Equinox Dialogue: Modelling the Economics of Climate Change

Are you a national policymaker, government science advisor or EC official interested in challenging the current norms of economics of climate change? Then this two-day hybrid workshop is for you.

It will be a unique opportunity to gain the latest insights into Integrated Assessment Models (IAMs) in a science-policy context. IAMs have been developed to provide policy-relevant information on regional and global environmental challenges and sustainable development issues through quantitative descriptions of key processes in human and earth systems and their interactions.

Presentations from leading experts will be followed by discussions with participants. The session themes are around needs highlighted during national, European and UN discussions. Session topics will include a predefined example of the need (e.g., equity) to give direction and focus to discussions.

IAMs have economics discipline as their core and in addition utilise information from a number of scientific disciplines and describe both the human and earth system and are focussed on generating useful information for decision-making, even in case of large uncertainties. IAMs, for instance, have been successfully applied in support of air quality and climate policy and in Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) assessment reports.

This EQUINOX Dialogue will consider the current economic norms and how these are reflected in IAMs and in other models including any underlying assumptions, what can be adequately assessed and their current limitations with respect to informing transition and transformation.

It will contribute to the discussion on what can be done to address the criticisms (or concerns) about current approaches to modelling the economic impacts of climate change and climate change policies and measures. This will be achieved by identifying:

1) Improvements needed in modelling for achieving more reliable and in turn supporting more realistic assessments.

2) Existing alternative and complementary approaches that can be used, or are emerging.

3) Priority areas for development and further research.

Four main areas will be considered:

1) IAMs and climate change mitigation scenarios tend not to include climate change impacts and adaptation costs. This can lead to comparing the economic costs of mitigation with counterfactual scenarios without the economic costs of climate change and adaptation.

2) Claims that equity and justice are not adequately reflected in the IAM scenarios that often result in greater and unrealisable expectations on developing countries and do not consider the need for development.

3) IAMs do not explicitly consider finance and financial flows and how policy responses at national and international levels, such as Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) and Long Term Strategies (LTS), are financed as well as their role in reducing climate change risks. Finance as aid (Paris Agreement (PA) Art 9) and switching from brown finance to green (aligning financial flows PA Art 2.1.c) are not adequately reflected in the modelling scenarios.

4) IAMs and modelling scenarios have a rather limited treatment of technology development, deployment, and transfer including carbon reduction/removal technologies and associated risks.

Outcomes of the dialogue will be drawn into a summary report to feed into the next Climate Neutrality Forum, to be held in May 2026.

• See the full programme here.
• Learn about our speakers here.

Organisers: JPI Climate, Cambridge Trust for New Thinking in Economics; supported by MAGICA

Register today. Registrations are now closed.
(Limited to 40 places in-person, participants will receive confirmation of their place after registration.)

If you have any questions about this event, please contact:  secretariat@jpi-climate.belspo.be

A parallel workshop science-policy Equinox Workshop takes place at BELSPO on December 11 – EQUINOX Workshop on Societal Transformation in the Face of Climate Change. There are two separate programmes set clear agendas but with opportunities for cross-fertilisation and networking at a joint reception and lunch. We strongly encourage participants to engage with both workshops and make the most of the shared spaces for dialogue, learning and collaboration.