EIEE – European Institute on Economics and the Environment https://www.eiee.org/ EIEE’s mission is to improve environmental, energy, and natural resource decisions through impartial economic research and policy engagement. Thu, 25 May 2023 15:27:18 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.2.2 New guidelines for the G7: EIEE joins a new informal coalition https://www.eiee.org/new-guidalines-for-the-g7-eiee-joins-a-new-informal-coalition/ Fri, 14 Apr 2023 10:00:00 +0000 https://www.eiee.org/hp-rewrite/59b1d2ec213a3e121e29d2e56db1265c On Friday, April 4, 2023 the Consortium for Climate-Aligned Trade launched its initial recommendations to G7 leaders to align trade policies with their climate and economic goals. The Consortium for Climate Aligned Trade (CCAT) is an informal coalition of researchers and institutions from a dozen leading think tanks in the G7 community. These researchers bring […]

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On Friday, April 4, 2023 the Consortium for Climate-Aligned Trade launched its initial recommendations to G7 leaders to align trade policies with their climate and economic goals.

The Consortium for Climate Aligned Trade (CCAT) is an informal coalition of researchers and institutions from a dozen leading think tanks in the G7 community. These researchers bring extensive expertise in climate and trade policies. CCAT members understand that meeting global climate goals will depend in significant part on whether trade policy helps rapidly decarbonize energy intensive industrial sectors, such as steel, aluminum, chemicals, fertilizers, and cement.

CMCC and the European Institute on Economics and the Environment have joined this new initiative to accelerate climate action and spur economic growth. At a time when G7 members are pursuing new industrial and trade policies to decarbonize their economies, these recommendations identify actions that will spur faster and more comprehensive global decarbonization through collaboration.

Here’s what Massimo Tavoni and Andrea Tilche, of the European Institute on Economics and the Environment, wrote in an article published a few days ago on a national newspaper:

“International trade offers the possibility to align global climate ambition.  […]  The forthcoming G7 in Japan may be the most suitable place to strengthen an alliance of member countries, open to the rest of the world, to combine climate and trade policies, with the goal of accelerating global decarbonisation and ensuring more secure and reliable supply chains”.

For more information:

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CAPABLE Kickoff meeting https://www.eiee.org/capable-kickoff-meeting/ Fri, 07 Apr 2023 13:58:27 +0000 https://www.eiee.org/hp-rewrite/aea703deb3a21251566bfcf3bc823284 The CAPABLE Kickoff meeting has been organized in Milan (hosted by the RFF-CMCC European Institute on Economics and the Environment) from the 28th of February to the 1st of March, 2023. CAPABLE is a project funded by the European Union’s Horizon Europe programme and carried out by a transdisciplinary European consortium of 10 partner institutions […]

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The CAPABLE Kickoff meeting has been organized in Milan (hosted by the RFF-CMCC European Institute on Economics and the Environment) from the 28th of February to the 1st of March, 2023.

CAPABLE is a project funded by the European Union’s Horizon Europe programme and carried out by a transdisciplinary European consortium of 10 partner institutions and universities across Europe and is coordinated by the Euro-Mediterranean Center on Climate Change (CMCC). It will provide robust, resilient and actionable recommendations for designing socially and economically acceptable climate policy measures for 2030 and beyond.

CAPABLE aims to develop and operationalize multi-objective decision-making frameworks to help evaluate effective yet socially and politically feasible climate and environmental policies in Europe.

This will be accomplished through five objectives:

  1. Develop new methods for socio-economic decision-making, addressing issues of deep uncertainty, social heterogeneity of actors, behavioural responses and biases, and multi-objective welfare measurement.
  2.  Enhance the empirical knowledge of public perceptions of climate policies, particularly on determinants of public support and opposition driving the political feasibility of climate policies.
  3.  Synthesize the rich literature on climate policy impact evaluation, with a focus on policy implementation and sequencing, and inform policies of the Fit for 55 packages with the best available scientific evidence.
  4.  Analyze the role of policymakers at various levels, from the European and national levels to regional city levels, as well as recent citizen engagement initiatives.
  5.  Design actionable and effective climate policy recommendations to be disseminated and exploited and develop an online policy evaluation tool.

