Energy: Scientific Achievements in 2012

The main goal of the Energy (ENE) Program is to provide scientific and strategic analysis to foster a better understanding of the dynamics of future energy transformations, their main driving forces, enabling factors, barriers, and their consequences for the social, economic, and environmental dimensions of human well-being.

ENE research areas are at the core of several IIASA research themes, particularly  integrated assessment of climate change,  analysis of the energy dimensions of poverty, and  role of energy services in supporting economic development.

The Program’s aim is to identify viable policy mechanisms, leverages, and technology portfolios that would permit the transformation of the present energy system to a cleaner and more sustainable one. This comprises both scenario analysis based on systems engineering and integrated assessment modeling to explore the synergies between diverse policy objectives (e.g., climate change, air pollution, and energy security), as well as the development of new methodologies for the explicit representation of uncertainty, heterogeneity, and inequality.

ENE research achievements in 2012 can be grouped around into two interrelated themes: i) assessing the drivers and outcomes of climate change and the options for mitigating it; and (ii) developing an improved understanding of the nexus between energy and development.

A variety of projects supported these overarching research activities in 2012, with far-reaching impacts in the policy and academic spheres: a major example being the Global Energy Assessment (GEA).  

Detailed information on ENE research can be found by clicking on any of the items below or in the right-hand box on Energy Program 2012.

Implications of Near-term Climate Actions for Long-term Outcomes

In 2012 ENE used integrated assessment modeling to explore mitigation pathways that meet stringent climate targets.  More

The Shared Socioeconomic Pathways: The Human Dimensions of Global Change

ENE played a leading role in the development of the second phase of the “parallel process” to elaborate the socioeconomic dimension of the new climate change community scenarios. The primary goal of this phase is the development of the Shared Socioeconomic Pathways (SSPs). More

Providing Leadership in Climate Research Community Activities and IPCC AR5

The year 2012 was a critical one for community research activities feeding into the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s Fifth Assessment Report (IPCC AR5).  More

The Nexus between Energy and Development

Understanding the causes of energy poverty, drivers of transitions to modern energy services, and distributional implications of energy and climate policies in developing regions continued to be a major focus of research and dissemination activities for the ENE Program in 2012.  More

Exploratory Projects

A trademark of the IIASA Energy Program – and its predecessor programs over the past four decades – has always been the priority it has placed on developing new methods and tools for the energy modeling community. More

Finalization of the Global Energy Assessment

The Global Energy Assessment (GEA), a multi-stakeholder initiative that involved over 300 authors and 200 anonymous reviewers and assessed the energy challenges of our rapidly changing world, was finalized and launched in 2012 More

Policy Impact in 2012

The ENE Program continues to interact with key stakeholders from government and civil society, providing policy guidance and strategic advice to decision makers in various international settings. More


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Last edited: 30 October 2013

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

Energy Program 2012

Implications of Near-term Climate Actions for Long-term Outcomes

The Shared Socioeconomic Pathways: The Human Dimensions of Global Change

Providing Leadership in Climate Research Community Activities and IPCC AR5

The Nexus between Energy and Development

Exploratory Projects

Finalization of the Global Energy Assessment

Policy Impact

International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA)
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