Integrated Assessment Modelling Summer School

Between 18-22th June 2018, ERASME and CNRS organised a summer school on future prospects in Integrated Assessment Modelling in Clermont-Ferrand (France). The goal of the summer school was to gather PhDs, postdocs and researchers working on climate, energy and/or economy in IAMs, and it focused on:

• Exchange on the state of the art IAMs to provide transparent and open assessments to support the design and evaluation of mitigation policies in the short to mid-term;
• Using IAMs covering the earth systems and economy to design reinforcing sectoral decarbonisation policies;
• Providing new and more comprehensive knowledge on the design, requirements, governance and impacts of climate action at national, regional and global level;
• Fostering innovative policy-making through robust methodologies and tools to reduce uncertainties for different types of stakeholders;
• Creating a network on IAMs between PhDs, post-docs and research fellows to discuss and improve modelling skills;

The summer school aimed to put the future prospects of integrated assessment modelling into perspective and to update participants about the latest developments in the sector. Presentations at the summer school came from modellers from various institutions, including Stockholm University, Lancaster University, Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis or the Joint Research Centre.

The event was structured in four parts: introduction and role of IAMs; transdisciplinary  challenges for IAMs; technical and methodological challenges; and policy-making challenges. The ESRs were also engaged in discussions on the philosophy and methodology for transdisciplinary modelling and also had the chance to present their own models to the other participants in a world-cafe style part of the programme. The event concluded with a roundtable including three former Members of the European Parliament (MEPs), which answered some of the questions raised on the policy challenge topic.