The two days event marked the formal start of the project, which will run from January 2023 until December 2025.

Also, on March 2nd, the first CAPABLE Policy Workshop took place for the advisory board and the stakeholders to understand the project and their role in it and for the consortium to receive innovative inputs on research questions or methods.

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PRISMA Kickoff meeting https://www.eiee.org/prisma-kickoff-meeting/ Fri, 10 Mar 2023 14:00:00 +0000 https://www.eiee.org/hp-rewrite/8b0f4221ca22aadfd642287fa0ad61b5 The PRISMA Kickoff meeting has been organized in Milan (hosted by the RFF-CMCC European Institute on Economics and the Environment) from the 13th to the 15th of February, 2023. The three days event marked the formal start of the project, which will run from January 2023 until December 2026. The PRISMA project aims to bring […]

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The PRISMA Kickoff meeting has been organized in Milan (hosted by the RFF-CMCC European Institute on Economics and the Environment) from the 13th to the 15th of February, 2023.

The three days event marked the formal start of the project, which will run from January 2023 until December 2026.

The PRISMA project aims to bring Integrated Assessment Models to the next level by focusing on four key areas of improvement, namely the representation of distributional justice and efficiency, innovation and finance, climate impacts and land-use implications, and lifestyle change and circularity. In these four key areas the project will improve existing large-scale IAMs and sectorial models, and consider the linking of different models where applicable. Two cross-cutting shared themes across these areas are the improvement of the temporal and spatial resolution of the analysis, and the representation of disruptive and structural change in the economy.

The website https://www.net0prisma.eu/ is in the process of being constructed and will soon be published.

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EIEE Inside – Fall 2022 https://www.eiee.org/eiee-inside-fall-2022/ Thu, 02 Mar 2023 14:41:52 +0000 https://www.eiee.org/hp-rewrite/dec12f5b8d00ad53428b1785330a89b1 Dear all, the RFF-CMCC European institute on economics and the environment is expanding and looking for bright researchers working on a variety of climate change topics. We have a cluster hire of 8 job posts in applied and behavioral economics, political economy, data science, decision theory, and energy-economy-climate modeling (click below for specific details). The cluster […]

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Dear all,

the RFF-CMCC European institute on economics and the environment is expanding and looking for bright researchers working on a variety of climate change topics. We have a cluster hire of 8 job posts in applied and behavioral economics, political economy, data science, decision theory, and energy-economy-climate modeling (click below for specific details). The cluster hire is intended to strengthen the institute’s multi-disciplinarity and promote new research lines. It is mainly targeted at post-docs and junior researchers (assistant professors), though other seniorities will be considered. Positions are based in Milan (Italy).

Info here

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Summer School on Integrated Assessment Models https://www.eiee.org/summer-school-on-integrated-assessment-models/ Fri, 20 Jan 2023 11:00:00 +0000 https://www.eiee.org/hp-rewrite/9fb412ce262b3c1b7b76267d011a67aa July 3-7, 2023 – Villa Grumello, Como Lake, Italy With the support of NAVIGATE and ENGAGE projects, funded by the EU’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme. As climate policymaking becomes increasingly informed by model simulations, it becomes crucial for researchers to better understand how climate-energy-economy models work, how they are used, and how to […]

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July 3-7, 2023 – Villa Grumello, Como Lake, Italy

With the support of NAVIGATE and ENGAGE projects, funded by the EU’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme.

As climate policymaking becomes increasingly informed by model simulations, it becomes crucial for researchers to better understand how climate-energy-economy models work, how they are used, and how to inform policymaking through their output.

The NAVIGATE and ENGAGE projects, funded by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme, are therefore launching a Summer School aimed at providing advanced training for young international scholars, advanced PhD students and early postdoc fellows, working on integrated assessment models.

Objectives

The objective of the summer school is to create a community of young scholars from a broad range of disciplines (climate, ecology, economy, energy, political science) actively working on modelling human activities and the earth system in an integrated framework commonly referred to as Integrated Assessment Modeling.

