We create a publicly-accessible, interactive platform with information about integrated greenhouse gas mitigation scenarios to achieve net-zero.
We address the need for an integrated assessment of all greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and their mitigation pathways across all sectors of the economy, while also considering their broader environmental and human impacts.
This Action Area is comprised of two major pillars:
The first pillar is the integrated modelling of GHG mitigation pathways, which deals with a techno-economic representation of the GHG emitting entities in Switzerland, their systemic interdependencies, and potential mitigation options. The well-established Swiss TIMES Energy system Model (STEM) is being expanded and interfaced with quantitative satellite tools. This allows us to incorporate novel datasets and state-of-the-art analytical approaches (e.g. as used for Switzerland’s emissions reporting to the UNFCCC) and mitigation measures (including negative emission measures). This will lead to a unique and advanced integrated modelling framework with which a scenario analysis aiming at net-zero GHG emissions by 2050 is performed.
The results from the first pillar feed into the second pillar, in which air pollutants and their dispersion are assessed at a high spatial resolution, and consequently the monetisation is quantified using an external cost approach. Ultimately, the assessment of external costs is combined with the system cost assessment derived from the techno-economic optimisation of emission mitigation pathways, which translates into the quantification of the total costs associated with reaching net-zero in Switzerland.
The goals of this Action Area include the following:
- Perform an integrated analysis of net-zero GHG emissions, including systems models, LCA/external cost assessment, GHG pollutant modelling, GHG mitigation from waste water, GHG mitigation from forests, and analysis of the agricultural sector.
- Development of a publicly-available interactive platform for integrated GHG mitigation scenarios and evolution of air quality towards net-zero.
