IIASA scientists used advanced systems analysis to evaluate issues arising at the nexus of Energy & Climate Change, and Poverty & Equity research, for example, access to clean energy for all. Interdisciplinary, integrated, and cross-cutting research is an increasingly important aspect of work at IIASA.
The Energy Program (ENE) is analyzing how improving access to modern energy technologies in developing countries can potentially improve human health and wellbeing. more
Meeting the challenges of climate change, disasters, and competition for energy and resources requires transitions in the way we govern. In 2015 the focus of the Risk, Policy and Vulnerability (RPV) Program’s work on governance was on open government, stakeholder perceptions, and the involvement of multiple stakeholder perspectives in participatory settings. more
The Transitions to New Technologies (TNT) Program played a key role in the proposal for a large-scale, multi-year research project to analyze the synergies and trade-offs between different natural resource systems: Integrated Solutions for Water, Energy, and Land (IS-WEL). more
The Risk, Policy and Vulnerability (RPV) Program built on its breakthrough in assessment of flood-risk distributions which accounts for spatial correlation between river basins and therefore avoids underestimation of risk. The program has now incorporated different types of copula dependency measures, such as the Archimedian- and Frank-based copula, and various dependency structures. more
Ecosystems Services and Management (ESM) researchers have been working to support policymakers in Brazil and the Congo Basin to identify land-use and forest conservation policies that are economically, socially, and environmentally optimal. more
The Energy Program (ENE) is analyzing how improving access to modern energy technologies in developing countries can potentially improve human health and wellbeing. more
The Transitions to New Technologies (TNT) Program played a key role in the proposal for a large-scale, multi-year research project to analyze the synergies and trade-offs between different natural resource systems: Integrated Solutions for Water, Energy, and Land (IS-WEL). more
The project Linking Climate and Development Policies – Leveraging International Networks and Knowledge Sharing (CD-LINKS) kicked off in September 2015. CD-LINKS aims to study the links between climate policies and multiple sustainable development objectives. more
The Risk, Policy and Vulnerability (RPV) Program built on its breakthrough in assessment of flood-risk distributions which accounts for spatial correlation between river basins and therefore avoids underestimation of risk. The program has now incorporated different types of copula dependency measures, such as the Archimedian- and Frank-based copula, and various dependency structures. more
Explicitly accounting for population heterogeneity—in particular with respect to level of education—provides an analytical tool for anticipating future vulnerability. Community participation and strong social networks can also aid preparedness to natural disasters in vulnerable regions, shows new research conducted in the south of Thailand. more
Meeting the challenges of climate change, disasters, and competition for energy and resources requires transitions in the way we govern. In 2015 the focus of the Risk, Policy and Vulnerability (RPV) Program’s work on governance was on open government, stakeholder perceptions, and the involvement of multiple stakeholder perspectives in participatory settings. more
The project Linking Climate and Development Policies – Leveraging International Networks and Knowledge Sharing (CD-LINKS) kicked off in September 2015. CD-LINKS aims to study the links between climate policies and multiple sustainable development objectives. more
The Risk, Policy and Vulnerability (RPV) Program built on its breakthrough in assessment of flood-risk distributions which accounts for spatial correlation between river basins and therefore avoids underestimation of risk. The program has now incorporated different types of copula dependency measures, such as the Archimedian- and Frank-based copula, and various dependency structures. more
In 2015 the Paris COP21 and the G7 Initiative on Climate Risk Insurance showed that insurance against the impacts of climate change is a key issue. The Risk, Policy and Vulnerability (RPV) Program played a role in the history and drafting of both initiatives and is contributing to the evidence needed for their implementation. more
One of the goals of the Water Futures and Solutions (WFaS) initiative is to establish a knowledge hub for systems analytic approaches to water challenges. To facilitate this, the program has been working closely with the Intersectoral Impact Model Intercomparison Project (ISI-MIP) to help develop climate-impact models that fully incorporate water issues. more
The Methods for Economic Decision-Making under Uncertainty (MEDU) group has identified promising approaches to emissions offsetting in the energy sector under Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD) mechanism. These include increasing risk-aversion of energy producers, exposing risk-averse behavior, and activating a benefit-sharing mechanism. more
The Energy Program (ENE) launched the Decent Living Energy project based on a European Research Council Starting Grant award in June 2015. This project assesses the energy needs and associated greenhouse gas emissions of eradicating poverty in key emerging economies. more
IIASA research has firmly established the fact that improvements in the educational attainment structure of populations are a key driver of economic growth. The new set of global Shared Socioeconomic Pathways scenarios—which define alternative population trajectories by age, sex, and six levels of educational attainment—reflect this, showing that economic growth trajectories follow those of human capital. more
In collaboration with the Risk, Policy and Vulnerability (RPV) Program the Water (WAT) Program has continued to contribute to methods to enhance flood resilience. To this end, WAT has led development of the Flood Resilience System Framework (FLORES) to integrate disaster risk management and development perspectives. more
The Transitions to New Technologies (TNT) Program played a key role in the proposal for a large-scale, multi-year research project to analyze the synergies and trade-offs between different natural resource systems: Integrated Solutions for Water, Energy, and Land (IS-WEL). more
The Ecosystems Services and Management (ESM) Program’s Methods for Economic Decision-Making under Uncertainty (MEDU) group has advanced analysis of offsets and permits in the context of international carbon markets and investment uncertainty. more