Structure of the week

  • 8 lectures about IAMs, including an introductory presentation on IAMs and their role as input to global stock stake and policy analysis.
  • Interactive poster sessions where the student will be invited to present their work.
  • Hands-on session on the IAMs scenarios (data analysis and visualization).
  • Group work on model development/analysis.

Lecture topics

  • Opening lecture on IAM history and role in Climate Negotiation
  • Macroeconomics
  • Energy Systems
  • Modelling SDGs
  • Social Sciences
  • Uncertainty
  • Scenarios retrieval, analysis, and visualization

Faculty (Provisional list)

Nico BAUER, Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK)
Valentina BOSETTI, Bocconi University and RFF-CMCC European Institute on Economics and the Environment (EIEE), CMCC
Celine GUIVARCH, International Center for Development and Environment (CIRED)
Daniel HUPPMANN, International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA)
Keywan RIAHI, International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA)
Roberto SCHAEFFER, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ)
Massimo TAVONI, Polytechnic University of Milan and RFF-CMCC European Institute on Economics and the Environment (EIEE), CMCC
Zoi VRONTISI, E3 Modelling (E3M)
Saritha VISHWANATHAN (tbc), Indian Institute of Management (IIM)
Detlef Van VUUREN, PBL Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency (PBL) and Utrecht University

Local Organizers

Laurent DROUET, RFF-CMCC European Institute on Economics and the Environment (EIEE), CMCC
Johannes EMMERLING, RFF-CMCC European Institute on Economics and the Environment (EIEE), CMCC

Target audience

Advanced doctoral students (e.g., from 2nd year onwards) and early career scientists (e.g., early post-docs) from any university, research institute, or other organization (private companies, government agencies, NGOs) whose research is focused on using computational methods to study environmental and climate related issues (for instance, energy system models, climate models, ecological models, epidemiological models, macroeconomic models).

Requirement: good programming knowledge in at least one of these languages: Python, GAMS, Julia, R, Matlab, C++.

Number of students

Participation will be open to a maximum of 25 individuals (both EU and non-EU participants).

Scholarships: Up to 5 scholarships are available to applicants from low and lower income countries (World bank classification). The scholarships will cover travel expenses.

How to apply?

Applicants are kindly requested to fill in the application form available from here and send – immediately after – to the Summer School Secretariat (iam-summer-school@eiee.org) a single PDF file containing the following documents:

  • Curriculum Vitae
  • Letter of motivation for joining the summer school
  • A letter of reference from his/her supervisor
  • The draft of the paper the researcher will present

IMPORTANT DATES

  • Application deadline: 1 March 2023
  • Accepted applicants: 15 April 2023
  • Upon acceptance, participants will be required to confirm their participations: 30 April 2023
  • Summer school dates: 3 to 7 July 2023

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AdJUST Kickoff meeting https://www.eiee.org/adjust-kickoff-meeting/ Tue, 01 Nov 2022 13:00:00 +0000 https://www.eiee.org/hp-rewrite/2cbf30f366d43fcf3d14e32d7cd16ec4 The AdJUST Kickoff meeting has been organized in Milan (hosted by the RFF-CMCC European Institute on Economics and the Environment) from the 24th to the 26th of October, 2022. The three days event marks the formal start of the project, which will run from October 2022 until September 2026. AdJUST is a project funded by […]

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The AdJUST Kickoff meeting has been organized in Milan (hosted by the RFF-CMCC European Institute on Economics and the Environment) from the 24th to the 26th of October, 2022.

The three days event marks the formal start of the project, which will run from October 2022 until September 2026.

AdJUST is a project funded by the European Union’s Horizon Europe programme and carried out by a transdisciplinary European consortium consisting of 9 EU partners, 2 UK associated partners and other 11 EU associated partners.

The objectives of AdJUST are to achieve a step change in societal understanding of the distributive repercussions of the transition to climate neutrality, and to identify effective and actively-supported policy interventions to accompany climate action so that no-one is left behind.

