Charles University to lead a consortium on modeling climate policies

An international consortium of world-class universities, led by Charles University, will address one of today’s most pressing social and political issue: the environmental crisis induced by climate change. Between 2020 and 2024, researchers will travel to deploy a worldwide knowledge network over five continents and develop new economic knowledge to improve climate change adaptation and mitigation policies.

The research project called Global Excellence in Modeling Climate and Energy Policies (GEOCEP) is granted by the European Commission as it will notably provide insight in line with the 2030 climate and energy framework of the European Commission.

The project aims to connect the frontiers of climate change and energy economics with state-of-the-art natural and social sciences. “Researchers will utilize a wide range of integrated assessment economic and hybrid models,” says GEOCEP Coordinator Milan Ščasný. “These models include the analysis of social and technological innovations, new business and services models, and the need for flexibility in demand to support the energy transition to a zero-carbon economy. We will analyze consumer and firm behavior, the impacts on the economy, energy use, the environment, and human health” adds Ščasný.

Researchers from six top research institutions in the European Union and from sixteen other prestigious institutions in the rest of the world will cooperate on the project. Beneficiary institutions include CMCC, ETH Zurich, the London School of Economics, Toulouse School of Economics, and the University of Oxford. Partner institutions include notably the universities of California, Columbia, Harvard, Maryland, Princeton, Stanford, and Yale.

“We are looking forward to having high-quality research scientists coming to Charles University and, the other way around, to send researchers from Prague to high-quality research institutions abroad. We foresee about sixty researchers from Charles University will participate,” says GEOCEP deputy coordinator Karel Janda.