In the face of the global challenge of climate change, materials, and circular economy policies emerge as vital players, deserving a central role in IAMs. The integration of these elements into the models
becomes our pathway toward a more effective and holistic low carbon future.
The 16th Annual Meeting ofIAMChas been held in Venice from November 14-16. This year’s was co-chaired by CIRCOMOD Co-Principal Investigator Detlef van Vuuren (PBL) and CircEUlar Co-Principal Investigator Volker Krey (IIASA) with several contributions to the session stemming from these two Horizon Europe funded sister projects.
A recent study led by our CircEUlar member Dominik Wiedenhofer conducts a global assessment of material stocks in mobility infrastructure (roads and rail-based systems, including bridges and tunnels), their associated material flows, and embodied greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions for 2021.
In the CircEUlar project, we will be assessing the contribution of digitalisation toward net-zero and circular economy targets under different social and economic development assumptions (the ‘Shared Socioeconomic Pathways’ (SSPs) used in IPCC assessments).
From assessing optimal treatment strategies for waste collection and management systems, and forecasting GHG emissions from waste flows by understanding relationships with demographic and socioeconomic factors, his research includes life cycle analysis of the solid waste management sector from micro to macro scales.