The meeting was an opportunity to get to know all the partners involved and a great starting point to ensure a smooth and successful implementation of the project.

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Cluster hiring in climate change research https://www.eiee.org/cluster-hiring-in-climate-change-research-milan-italy/ Wed, 26 Oct 2022 12:48:13 +0000 https://www.eiee.org/hp-rewrite/c5b38e38b8eab726c5ef4808459fdb15 We are soliciting applications from bright researchers motivated to work on the defining issue of climate change to join our research institute. Career paths are designed for researchers to grow in a nurturing environment with guided supervision and clear steps toward tenure.  Due to an expanded portfolio of projects and our belief in multi/disciplinarity, we […]

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We are soliciting applications from bright researchers motivated to work on the defining issue of climate change to join our research institute.

Career paths are designed for researchers to grow in a nurturing environment with guided supervision and clear steps toward tenure. 

Due to an expanded portfolio of projects and our belief in multi/disciplinarity, we are promoting a cluster hiring consisting of several (8) job opportunities in several areas of climate research. These include applied and behavioral economics, political economy, data science, decision theory, and energy-economy-climate modelling (see below for specific job ads).

The cluster hire is intended to strengthen our existing research groups and promote new research lines. It is mainly targeted at post-docs and junior researchers (though other seniorities will be considered).


#1. Empirical organization economics of the green transition

#2. Applied economics for a just transition 

#3. Political economy of the environment

#4. Behavioural science 

#5. Decision science under uncertainty 

#6. Data Science on climate and social statistics and scenarios 

#7. Integrated assessment modelling

#8. Agent-based modelling 


#1. Empirical industrial organization economics of the green transition
The successful applicant will work in the context of a project task focusing on the competitiveness impact of climate policies on European firms

Responsibilities:

Specific tasks included but are not limited to:

Analyse firm-level and sector-level data on productivity and performance, energy prices, energy consumption and efficiency to quantify the impact of climate policy of firms’ outcomes including, but not limited to, energy demand, productivity, material demand, market performance, capital investments, labour demand;
Contribute to policy evaluations of existing and proposed EU climate policies and industrial policies – including those related to digitalization – on firm- and sector-level performance;
Write and contribute to scientific articles and science-policy reports derived from the above work, and present those at scientific workshops and conferences.
Qualifications

Required: Phd in Economics or field related to industrial organization, demonstrated interest and knowledge in industrial organization dynamics, including those related to the diffusion of ICT and other digital technologies. Programming in STATA, R or any other major statistical software. Fluency in English (Italian not needed), good presentation and writing skills. Willingness to travel to project meetings and to conferences. Ability to work in an interdisciplinary and diverse environment committed to high quality research.

Desirable: Interest in exploring import and export dynamics.


#2. Applied economics for a just transition

The successful applicant will work in the context of a project focusing on assessing the impact of the energy transition on employment and inequality in Europe and beyond. 

Responsibilities:  

Specific tasks include but are not limited to: 

Empirical analysis of the impact of climate and energy policies on labour and skill demand at the aggregated, sectoral and firm level using frontier applied labour economics approaches 

Contribute to policy evaluations of existing and proposed EU climate policies and industrial policies – including those related to digitalization – on labour reskilling and upskilling; 

Perform distributional analysis of policy incidence on economic and social inequality 

Write and contribute to scientific articles and science-policy reports derived from the above work, and present those at scientific workshops and conferences. 

Qualifications 

Required: Phd in Economics or field related to labour economics, demonstrated interest and knowledge of the main research stream in the field of green labour, green jobs, and economic inequality. Programming in STATA, R or any other major statistical software. Fluency in English (Italian not needed), good presentation and writing skills. Willingness to travel to project meetings and to conferences. Ability to work in an interdisciplinary and diverse environment committed to high-quality research.  

Desirable: Interest in the analysis of trade unions. 


#3. Political economy of the environment

We are encouraging applications by economists and political and social scientists interested in working on the political dynamics of the low-carbon transition, within a project focused on public acceptance of climate policies. Researchers specializing in political economy, public opinion, and political behavior are particularly encouraged to apply.

