows that the redistribution of revenues from a carbon tax can promote equity and protect marginalized populations.  More

29 November 2021
Why we must avoid temperature overshoot

A new international study coordinated by IIASA shows how near-term mitigation can help to prevent an overshoot in global temperatures, thereby reducing climate risks and bringing long-term economic gains.  More

29 November 2021
Exploring pathways to reduce the economic and environmental risks of climate change

Allowing global temperatures to rise beyond maximum thresholds and then trying to bring them back down again through mitigation strategies is risky. A new study by an international team of researchers explored the physical and macroeconomic impacts associated with mitigation pathways with different levels of temperature overshoot.  More

16 November 2021
Two IIASA stalwarts honored with lifetime achievement awards

Internationally renowned IIASA researchers GuentherFischer and Nebojsa Nakicenovic were the first to be honored with the newly established IIASA Lifetime Achievement Award at Monday night’s public lecture co-organized by IIASA and the Austrian Academy of Sciences.  More

16 November 2021
IIASA celebrates 12 researchers on Highly Cited Researchers 2021 List

IIASA is proud to announce that 12 researchers from across various IIASA programs have been named on the annual Highly Cited Researchers™ 2021 list from Clarivate.  More

04 November 2021
Cutting ammonia emissions is a cost-effective way to prevent air pollution deaths

Tackling pollution from the emission of nitrogen compounds, particularly ammonia, could reduce many of the 23.3 million years of life that were lost prematurely across the world in 2013 due to nitrogen-related air pollution, an international study led by Chinese scientists has discovered using a modeling framework, including the IIASA GAINS model.  More

28 October 2021
How recovery from COVID-19 and climate policies might affect the use of “clean” cooking fuels

Replacing polluting cooking fuels with clean-burning ones can save lives and reduce our impact on the environment. A group of IIASA researchers shows how recovery from the pandemic and climate mitigation policies might affect access to clean fuels.  More

21 October 2021
Addressing soaring energy prices and the energy transition in Europe

Europe is in the grip of an unprecedented energy crisis, leading some to call for a renewed focus on fossil fuels to supply much needed electricity for the coming winter months. A statement released by the Group of Chief Scientific Advisors to the European Commission however highlights that accelerating the transition to a low-carbon energy system is a solution that can actually lower energy prices in the long term.  More

19 October 2021
Joeri Rogelj receives ISC Early Career Scientist Award for Europe

IIASA researcher Joeri Rogelj received the Early Career Science Award for Europe during the International Science Council (ISC) General Assembly in Paris last week for his exceptional contribution to science, international scientific collaboration, and policy engagement.  More

11 October 2021
How recovery from COVID-19’s impact on energy demand could help meet climate targets

The pandemic-related drop in greenhouse gas emissions in 2020 was likely the largest on record in a single year, but how our recovery might affect future emissions is less clear. New modeling examines alternative scenarios and how they could impact climate mitigation targets.  More

07 October 2021
Achieving just transitions to a net-zero world

Only a minority of the global population currently enjoy high levels of wellbeing, while many are experiencing multidimensional poverty. A new IIASA strategic initiative – JustTrans4All – aims to improve our understanding of how to make the needed transitions more just.  More

27 September 2021
The kids are not alright

Children are to face disproportionate increases in lifetime extreme event exposure – especially in low-income countries, according to new research by an international group of scientists.  More

21 September 2021
To solve Brazil’s energy and food crisis: store more water

Storing greater amounts of water in Brazil’s reservoirs could increase precipitation and river flow, alleviating the water and energy supply crisis in Brazil.  More

06 September 2021
Putting a price on climate change

The social cost of carbon dioxide is one of the most influential indicators of climate change as it allows us to estimate the cost of greenhouse gas emissions to humanity. A new study looks back on how ten years of scientific advancements have influenced such estimates, and explores how to resolve some of the most important outstanding gaps in existing models.  More

02 September 2021
How much energy do we need to achieve a decent life for all?

For many, an increase in living standards would require an increase in energy provision. At the same time, meeting current climate goals under the Paris Agreement would benefit from lower energy use. IIASA researchers have assessed how much energy is needed to provide the global poor with a decent life and have found that this can be reconciled with efforts to meet climate targets.  More

06 August 2021
An action agenda for Africa’s electricity sector

A new scientific article outlines how to undertake the much needed expansion and modernization of Africa’s electricity sector. The article highlights the crucial role that international partnerships such as the Sustainable Energy for All Initiative have to play in achieving this goal.  More

05 August 2021
Achieving equitable access to energy in a changing climate

Access to modern, reliable, and affordable energy services is a must for development and ensuring a decent quality of life. IIASA researchers used a novel bottom-up approach to analyze how access to energy services may evolve over time under different scenarios of socioeconomic growth and policy scenarios that meet climate mitigation goals.  More

26 July 2021
How crushed rocks can help capture CO2

IIASA researchers and international colleagues explored the potential of using finely ground rock to help with the removal of CO2 from the atmosphere on the road to achieving net-zero emissions and keeping global warming below 1.5°C.  More

26 July 2021
Inequity in the air of India

Air pollution in India is generated more by the wealthy, while the poor suffer most of the health impact, according to a study by five IIASA researchers published in Nature Sustainability.  More

20 July 2021
The Indus basin: untapped potential for long-term energy storage

Hydropower has massive potential as a source of clean electricity, and the Indus basin can be a key player in fulfilling long-term energy storage demands across Africa, Asia, Europe, and the Middle East. IIASA researchers explored the role the Indus basin could play to support global sustainable development.  More

