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Atmospheric Pollution and Applied interdisciplinary research can develop innovative modelling tools to identify strategies that protect the local, regional and global atmosphere while imposing least burden on the economic development. IIASA's work brings together geo-physical and economic aspects of pollution control into one assessment framework and implement it – together with a network of collaborators - for practical policy analyses in different regions of the world. Draft White Paper presented at the Ministerial Meeting of the Arctic Council Emission trends and mitigation options for black carbon, or ‘soot’, as a means of reducing Arctic ice melt, is the subject of a Draft White Paper submitted to a high level ministerial meeting in Norway this week following the International Melting Ice Conference. The paper, co-authored by IIASA’s Zbigniew Klimont, uses, among other tools, the GAINS model for the assessment of black carbon emisisons and their mitigation in the next decades. Most popular feature article in October issue of Nature Geoscience An article co-authored by IIASA researchers and published in Nature Geoscience in October 2008, has been selected by the editors as the most popular feature article for the issue. Free download available until the end of March 2009. Internet consultation on EC4MACS model methodologies is now open Under the framework of the EU-LIFE EC4MACS project, IIASA has started the Internet consultation on the methodologies of all EC4MACS models. Feedbacks are invited before June 15, 2009, and a review workshop is planned for October 2009. More information ... Second Meeting of the National IAM Network (NIAM) on Issues in National Scale Integrated Assessment Modelling (March 23 and 24, 2009) The meeting will discuss common issues and problems of national integrated assessment modellers and European scale models such as PRIMES, TREMOVE and CAPRI used for projected energy programmes, and transport and agricultural activities in Europe. The second day will be held jointly with the annual meeting of the EC4MACS project. More information... Review workshop on the GAINS methodology for comparing GHG Mitigation Efforts between Annex 1 Parties (postponed to a later date) IIASA will organize a workshop to review the methodology of the new GAINS calculations for Annex 1 countries. More information ... Joint ACCENT/TFIAM Workshop on non-binding aspirational targets for air pollution for the year 2050 at Vredenburg 19, Utrecht, The Netherlands, 5-6 March 2009 More ... 11th Workshop on the Model Intercomparison Study for Asia - February 26-27, 2009 The workshop will review recent progress in the modeling of fine particulate matter and ground-level ozone in Asia and will develop a harmonized workplan for a model intercomparison exercise that addresses these substances. More ... GAINS Tutorial Workshop (February 23-25, 2009) The workshop will offer insight into the methodology and practical hands-on experience to users of IIASA’s GAINS (Greenhouse gas – Air pollution Interactions and Synergies) model. The workhop will focus on air-pollution related aspects, and address the specific conditions for Eastern European and Central Asian countries. More ...
Comparison of GHG Mitigation Efforts between Annex 1 Parties: On-line calculator with initial results released
The interactive 'GAINS Mitigation Efforts Calculator' has been launched at a side event of the United Nations Climate Change Conference, Poznań, Poland - COP 14. The web-based tool allows comparing mitigation efforts between Annex 1 Parties along a range of relevant indicators (December 2, 2008). Read more ... Launch of the GAINS-Asia model at the BAQ2008 conferenceOn the occasion of the Better Air Quality (BAQ2008) conference of the Clean Air Initiative - Asia (CAI-Asia) in Bangkok, November 12-14 2008, IIASA officially launched the GAINS-Asia models for China and India. Access to the GAINS model for China and India is now available from this web site. Also, a brief tutorial that provides step-by-step instructions for the most important features of GAINS can be downloaded here. New brochure with policy findings of GAINS-AsiaA brochure that summarizes key policy finding of the GAINS-Asia cost-effectiveness analysis has been released. Download the brochure in pdf format or request a printed copy from IIASA Policy report on cost-effective control strategies for air pollution in ChinaThe GAINS-Asia team has completed a report presenting an analysis of cost-effective air pollution control strategies for China. The report points