Responsibilities:

Specific tasks include but are not limited to:

Design and analyze online surveys and experiments on social acceptance and preferences of climate policies and related topics.
Contribute to policy evaluations of existing and proposed EU climate policies
Write and contribute to scientific articles and science-policy reports derived from the above work, and present those at scientific workshops and conferences
Qualifications

Required: The ideal candidate for this position holds (or is close to completing) a PhD in economics, public policy, political science, sociology, or related fields, and shows a strong track record in quantitative methods (advanced econometrics, computational methods, machine learning, etc.). The candidate will work on international research projects focused on the political feasibility of the climate transition.

Desirable: Proficiency in R or Stata, experience in online survey design and/or experiments


#4. Behavioural science

We are encouraging applications by economists and data scientists interested in working on design and impact evaluation of field experiments. Researchers specializing in behavioral economics, statistical methods for applied microeconomics, structural estimations, machine learning, and big data analytics are particularly encouraged to apply.

Responsibilities:

The successful applicant will work on a project focusing on design and impact evaluation of field experiments in the context of resource conservation. Specific tasks included are:

Design and implement surveys and field experiments on behavioural interventions to promote clean energy adoption
Analyse high-frequency metering data and employ machine-learning techniques
Combine administrative data with data from other sources, retrieved through web-scraping techniques
Structural estimations and welfare analysis
Write and contribute to scientific articles and science-policy reports derived from the above work, and present those at scientific workshops and conferences
Qualifications

Required: The ideal candidate for this position holds (or is close to completing) a PhD in economics, data science, or related fields, and shows a strong track record in quantitative methods (advanced econometrics, computational methods, machine learning, etc.). Programming in STATA, R or any other major statistical software. Fluency in English (Italian not needed), good presentation and writing skills. Willingness to travel to project meetings and to conferences. Ability to work in an interdisciplinary and diverse environment committed to high-quality research.

Desirable: experience with web scraping techniques, programming in python.


#5. Decision science under uncertainty 

We are looking for researchers in decision theory and applications in the area of climate change. The applicant will work on a new ERC project dealing with deep and structural uncertainties in deep-time projections of climate and economy scenarios.

Responsibilities:

Specific tasks include either or more of one of the following activities:

Development and applications of theories of robust decision making to climate change
Analysis of tipping points in the climate and social systems
Stochastic climate-economic modelling
Qualifications

Required: The ideal candidate holds a PhD in applied mathematics, decision theory, economics, or related fields. Experience in robust decision making under uncertainty is required. Capacity to develop either theoretical or numerical application. Fluency in English (Italian not needed), good presentation and writing skills. Willingness to travel to project meetings and to conferences. Ability to work in an interdisciplinary and diverse environment committed to high-quality research.

Desirable: Previous experience with climate change research, including climate science.


#6. Data Science on climate and social statistics and scenarios

The successful applicant will work in the context of an ERC project focusing on applying machine learning to scenario ensembles and to a project focusing on the downscaling of economic, environmental and social data – both observed and resulting from modelling – to the sub-national level.

Responsibilities:

Specific tasks include but are not limited to:

Apply machine learning methods to scenario ensembles to quantify key uncertainties and biases
Develop statistical emulators of climate and economy models
Downscaling of economic, industrial, and social data from the national level to subnational level:
Generation of compositive indicators through statistical or ML learning techniques to generate indexes to monitor progress towards the EU transition;
Write and contribute to scientific articles and science-policy reports derived from the above work, and present those at scientific workshops and conferences.
Qualifications

Required: Phd in Data Science, Statistics or related field. Demonstrated competencies and knowledge of the main research stream in the field of climate science or ecological transition. Programming in R, Python or any other major programming language. Fluency in English (Italian not needed), good presentation and writing skills. Willingness to travel to project meetings and to conferences. Ability to work in an interdisciplinary and diverse environment committed to high-quality research.

Desirable: Familiarity with statistical interpretation of climate model ensembles.


