H2020 ECEMF Project: European Climate and Energy Modelling Forum
- Type Project
- Status Firmado
- Execution 2021 -2025
- Assigned Budget 4.999.563,00 €
- Scope Europeo
- Main source of financing H2020
- Project website Proyecto ECEMF
The EU-funded ECEMF project will launch the European Climate and Energy Modeling Forum, a meeting point for European climate and energy policymakers and researchers. The initiative's event program and innovative communication channel will enable researchers and stakeholders to inform the future development of energy and climate policies at the national and European levels, particularly the European Green Deal and the transformation towards a climate-neutral society.
The first inclusive and open full-scale model comparison exercise for achieving climate neutrality in Europe, involving more than 20 models and 15 leading research groups, will provide answers to generate a coherent and relevant evidence base for assessing the impact of energy and climate policies. The results will support the development of policy-relevant information for key decision-makers.
During the first 18 months of the project, we established the ECEMF website (https://ecemf.eu), the stakeholder network, the communications plan, and outreach activities, including research policy workshops, conferences and events, and the creation of the community forum (https://community.ecemf.eu). We developed and conducted a scenario diagnostic exercise to understand the similarities and differences between the consortium models, documenting and publishing the protocol to enable broader (future external) participation in the model comparison exercise.
We set up the technical and software infrastructure (IIASA Scenario Explorer, nomenclature, pyam) to support the scenario diagnostics and model comparison exercises. We specified and began the design and implementation of the IT-based communications channel to support communication between climate and energy researchers in the forum and stakeholders. Finally, we established each substantive research work package covering energy demand, energy supply, behavior change, and the European and global policy context. During the second reporting period (months 19–36), we achieved several key milestones in both research on European climate-neutral scenarios and in the development of digital infrastructure to facilitate model intercomparison.
We develop climate-neutral scenarios for the European Union by integrating assumptions, boundary conditions, and perspectives from supply-side, sectoral, and behavioral models. We develop multi-model scenario exercises examining the impacts of energy trade and geopolitical factors on the EU's trajectory towards climate neutrality, as well as the role of alternative policy instruments and technologies in achieving the EU's 2040 and 2050 climate targets. These results informed the EC consultation on the 2040 targets, and the ECEMF project was cited several times. We organized several capacity-building events to establish best practices in modeling and scenario analysis across the European energy and climate research communities, and we co-hosted several editions of the European Climate and Energy Modeling Platform annual conference on behalf of the Commission.
The IT-based communications channel, implemented and publicly accessible, consists of a visualization tool (FutureSight) and a discussion forum (community.ecemf.eu) that connect to the large database of scenarios generated during the project.
The EU-funded ECEMF project is launching the European Climate and Energy Modeling Forum, a meeting point for European climate and energy policymakers and researchers. The forum's event program and innovative communication channel enable researchers and stakeholders to inform the future development of energy and climate policies at the national and European levels, particularly the European Green Deal and the transformation towards a climate-neutral society.
The first inclusive and open full-scale model comparison exercise on achieving climate neutrality in Europe will provide answers. This model comparison exercise involves more than 20 models and 15 research groups and will generate a coherent and relevant evidence base for assessing the impact of energy and climate policies. The results detail alternative pathways for energy demand sectors, energy infrastructure and supply markets, the role of social and behavioral trends, and the connection to international politics, markets, and trade.
The results will support the development of policy-relevant insights for national and European decision-makers.
The objective of ECEMF is to provide the knowledge to inform the development of future energy and climate policies at the national and European levels. In support of this objective, ECEMF proposes a range of activities to achieve five objectives and meet the four challenges set out in the call text. ECEMF's program of events and novel IT-based communications channel will enable researchers to identify and co-develop the most urgent and policy-relevant research questions with a variety of stakeholders to deliver ambitious European energy and climate policy goals, particularly the European Green Deal and the transformation towards a climate-neutral society.
The answers will be provided by the first inclusive and open large-scale model comparison exercise for achieving climate neutrality in Europe, involving more than 20 models and 15 top-tier research groups from the outset, to produce a coherent and relevant evidence base for assessing the impact of energy and climate policies. The ECEMF evidence base will support the development of policy-relevant knowledge to be communicated and discussed with key decision-makers through a variety of novel methods, including embeddable interactive visualization blocks, policy briefs, workshops, and high-profile events.
This knowledge co-production cycle is based on two pillars. First, the ECEMF will advance the state-of-the-art of energy and climate modeling by enabling the exchange of input data using open standards, methods for model comparison drawing on the consortium's vast experience, scientific software tools such as the IIASA Scenario Explorer, and practical training for researchers. Second, the ECEMF will establish itself as a long-term, open, and welcoming European focal point for researchers and policymakers with unparalleled international connections to the EMF, JMIP, IAMC, and IPCC. Through extensive links with ongoing H2020 projects, research and policy communities and networks, the ECEMF will reduce the fragmentation of the European energy and climate research landscape.
To inform the development of future energy and climate policies at the national and European levels, we successfully organized and co-organized, together with the European Commission, the European Climate and Energy Modelling Platform 2022 (ECEMP, formerly EMP-E), where we presented the ECEMF's model comparison work. We also conducted the first three of eight policy research workshops to jointly develop research questions and ensure the research agenda is aligned with important topics.
The Scenario Explorer is currently used internally, and during 2023, we will offer a public version for publishing European climate-neutral scenarios. A public forum is available at http://community.ecemf.eu, and the visualization functionality, under development, will be available during 2023. Together, these technologies will facilitate distributed, near-real-time digital discussions with national and EU policymakers, with the ability to generate parallel Q&A threads on data, assumptions, and scenarios, and increase project visibility through integrated, interactive visualizations that can be shared on social media.
We will publish 12 synthesis reports and 12 policy briefs on different aspects of the project as part of our dissemination and community strategy. We have been actively working to create a closer European modeling community, setting an example in terms of transparency, openness, and reuse of existing standards and codes, which we hope will set the tone for future initiatives in this area. We have published the Diagnostic Model Comparison Protocol under an open license and will do the same for the Model Comparison Protocol on net-zero emission scenarios. We have published a preliminary draft of the open learning materials online ( https://www.ecemf.eu/learn/ ) and will develop a course for the first of eight planned capacity-building workshops, which will be held at the OpenMod workshop in March 2023. Within the project, we have adopted existing standards developed in the OpenEntrance project and improved them, rather than creating our own. By reporting and disseminating our core research activities, with the increased model comparison effort focused on European climate neutrality, we will present a more coherent and unified evidence base that will, in turn, provide a concrete basis for policymakers to take action.
We are working to enhance collaboration beyond Europe, which will translate into greater influence on global energy and climate policy. For example, we have initiated a model comparison between the ECEMF and the Stanford EMF from North America and Europe, which will be completed by 2024. We have created a publicly accessible and open-source software ecosystem for comparing data, scenarios, and results, including tools, scripts, and data standards to strengthen the visibility and uptake of open science in the European energy and climate modeling community and beyond. We have also established a network of stakeholders and are working to launch a Secretariat and governance structure to make the forum a permanent fixture of the European Energy and Climate Research Area.
- KUNGLIGA TEKNISKA HOEGSKOLAN (KTH)
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