out that a targeted approach developed with the GAINS-Asia model can reduce air pollution control costs by up to 80 percent compared to a conventional across-the-board application of advanced emission control technologies. Well-designed air pollution control strategies can reduce costs further, and also reduce greenhouse gas emissions at the same time. Download report ... Methodology report of the GAINS-Asia model availableIIASA finalized the documentation of the methodology of the GAINS-Asia model. Download report ... From RAINS to GAINS ...The importance of a combined perspective on the mitigation of greenhouse house gases and control of air pollution, as well as the possible analytical insights that could be provided with the GAINS model, was highlighted by a presentation of Markus Amann at the Symposium on "The Integration of Climate Change and Air Pollution Strategies", organized by the European Federation for Clean Air (EFCA), at the European Parliament, Strassbourg (November 6, 2008). Download presentation ... Earlier news:
More details : 100 years of ammonia synthesis: how a single patent changed the world. Future scenarios developed by IIASA scientists Zbigniew Klimont and Wilfried Winiwarter suggest that the environmental issues associated with the use of nitrogen fertilizer are set to moderately increase over the coming century instead of getting resolved. Growing requirement for ‘nitrogen hungry’ biofuels may even cause doubling of the use of substance. The scenarios have been developed in association with scientists from Energy Research Centre of the Netherlands, the UK Center for Ecology and Hydrology, and the University of Virginia (US). The research is highlighted in the October issue of Nature Geoscience, where lead author Jan Willem Erisman explains how the significance of the Haber-Bosch process of synthesizing ammonia from Nitrogen has transformed society and led to both positive and negative outcomes. Link to the ECN press release and Nature Geosciences article. A brief tutorial for interactive access to GAINS-online is now available for download. This tutorial provides step-by-step instructions for the most frequent operations of the GAINS-online model (June 23, 2008). IIASA's GAINS model used for the proposal on the Climate and Energy Package of the European Commission Mitigation of non-CO2 greenhouse gases form an integral element of a cost-effective and fair approach to reduce the emissions of harmful greenhouse gases. The European Commission has employed IIASA's GAINS estimates of the potential for and costs of further mitigation of non-CO2 emissions (i.e., CH4, N2O, HFC, PFC, SF6) for its proposal on how Member States should share efforts to implement the 2008 EU Climate and Energy Package. In this proposal, the Commission envisages non-CO2 emissions within the EU-27 to decline by 15-16%, compared to 12% of domestic CO2 emissions. IIASA's report to the Commission is available on this web site, and the full set of input data as well as detailed results for all Member States can be accessed via the on-line version of GAINS. Read more ... (June 21, 2008) IIASA conducts policy analyses for the revision of the Gothenburg Protocol of the Convention on Long-range Transboundary Air Pollution Efficient implementation of a handful of measures that are already widely applied in western Europe could lead to significant and cost-effective improvements of air quality in eastern Europe. IIASA, as the assigned host of the "Centre for Integrated Assessment Modelling" under the UNECE Convention on Long-range Transboundary Air Pollution, is currently performing policy analyses to inform the negotiations on the revision of the multi-pollutant/multi-effect Gothenburg Protocol. A recent policy report (Scenarios of SO2, NOx, and PM emissions in the non-EU countries up to 2020.), which was presented to the negotiators in Geneva in April 2008, assesses the effectiveness of the existing protocol in the non-EU countries and explores key measures that, if implemented, would lead to substantial improvements in air quality in a cost-effective way. Download report [in English/Russian] - presentation slides [in English/Russian]. For the September 2008 session of the Working Group on Strategies, IIASA has prepared a background paper with baseline projections for the revision of the Gothenburg Protocol. Download report ... Further negotiations are expected to address, inter alia, means of faciltating enhanced participation of Parties that have not yet ratified the Gothenburg Protocol. (April 18, 2008) GAINS demonstrates critical influence of climate policy