Integrated Assessment Modeling for Climate Policy Making

This course discusses the use of Integrated Assessment Models (IAMs) for climate policy and energy research. The course gives an overview of two types of IAMs: detailed process IAMs that evaluate how mitigation options and technology choices influence regional emissions and global climate; and benefit-cost IAMs that estimate the social cost of carbon or the optimal emission trajectory to maximize global welfare. The course then dives into one detailed process IAM, the Global Change Analysis Model, to demonstrate how IAMs have been applied to examine climate policy choice and impacts, air quality and health co-benefits, etc.