The project Linking Climate and Development Policies – Leveraging International Networks and Knowledge Sharing (CD-LINKS) kicked off in September 2015. CD-LINKS aims to study the links between climate policies and multiple sustainable development objectives. more
The Ecosystems Services and Management (ESM) Program’s Policy and Science Interface (PSI) group has advanced research into negative emissions technologies—ways of removing greenhouse gases from the atmosphere—investigating whether they are a viable way of tackling climate change. more
The Risk, Policy and Vulnerability (RPV) Program built on its breakthrough in assessment of flood-risk distributions which accounts for spatial correlation between river basins and therefore avoids underestimation of risk. The program has now incorporated different types of copula dependency measures, such as the Archimedian- and Frank-based copula, and various dependency structures. more
In 2015 the Paris COP21 and the G7 Initiative on Climate Risk Insurance showed that insurance against the impacts of climate change is a key issue. The Risk, Policy and Vulnerability (RPV) Program played a role in the history and drafting of both initiatives and is contributing to the evidence needed for their implementation. more
The Sendai Framework for Action, discussed in [1], brought global attention to the urgent need to simultaneously consider development and climate change priorities as part of disaster risk management. The international rhetoric has now, more emphatically than ever, shifted from ex-post reconstruction and relief to ex-ante disaster risk reduction and financing. more
Stochastic GLOBIOM has been used to analyze interdependencies and trade-offs between structural and financial measures for hedging systemic risks and food, energy, water, environmental security in land use systems, which can be induced by climate change and weather variability. more
The World in 2050 (TWI2050) is an international collaboration launched by IIASA with international partners that will involve almost all research programs at IIASA with a focus on deriving viable pathways for achieving all 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). more
The project Linking Climate and Development Policies – Leveraging International Networks and Knowledge Sharing (CD-LINKS) kicked off in September 2015. CD-LINKS aims to study the links between climate policies and multiple sustainable development objectives. more
The Risk, Policy and Vulnerability (RPV) Program built on its breakthrough in assessment of flood-risk distributions which accounts for spatial correlation between river basins and therefore avoids underestimation of risk. The program has now incorporated different types of copula dependency measures, such as the Archimedian- and Frank-based copula, and various dependency structures. more
Explicitly accounting for population heterogeneity—in particular with respect to level of education—provides an analytical tool for anticipating future vulnerability. Community participation and strong social networks can also aid preparedness to natural disasters in vulnerable regions, shows new research conducted in the south of Thailand. more
In collaboration with the Risk, Policy and Vulnerability (RPV) Program the Water (WAT) Program has continued to contribute to methods to enhance flood resilience. To this end, WAT has led development of the Flood Resilience System Framework (FLORES) to integrate disaster risk management and development perspectives. more
The project Linking Climate and Development Policies – Leveraging International Networks and Knowledge Sharing (CD-LINKS) kicked off in September 2015. CD-LINKS aims to study the links between climate policies and multiple sustainable development objectives. more
Ecosystems Services and Management (ESM) researchers have been working to support policymakers in Brazil and the Congo Basin to identify land-use and forest conservation policies that are economically, socially, and environmentally optimal. more
Lucas Henneman of the Georgia Institute of Technology, USA, used the Greenhouse Gas Interactions and Synergies (GAINS) model emissions and control costs associated with eight energy and air pollution scenarios. more
Moipone Mantsebo Letsie of the University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa, analyzed how strategies to cope with climate change differ between households in Lesotho. more
Chukwuma Leonard Azimoh, of Mälardalen University, Sweden, examined whether mini-grids could provide a solution to off-grid electrification in South Africa. more
Erik Nilsson, of Lund University, Sweden, developed a risk modeling tool to estimate the adaptive capacities of communities surrounding Lake Chad in the face of future climate change. more
Martin Flatø, of the University of Oslo, Norway, examined households in South Africa in which women are the senior figure—so called female-headed households—and demonstrated that they are substantially more economically vulnerable to climate variation. more
Jiayi Fang, of Beijing Normal University, China, demonstrated that although marine disaster reduction measures by the Chinese government have been effective, they will face new challenges under climate change. more
Devyani Singh, of the University of British Columbia, Canada, examined recent trends in India for replacing fuelwood with liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) as the main source of household cooking energy. more
Asif Khan, of Cambridge University, UK, assessed the accuracy of hydro-climatic studies for six sub-basins of the Upper Indus Basin (UIB), showing that precipitation datasets and hydrological models should be carefully selected and tested, particularly for mountain regions. more
Zarrar Khan, of the Comillas Pontifical University, Spain; TUDelft, the Netherlands; and the KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Sweden, created an integrated water and energy model, demonstrating that the water-energy nexus is crucial to resource management strategies. more
Oludunsin Tunrayo Arodudu, of the Leibniz Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research and University of Potsdam, Germany, used human appropriation of net primary production (HANPP) and life cycle assessment (LCA) frameworks to quantify the sustainability of agriculture-based bioenergy. more
Luis Gustavo Tudeschini, of the University of São Paulo, Brazil, investigated living conditions in the country, and how much energy and resultant carbon emissions it would require to improve them. more