measures on cost-effective emission ceilings for air pollutants Coherence between EU air pollution and climate policies are key if the environmental objectives of the EU Thematic Strategy on Air Pollution were to be met in a cost-effective manner. In a series of policy analyses for the revision of the National Emission Ceilings Directive, the research team at IIASA revealed the crucial importance of climate policy measures for cost-effective air pollution control. Based on these findings, the European Commission decided to align the proposal on the revision of the National Emission Ceilings Directive with the final agreement on the future European climate policy. Read more ... (June 15, 2008) IIASA report highlights the cost-effectiveness of emission controls for ships Air pollution emissions from marine shipping around Europe could surpass the volume of land-based emissions within the next few decades, unless targeted countermeasures are taken. A recent report of IIASA shows that the air quality targets established by the EU Thematic Strategy on Air Pollution could be achieved at lower cost if emission controls were also applied to ships in international waters. The research results were presented to the negotiations of the International Maritime Organization (IMO) in late 2007. Download report ... In April 2008 , the International Maritime Organisation’s (IMO) Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC) agreed at a meeting in London on strict new limits for reducing sulphur emissions from ships, capping the sulphur content of all marine fuels at 0.5 per cent worldwide from 2020. This deal is much more stringent than expected. GAINS analyses contribute to the assessment of hemispheric air pollution In contrast to greenhouse gases, emissions of key air pollutants are not likely to further increase at the global scale if pollution control legislation that has been recently adopted in many developing countries will be efficiently implemented. However, emissions will continue to increase for some time in some regions, especially in the fast growing economies in Asia. These findings have been developed with the global version of IIASA's GAINS model and were presented at the 2008 Washington meeting of the Task Force on Hemispheric Air Pollution of the Convention on Long-range Transboundary Air Pollution. Z. Klimont of the APD research team served as Coordinating Lead Author for the 2007 Interim Report of the Task Force. Download presentation ... Mitigation of air pollution may delay rapid melting of the Arctic Delaying the rapid melting of the arctic may best be achieved by targeting shorter-lived climate forcing agents, such as aerosols, ozone and its precursors, but also methane. This is an additional and potentially important benefit of air pollution reductions that has received only little attention in the past. Fabian Wagner (APD) presented GAINS emission projections of air pollutants from Europe and emissions of black carbon (BC) at the global scale, as well as the global potential and costs for methane (CH4) reductions at a workshop on Near-term Strategies for Short-term Pollutants and Arctic Warming (8-9 May 2008 Copenhagen). As a follow-up the Artic Council's Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Program (AMAP) will hold a workshop in September 2008 leading ultimately to a menu of potential actions for consideration by Ministers at the triennial full Arctic Council meeting on April 28-29, 2009. IIASA report demonstrates importance of agricultural policy on air pollutant and greenhouse gas emissions The reform of the EU Common Agricultural Policy is likely to lead, as a side effect, to significantly lower emissions of air pollutants and greenhouse gases from agricultural activities. This would substantially alleviate the pressure for (and costs of) further emission reductions that are required to meet the environmental objectives of the EU Thematic Strategy on Air Pollution. This is the main finding of a report in which IIASA, together with a consortium, has analyzed agricultural measures to reduce ammonia emissions and their interactions with other agricultural policies. Download report ... (September 2007) IIASA hosts the inaugural meeting of the Network of National Integrated Assessment Modelling teams (NIAM) The Network for Integrated Assessment Modelling (NIAM) brings together national activities on integrated assessment modelling and teams working on the integrated assessment at the European scale. The inaugural meeting at IIASA (April 2-3, 2008) was attended by representatives from 16 countries. Read more ...