#7. Integrated assessment modelling

We are encouraging applications by modellers and economists interested in integrated assessment modelling for climate change. The candidate will join an international and interdisciplinary team to contribute to developing our suite of integrated assessment models, which include detailed-process climate-energy-economy models, energy system models and macro-economic models.

Responsibilities:

The successful applicant will work on a model development project, investigating climate change solutions and improving the representation of climate change mitigation and impacts in our models. Specific tasks included but are not limited to:

Integration of climate change adaptation and impacts into climate-economy models at regional and national level.
Developing methods to represent biodiversity and ecosystems in integrated assessment models.
Capturing the resources and material requirements of the low-carbon transition.
Contribution to developing the open-source integrated assessment models WITCH and RICE+.
Write and contribute to scientific articles and science-policy reports derived from the above work, and present those at scientific workshops and conferences
Qualifications

Required: The ideal candidate for this position holds (or is close to completing) a degree or a PhD in economics, applied mathematics, environmental engineering, or any related fields to integrated assessment models. Modelling experience using modelling language (GAMS, AMPL, JUMP) and fluency in programming language such as python, julia or R. Fluency in English (Italian not needed), good presentation and writing skills. Willingness to travel to project meetings and to conferences. Ability to work in an interdisciplinary and diverse environment committed to high-quality research.

Desirable: experience with integrated assessment modelling.


#8. Agent-based modelling

We are encouraging applications by economists and computer scientists interested in agent-based modelling for climate change. The candidate will join an international and interdisciplinary team to contribute to developing our agent-based models and to integrate them with climate-economy-energy models to study the climate transition and climate change risks.

Responsibilities:

The successful applicant will work on a project investigating climate change solutions and improving the representation of finance and climate change impacts in our agent-based model (ABM). Specific tasks include but are not limited to:

Contribution to the development of the macro-economic ABM DSK.
Development of micro-ABMs for the distributional repercussions of climate change policies and risks
Link ABMs to climate economy models energy
Write and contribute to scientific articles and science-policy reports derived from the above work, and present those at scientific workshops and conferences
Qualifications

Required: The ideal candidate for this position holds (or is close to completing) a degree or a PhD in economics, applied mathematics, computer science, or any related fields to agent based models with clear applications to climate change or environmental economics. Modelling experience using programming language such as C/C++, rust, java, python, julia or R. Fluency in English (Italian not needed), good presentation and writing skills. Willingness to travel to project meetings and to conferences. Ability to work in an interdisciplinary and diverse environment committed to high-quality research.

Desirable: experience with integrated assessment modeling.


Terms of appointment

Assignments are expected to begin as soon as possible and until filled. We are looking for post-docs (Phd completed less than two years or about to be completed) and junior researchers (at least two years since Phd, equivalent to assistant professor), though we will also be considering more senior candidates. The appointment period will be initially two years, renewable for two additional years pending a positive evaluation. Tenure can be granted from 2 to 4 years after being appointed as a junior researcher. Evaluation will occur every six months and is based on research productivity and involvement with the team. Researchers will be able to present their work at conferences in the EU and internationally.

The gross salary will be based on qualification and working experience and competitive with major research centers in Europe. Italy has a program called “Tax incentives for attracting human capital in Italy”, which includes significant tax exemptions for researchers of all nationalities who spent the last two years outside the country. In Italy, you would be also covered by public social security for medical issues and expenses. Smart working is permitted up to a maximum 40% of working time.

About us

The RFF-CMCC European Institute on Economics and the Environment is a research institute co-founded in 2018 by RFF and CMCC. The Institute aims to improve environmental, energy, and natural resource decisions through impartial research and policy engagement. We promote interdisciplinary, diverse and collaborative research. The institute is committed to high academic standards and has hosted 7 ERC grants. We are based in Milan (Italy) in the vibrant design district (@BASE). We promote a collaborative working place environment that values diversity, tolerance, and equity.

How to Apply

To express interest in one or more of these positions, fill out this form.

(if you participate in the European Job Market, we encourage you to apply here).

For positions in economics, interviews will be conducted first at the European Job Market 2022. For all position, applicants applying first will be given priority and job posts will remain open until the position is filled.

