Project description
A comprehensive, integrated tool for sustainability modelling
Decision-makers in governments need to be able to make informed decisions about feasible and effective pathways towards a low-carbon society. The EU-funded LOCOMOTION project responds to this need. Building on the existing Integrated Assessment Models (IAMs) developed in the EU-funded MEDEAS project, a number of substantive improvements are planned with respect to the state-of-the-art in energy-economy-environment modelling. These include several actions, such as the expansion of the geographical coverage and improving the IAMs by increasing the detail and precision of existing modules and adding new ones. The results of the project will be open source and available to scientists and modelling experts as open source software in Python with extensive technical documentation. Public decision-makers will benefit from user-friendly application for own analysis. Civil society will be able to use web interface and educational simulation game.
Objective
The overall objective of LOCOMOTION is to enhance existing Integrated Assessment Models (IAMs) in order to provide policy makers and relevant stakeholders with a reliable and practical model system to assess the feasibility, effectiveness, costs and impacts of different sustainability policy options, and to identify the most effective transition pathways towards a low-carbon society.
Building on existing IAMs developed in the MEDEAS European project, and including knowledge from other relevant models (World6, TIMES, LEAP, GCAM, C-Roads, …), a number of substantive improvements are foreseen with respect to the state-of-the-art in energy-economy-environment modelling:
• Expanding the geographical coverage and detail by creating a new worldwide multi-regional model with 7 global regions and integrating the 28 EU countries.
• Improving IAMs by increasing the detail and precision of existing modules and adding new ones.
• Integrating relevant functionalities from other models and comparing modelling results.
• Integrating demand management policies in scenario assessment.
• Representing and quantifying uncertainty.
• Improving the usability of the IAMs through the development of two interface levels (professional and educational).
• Exploiting and disseminating model result to three stakeholder groups: policy-makers and experts on strategic planning; experts on IAMs, modellers and programmers; and civil society.
The improved IAM will be the product of an interdisciplinary work in data management, policy and scenario assessment and system dynamic modelling of relevant environmental, economic, social, technological and biophysical variables.
This new IAM will be a robust, usable and reliable tool of diagnostic and scenario assessment for a sustainable transition towards a low-carbon society. LOCOMOTION will provide the different stakeholders with a more effective, user-friendly and open-source, model system for decision-support, education and social awareness.
Fields of science
Keywords
Programme(s)
Funding Scheme
RIA - Research and Innovation actionCoordinator
47002 VALLADOLID
Spain