Economics of Energy Innovation Systems Transition (EEIST) is a 3 year BEIS and CIFF funded programme.
The aim of EEIST is to use cutting edge advanced methods, which exist in the sciences of complexity and economics, to support government decision making around facilitating a rapid low-carbon transition. By engaging with policy-makers in large emerging economies, this project will contribute to the economic development of emerging nations and support sustainable development globally.
The programme brings together world-leading expertise in complex systems modelling, economics and climate and environmental policy to better understand, and contribute to informing with rigorous science climate policy initiatives in China, Brazil, India, the UK and EU.
This ambitious and innovative programme seeks to support governments in their missions to respond to the catastrophic impacts of climate change and inform transformative policy solutions.
Outcomes
Significant government investment and policy interventions (e.g. regulation, institution building, procurement) are required to combat climate change. In the context of limited public funds, tough decisions are needed on where and how to prioritise efforts.
Policy makers generally use quantitative tools to project the implications possible policy choices. How the methods and theories chosen represent the economy and economic agents determines the way in which models predict future policy impacts.
Most economic models used to inform policy decisions currently assume an economy that is:
However, it’s well recognised that the economy is:
Recognising this in economic models and policy appraisal methods can radically change which strategies are understood as most effective to tackle contemporary policy priorities.
Risk-Opportunity Analysis allows to integrate information from complex systems models and the full range of uncertainty that characterise the evolution of a complex economy, to support the formulation of robust policy on the basis of robust evidence. It involves to both explore the possible outcomes and direction of evolution of the economy generated by possible policy choices under the wide range of uncertainty that it involves, and explore ranges of possible catastrophic failure, the resilience of policy and their potential for generating options for co-benefits.