For any further information or clarification, please contact job@eiee.org.  

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Provisional framework for business vulnerability assessment to decarbonization pathways https://www.eiee.org/provisional-framework-for-business-vulnerability-assessment-to-decarbonization-pathways/ Mon, 19 Sep 2022 10:25:00 +0000 https://www.eiee.org/hp-rewrite/71cc6eac844f8e3091e5542a5d919ce6 Inspired by the latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s Assessment Reports (IPCC AR5 and AR6), LOCALISED developed its business vulnerability assessment framework to reflect the latest knowledge in the field of climate change risk assessment. Using the IPCC Risk Framework, the risk imposed by decarbonization pathways to regional businesses and industries can be calculated through […]

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Inspired by the latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s Assessment Reports (IPCC AR5 and AR6), LOCALISED developed its business vulnerability assessment framework to reflect the latest knowledge in the field of climate change risk assessment.

Using the IPCC Risk Framework, the risk imposed by decarbonization pathways to regional businesses and industries can be calculated through a circular process starting with the identification of hazard as a set of environmental, economic, and social changes induced by the pathways. The vulnerability then will be calculated along different dimensions such as energy demand, labour, raw materials, demand, supply, logistics, final output, emissions, and the geographic location of the business entity.

This framework allows LOCALISED to investigate the impact of downscaled decarbonization pathways on businesses and industries in terms of their exposure to direct and indirect changes in their environment, emissions, energy input, supply of raw material, and demand. Businesses may choose to respond differently to such changes depending on their sensitivity and vulnerability.

LOCALISED is in the process of identifying and engaging with key business stakeholders in order to co-design the vulnerability index tailored to the needs and ambitions of each business sector. The vulnerability assessment helps businesses in identifying their sensitivities and strengths compared to their peers and to pave the way for strengthening their competitiveness.

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The energy required for adaptation calls for stronger mitigation efforts https://www.eiee.org/the-energy-required-for-adaptation-calls-for-stronger-mitigation-efforts/ Mon, 29 Aug 2022 12:16:14 +0000 https://www.eiee.org/hp-rewrite/a54e396b628ddb06ef1493c71f08a7da Due to climate change, more frequent heatwaves will increase the global demand for electricity by 7% by 2050, and by 18% by 2100, calling for either considerable energy investments or strong mitigation strategies. A new study published today in Nature Communications by researchers from the Euro-Mediterranean Center on Climate Change, Ca’ Foscari University of Venice, the European Institute on Economics and […]

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Due to climate change, more frequent heatwaves will increase the global demand for electricity by 7% by 2050, and by 18% by 2100, calling for either considerable energy investments or strong mitigation strategies.

A new study published today in Nature Communications by researchers from the Euro-Mediterranean Center on Climate Change, Ca’ Foscari University of Venice, the European Institute on Economics and the Environment and the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine finds that adapting to climate change will require more energy than previously estimated, leading to higher energy investments and costs. Avoiding this additional energy burden is another crucial benefit of ambitious mitigation that so far has remained neglected in academia, the public debate and international negotiations.

This new study sheds light on a blind spot of the energy transition and of the implementation of climate policies: adaptation needs will reduce the effectiveness of climate mitigation policy, and it is, therefore, necessary to revise those policies accounting for the evident changes in climatic conditions. The researchers involved examined how responses to climate change will affect energy systems, and therefore the achievement of mitigation goals, including their economic costs. Estimating the size of future energy needs for adaptation to climate change has important implications for the transition towards sustainability and decarbonized economies.

Francesco Pietro Colelli, the lead author of the study, points out that “adapting to climate change by means of adjustments in energy habits, as we did in the past, will increase the global demand for electricity by 7% by 2050 and by 18% in 2100. Since a lot of our energy still comes from coal, gas, and oil, there is a risk such an increase will lead to more physical capital being locked into fossil fuels, corresponding to around 30-35 new large gas-fired plants and 10-15 new large coal- and oil-fired plants each year between now and 2050.”

