CD-LINKS brings together four IIASA programs (Energy, Ecosystems Services and Management, Risk, Policy and Vulnerability, and Mitigation of Air Pollution and Greenhouse Gases) with a consortium of 18 research organizations from around the globe. Funded by the EU’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program and coordinated by IIASA, the project will explore national and global transformation strategies for climate change and their links to a range of sustainable development objectives.
Bringing climate action to the broader sustainable development agenda is a significant challenge, since it requires comprehension of complex interactions between climate and development policies [1][2]. For instance, do they reinforce or hinder each other when trying to achieve a range of priorities, such as energy poverty eradication, air quality improvement, energy security enhancement, climate resilience, and food and water access?
The CD-LINKS project aims to advance the integrated, model-based analysis of the development-energy-climate nexus. The objective is to (i) gain an improved understanding of the links between climate-change policies and multiple development objectives, (ii) broaden the evidence base in the area of policy effectiveness by exploring past and current policy experiences, (iii) work toward the next generation of technological and socioeconomic pathways that take into account climate-resilient adaptation strategies, and (iv) establish a research network and capacity building platform in order to leverage knowledge-exchange among institutions from Europe and other key players within the G20.
The project’s research activities have started within parallel streams, including: an assessment of past and existing sustainable development policies through case studies, a comparison of existing international and national climate change mitigation scenarios, an evaluation of the impacts of climate change and developing adaptation strategies, and an analysis of existing capabilities and gaps of current models in terms of covering different dimensions of sustainable development.
References
[1] Edenhofer O, Kadner S, von Stechow C, Schwerhoff G & Luderer G (2013). Linking climate change mitigation research to sustainable development, Handbook of Sustainable Development.
[2] Riahi, K, Dentener, F, Gielen, D, et al. (2012). Chapter 17 - Energy Pathways for Sustainable Development. In: Global Energy Assessment: Toward a Sustainable Future, pp 1203–1306. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
Collaborators
Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK), Germany
Euro-Mediterranean Center on Climate Change (CMCC), Italy
PBL Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency
Institute of Communications and Computer Systems (ICCS), Greece
Institute for Sustainable Development and International Relations (IDDRI), France
The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI), India
Energy Planning Program (PPE) of the Alberto Luiz Coimbra Institute - Graduate School and Research in Engineering (COPPE) at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Wageningen University (WU), Netherlands
University of East Anglia (UEA), United Kingdom
Energy Research Institute (ERI) of the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), China
Tsinghua University (TU), China
Indian Institute of Management (IIM), India
Higher School of Economics (HSE), National Research University, Russia
National Institute for Environmental Studies (NIES), Japan
Research Institute of Innovative Technology for the Earth (RITE), Japan
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), USA
Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), Republic of Korea
CONTACT DETAILS
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
Research Group Leader and Principal Research Scholar Integrated Assessment and Climate Change Research Group - Energy, Climate, and Environment Program
Principal Research Scholar Sustainable Service Systems Research Group - Energy, Climate, and Environment Program
Research program
International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA)
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Phone: (+43 2236) 807 0 Fax:(+43 2236) 71 313