IIASA has been contracted to lead the EC4MACS project of the EU-LIFE programme to prepare modelling tools for the next cycle of EU air pollution and climate policy. Read more ... (July 31, 2007) 10th Workshop on the Model Intercomparison Study for Asia, 18-19 February, 2008. The workshop discussed the plan for future work on the intercomparison of atmospheric long-range transport models for Asia. Read more ... TFIAM/COST729/NinE Workshop on "Integrated Modelling of Nitrogen", 28-30 November 2007 The workshop explored the possibilities for a holistic approach of nitrogen, the framework that is needed for such an approach, as well as the integrated assessment modelling approaches to include nitrogen. Read more... ACCENT Workshop on "Remote Sensing and Inventories of Anthropogenic Emissions", 4-5 December 2007 Over the last few years, methodologies have been developed to retrieve temporal trends and spatial patterns of the emissions of various air pollutants from information provided by satellites. However, a comparison of the results obtained from these two different approaches sometimes reveals significant discrepancies, which could not yet be readily explained. Read more.... M. Amann, I. Bertok, J. Cofala, C. Heyes, Z. Klimont, P. Rafaj, W. Schöpp, F. Wagner (2008) National Emission Ceilings for 2020 based on the 2008 Climate & Energy Package. NEC Report #6. Final report to the European Commission. Download document ... M. Amann, L. Höglund Isaksson, W. Winiwarter, A. Tohka, F. Wagner, W. Schöpp, I. Bertok, C. Heyes (2008) Emission scenarios for non-CO2 greenhouse gases in the EU-27. Mitigation potentials and costs in 2020. Final report to the European Commission. Download document ... J. Cofala, Z. Klimont, M. Amann, I. Bertok, C. Heyes, P. Rafaj, W. Schöpp, F. Wagner (2008) Scenarios of SO2, NOx, and PM emissions in the non-EU countries up to 2020. [CIAM Report 1/2008] Download report in English ... Download report in Russian ... Amann, M., W. Asman, I. Bertok, J. Cofala, C. Heyes, Z. Klimont, W. Schöpp and F. Wagner (2007). Cost-effective Emission Reductions Amann, M., W. Asman, I. Bertok, J. Cofala, C. Heyes, Z. Klimont, W. Schöpp and F. Wagner (2007) Updated Baseline Projections for the Revision of the Emission Ceilings Directive of the European Union . NEC Scenario Analysis Report Nr. 4, June 2007. Download ... Amann, M., W. Asman, I. Bertok, J. Cofala, C. Heyes, Z. Klimont, W. Schöpp and F. Wagner (2007). Cost-optimized reductions of air pollutant emissions in the EU Member States to meet the environmental targets of the Thematic Strategy on Air Pollution. NEC Scenario Analysis Report #3. Download ... Cofala, J., M. Amann, C. Heyes, F. Wagner, Z. Klimont, M. Posch, W. Schöpp, L. Tarasson, J. E. Jonson, C. Whall and A. Stavrakaki (2007). Analysis of Policy Measures to Reduce Ship Emissions in the Context of the Revision of the National Emissions Ceilings Directive. Service Contract No 070501/2005/419589/MAR/C1, European Commission, International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA), Laxenburg, Austria, Download report / appendices ... Klimont, Z, Asman, W.A.H., Bertok, I., Gyarfas, F., Heyes, C., Wagner, F., Winiwarter, W., Höglund-Isaksson, L., Sandler, R. (2007) Measures in agriculture to reduce ammonia emissions. Final report to the European Commission under Service Contract No 070501/2006/433072/FRA/C1. Laxenburg, Austria; Download document ... Fabian Wagner, Wolfgang Schöpp (2007) Comparison of the RAINS emission control cost curves for air pollutants with emission control costs computed by the GAINS model. IIASA Interim Report IR-07-008. Download document ... Wagner F , Amann M , Schoepp W (2007). The GAINS Optimization Module as of 1 February 2007. IIASA Interim Report IR-07-004 [February 2007, 19 pp]. Download document ... M. Amann, J. Cofala, A. Gzella, C. Heyes, Z. Klimont, W. Schöpp (2007) Estimating concentrations of fine particulate matter in urban background air of European cities . January 2007. IIASA IR-07-001. Download document ... Responsible for this page: Markus Amann Last updated: 27 Sep 2009  |
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