In Europe, the increase in electricity demand for cooling will be more than compensated by the decrease in fuel demand for heating, leading to a 6% reduction in the final energy demand by the end of the century. Still, between now and 2050, under current climate policies, an additional €235 billion of investments and operational expenses in power generation and transmission are needed to provide the additional electricity needed for cooling.

Enrica De Cian, co-author of the study, and leader of a European ERC project dedicated to the cooling crisis, ENERGYA, explains that “adaptation through air conditioning would also require more resources for grid investments and power generation. Overall electricity generation costs, including investments in capacity, grids, fuel, operation & maintenance costs,  will rise by 21% throughout the century. The additional supply-side costs will be passed on to consumers through increases in the price of electricity around 2%-6% due to the adaptation-energy feedback in different regions. Ambitious mitigation policies can cut by more than half the increase in the costs of the energy system induced by adaptation, depending on the stringency of the climate target. Because of the benefits in terms of reduced adaptation needs, the costs to decarbonize the power system in ambitious mitigation scenarios would be lower than previous estimates, and they would turn negative in well-below-2-degree scenarios, pointing at net gains in terms of power system costs.”

Colelli stresses that “adaptation induces variations in the energy markets that ultimately result in a shift in global and regional greenhouse gas emissions of about 7% cumulatively from 2020 to 2100. As a consequence of the variation in emissions, ambitious mitigation pathways see an increase in the global carbon price between 5% and 30%.” This aspect can and should have important implications for the international negotiations on climate change.

Technical details

By integrating the “adaptation-energy feedback loop” into the World Induced Technical Change Hybrid model – WITCH, the study is one of the first to fully integrate the energy needs for adaptation endogenously into mitigation pathways, so that adaptation energy needs directly influence climate policy design. The findings indicate that climate adaptation can lead to higher energy demand, power system costs and carbon prices, with mitigation benefits compensating decarbonization costs.

Link to the scientific article:

Colelli, F.P., Emmerling, J., Marangoni, G. et al. Increased energy use for adaptation significantly impacts mitigation pathways. Nat Commun 13, 4964 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-022-32471-1

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Decarbonising transport in Italy https://www.eiee.org/decarbonising-transport-in-italy/ Wed, 10 Aug 2022 13:55:53 +0000 https://www.eiee.org/hp-rewrite/814a6cc205eb813dcafbf5beb33b6085 We have the technologies. They are affordable. Experts of the “Structure for a green transition for mobility and infrastructure” established by the Italian Ministry for Sustainable Infrastructure and Mobility explain how to reduce emissions and energy use for Italy’s transport sector in an article published today in Nature Italy.  “Technologies that allow Italy to reduce transport […]

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We have the technologies. They are affordable. Experts of the “Structure for a green transition for mobility and infrastructure” established by the Italian Ministry for Sustainable Infrastructure and Mobility explain how to reduce emissions and energy use for Italy’s transport sector in an article published today in Nature Italy. 

“Technologies that allow Italy to reduce transport sector emissions and improve energy security do exist and are now affordable. What is needed is a combination of coordinated planning and well-designed policies” affirm the authors of the article “How to reduce emissions and energy use for Italy’s transport sector”, published today in Nature Italy. The text was written by nine independent experts who are part of the “Structure for a green transition for mobility and infrastructure” (STEMI) established by the Italian Ministry for Sustainable Infrastructure and Mobility, and authors of the report “Decarbonising Transport. Scientific evidence and policy proposals” published in April 2022. Among them Carlo Carraro, Professor at Ca’ Foscari University of Venice and member of the CMCC Strategic Board and Massimo Tavoni, Professor at Politecnico di Milano and Director of the RFF-CMCC European Institute on Economics and the Environment.

Their work, based on the existing scientific literature and on consultation with stakeholders, has looked into the technological options for decarbonization available now and in the foreseeable future and has identified investment priorities. In particular, solutions based on direct electrification emerge as the most promising technological options for various segments, with strong growth prospects, especially for road transport.

For more information: 

Read the article on Nature Italy “How to reduce emissions and energy use for Italy’s transport sector

Read the full report “Decarbonising Transport. Scientific evidence and policy proposals

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