30 June 2021
Put people at the heart of energy transition policies, say EU Chief Scientific Advisors

Earlier this week, the European Commission’s Group of Chief Scientific Advisors (GCSA) delivered a Scientific Opinion on a systemic approach to the energy transition in Europe in which they provide policy recommendations on how the commission can contribute, accelerate, and facilitate the clean energy transition at the European and global level.  More

23 June 2021
A novel energy storage solution featuring pipes and anchors

What do pipes and anchors have to do with storing energy? More than you might think! A new IIASA-led study explored the potential of a lesser known, but promising sustainable energy storage system called Buoyancy Energy Storage.  More

22 June 2021
What Facebook can tell us about dietary choices

Lifestyle changes for demand-side climate change mitigation is gaining more and more importance and attention. A new IIASA-led study set out to understand the full potential of behavior change and what drives such changes in people’s choices across the world using data from almost two billion Facebook profiles.  More

08 June 2021
Co-benefits of integrating air quality and climate policy in India

Researchers from IIASA's Pollution Management research group have contributed to a recent IEA report focussing on India by quantitatively assessing the energy projections developed by the IEA in terms of air pollutant emissions and PM2.5 concentrations and the corresponding adverse health impacts.  More

07 June 2021
Limiting climate risks for finance: Central banks and science publish scenarios

To improve climate related risk management in the financial sector and facilitate a smooth transition toward a sustainable economy, IIASA researchers joined forces with other scientists and a network of over 60 central banks and financial market supervisors to publish an updated set of scenarios. They show early greenhouse gas emissions reductions can minimize both physical and financial risk - in contrast, delayed action or no action would drive up costs.  More

02 June 2021
Assessing the feasibility of transformation pathways for achieving the Paris Climate Agreement

What drives the feasibility of climate scenarios commonly reviewed by organizations like the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)? And can they actually be achieved in practice? A new systematic framework can help understand what to improve in the next generation of scenarios and explore how to make ambitious emission reductions possible by strengthening enabling conditions.  More

27 May 2021
New framework to enhance national climate action and achieve global goals

With the COP Climate conference in Glasgow only a few months away, the ambitions of the Paris Agreement and the importance of taking action at the national level to reach global climate goals is returning to the spotlight. IIASA researchers and colleagues have proposed a novel systematic and independent scenario framework that could help policymakers assess and compare climate policies and long-term strategies across countries to support coordinated global climate action.  More

20 May 2021
Accounting for finance is key for climate mitigation pathways

A new study published in the journal Science, highlights the opportunity to complement current climate mitigation scenarios with scenarios that capture the interdependence among investors’ perception of future climate risk, the credibility of climate policies, and the allocation of investments across low- and high-carbon assets in the economy.  More

17 May 2021
Keywan Riahi appointed to ten-member group of the UN Secretary General

The United Nations Secretary-General, António Guterres, has appointed a new group of ten renowned experts including IIASA Energy, Climate, and Environment Program Director, Keywan Riahi, to support the UN Technology Facilitation Mechanism to bring science into the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).  More

04 May 2021
The economic benefits of air quality improvements in the Arctic

A new report released by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) assessed the biophysical and economic benefits of air pollution policies in Arctic Council countries. The analysis relied on a suite of modeling tools, including the IIASA GAINS model, to project the impacts of increasingly ambitious policy action up to 2050.  More

28 April 2021
New OECD Report: The Economic Benefits of Air Quality Improvements in Arctic Council Countries

The OECD launched a new report on 28 April 2021 that assesses the biophysical and economic benefits of air pollution policies in Arctic Council countries. The analysis relies on a suite of modelling tools - including IIASA's GAINS model - to project the impacts of increasingly ambitious policy action up to 2050, compared with business as usual.  More

26 April 2021
IIASA researchers on the Reuters Hot List of climate scientists

No less than nine IIASA researchers have made it onto the Reuters Hot List – the media giant’s ranking of the world’s most influential climate scientists – with IIASA Energy, Climate, and Environment Program Director, Keywan Riahi, claiming the top spot.  More

05 April 2021
Conceptualizing “safe and just” for the future of the planet and its people

The Earth Commission laid out its approach to defining a “safe and just corridor for people and planet” in a paper published today in Earth’s Future.  More

22 March 2021
The value of cooperation for sustainable development in transboundary river basins

Can cooperation across sectors and countries help to achieve sustainable development? How do stakeholders in the Indus and Zambezi basins envision the future and how can they make that future a reality? IIASA researchers looked into these questions as part of a large-scale initiative with international partners.  More

19 March 2021
Is it worth investing in solar PV with batteries at home?

Solar energy is a clean, renewable source of electricity that could potentially play a significant part in fulfilling the world’s energy requirements, but there are still some challenges to fully capitalizing on this potential. Researchers looked into some of the issues that hamper the uptake of solar energy and proposed different policies to encourage the use of this technology.  More

24 February 2021
Ending the war on the world

We must urgently transform our relationship with nature, according to a major new UN report.  More

24 January 2021
EU Second Clean Air Outlook underpinned by analysis using IIASA's GAINS model

The EU Commission published its Second Clean Air Outlook (COM(2021)3) in January 2021, updating the First Clean Air Outlook from 2018. The new report examines the scope for further reductions in future European air pollution, taking into account the measures proposed by Member States in their National Air Pollution Control Programmes and more ambitious measures to tackle climate change. Both Clean Air Outlooks have been underpinned by extensive analyses carried out using IIASA's GAINS model.  More

18 November 2020
List of Highly Cited Researchers 2020 announced

We are proud to announce that several IIASA researchers have been named on the annual Highly Cited Researchers list from Clarivate.  More


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Last edited: 14 July 2021

CONTACT DETAILS

Keywan Riahi

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

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International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA)
Schlossplatz 1, A-2361 Laxenburg, Austria
Phone: (+43 2236) 807 0 Fax:(+43 2236) 71 313