“World Climate” Mock-UN Exercise Energizes Youth

Youngest “World Climate” players yet!

Climate Interactive’s Drew Jones led a class of eleven seventh graders from Hanger Hall School for Girls through the “Mock-UN” policy exercise where three teams represent country groups and negotiate a global climate deal. They learned the biogeochemical carbon system through the “Bathtub” analogy and improved their understanding of climate dynamics.

China-U.S. Collaboration Launches Powerful New Simulation

For over two years Climate Interactive has been working with Tsinghua University in China to create a learning tool to model the climate goals of Chinese provinces. Because of our work with Tsinghua, they have been able to provide the Chinese government with a new easy-to-use tool in order to meet their climate and energy goals.

China has committed to a 40-45% decrease in the carbon intensity of the overall Chinese economy by 2020. In order to meet this goal the Chinese government and provincial leaders set targets for the provinces to adjust their GDP, energy intensity, and fuel mix. To create true engagement from the leaders at all levels, however, there needed to be a shared understanding of how to reach these goals, and methods for calculating progress.

In order to create a tool to track the progress of the Chinese provinces, a team led by Professor Zhang Xiliang at Tsinghua University began using system dynamics models, the technology of which grew out of MIT Sloan School of Management and is behind C-ROADS. The system dynamics models are a contrast from the spreadsheet models that were used to set the targets, which are not geared towards flexible “what if” testing. What they sought was a user-friendly, interactive simulation such as C-ROADS, which has been used by multiple governments as part of the UN climate change negotiations. Professor Zhang’s Low Carbon Economy team had the data, an understanding of the Chinese energy system, and a staff of modelers to create the tool, but their partnership with the Climate Interactive team enabled them to put these elements together to create a successful model.

Simulations essential for addressing climate change

MIT professor and Climate Interactive team member, John Sterman, succinctly explains in the video below that using simulation models can help policymakers address climate change. John explains, “If these models are going to be effective they not only have to be rigorously grounded in the science—as our models are—but they have to be transparent, accessible, run quickly, and give people that immediate feedback on any experiment they may want to run.” Find out more about the C-ROADS model John describes and the work we are doing at http://www.climateinteractive.org.

More updates to C-ROADS version 3

Another release of C-ROADS is available with more new features!

Why the update, so soon after our last? We want to give people, like you, who are using our free tools access to the latest updates and fixes as soon as possible to ensure our tools are helpful to you. The reality is that gone are the days of compiling a long list of updates for each new release. Even further past are the days of releasing CD-ROMs with software updates and mailing them off to users. Today all we have to do is upload the new version of C-ROADS and send you a quick note to let you know about the new features. The new features in C-ROADS v3.005 are listed below and described by Senior Scientist, Phil Price in this video:

You can access a copy of C-ROADS by logging in or if you don’t have a username, requesting one here. If you’ve got a case of nostalgia, we can even mail you a CD-ROM—you’ll have to pay for shipping and handling, however.

Join a Free Webinar – New Features in C-ROADS Climate Simulation

In response to the needs of our users, Climate Interactive has updated the C-ROADS climate policy testing software with a suite of new features and analytic abilities.

In this one-hour webinar, three model developers and analysts from the Climate Interactive team will introduce the new features, from new output windows, to sensitivity testing, to more control over underlying model assumptions. The session will be interactive, with ample time for questions and discussion. Drs. Travis Franck, Phil Rice, and Lori Siegel will lead the webinar.

Title: New Features in C-ROADS 3.0
Date: Tuesday, February 14, 2012
Time: 15:00 GMT (10:00 EST)

Space is limited.
Reserve your Webinar seat now at:
https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/728788440

After registering you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the Webinar.

Attendees will be able to receive a free copy of C-ROADS software.

UNFCCC Submissions Due February 28th: C-ROADS Assistance Available!

In anticipation of the Feb. 28th deadline, modeling and simulation analysis is available from Climate Interactive to support parties and observers who are preparing submissions with suggestions for increasing the level of ambition of the global climate negotiations.

Last December when the  Durban Platform was agreed to at COP-17 it included a call for negotiating parties and observer organizations to  submit “their views on options and ways for further increasing the level of ambition” in the global climate negotiations.

As one of many organizations around the world highlighting the scientific imperative for increasing that ambition we were pleased to see that solicitation, and now, with the deadline for submissions less than one month away, we are happy to announce that, during the month of February, Climate Interactive’s analytical team will be setting aside some time to assist those parties and observer organizations who are preparing submissions where scenario modeling could help clarify the submission or add rigor to the argument.

We can either help get your organization or delegation set up with the latest version of our freely available C-ROADS simulation in order to run your own analysis or, for a limited number of cases, we can provide customized analysis to support your submission. To see some examples of the types of questions that can be asked and answered with C-ROADS, take a look at our Climate Scoreboard pages, or some of our analysis of the Durban talks themselves.

To learn more and discuss what might be possible please contact CI co-director, esawin(at)climateinteractive.org

C-ROADS Update Available – Download version 3.0 today!

Every new release of C-ROADS marks an exciting milestone for the small team here at Climate Interactive that began creating this model three years ago and continue to advance it in a world where the need for better understanding of the dynamics of climate and policy is greater than ever. From Copenhagen to Washington, and most recently, to Durban, C-ROADS has added scientifically-vetted analysis to the conversation and efforts to address climate change.

To build on the successes and address feedback from users, version 3.0 of C-ROADS adds many new features to this already robust simulator. We hope that these additional features and updates improve the effectiveness of your climate change efforts.

With the new version of C-ROADS you can…

• Test the sensitivity of the model results to different parameters under the Sensitivity Tab
• Analyze policies with new types of emissions targets such as emissions per capita
• Adjust GDP and population assumptions
• Examine six new graphs for outputs such as GDP and population
• Facilitate the World Climate role-playing exercise using the new control panel

Please download the new version of C-ROADS by logging into Climate Interactive or requesting access by filling out our download request form. A video tutorial and version release notes are also available on our website to guide you through the new features.

For an online demonstration of C-ROADS and the new features please join us on February 14, 2012 at 15:00 GMT (10:00 EST). Please RSVP to reserve your spot at this web event at https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/728788440.

To Avoid Expensive and Disruptive Rates of Emissions Reduction In Coming Decades Parties Must Increase the Ambition of 2020 Pledges Today

To see a reposting on Joe Romm’s Climate Progress blog, click here. And a corroborating report by ClimateWorks Foundation here plus another by Climate Analytics here.

Postponing commitment to ambitious targets until after 2020 would commit countries to rates of CO2 emissions reductions in decades beyond 2020 that exceed those typically seen in the current generation of energy system models, making future efforts to limit temperature increase to 2°C more expensive and disruptive than needed. Without deeper reductions than are currently pledged by 2020, future generations will have sustain very rapid rates of reduction in emissions.

In the press and in the halls of the climate negotiations some parties, including the US, have been saying that 2020 pledges are essentially fixed in the form of the voluntary commitments made under the Cancun Agreement, and that current political and economic pressures mean that the time for more ambitious commitments to emissions reductions can come only after 2020.

Insurance risk industry takes notice of C-ROADS

The actuarial profession is full of models of risk and assessments of associated costs, but as Nico Aspinall explains in her piece published in The Actuary (UK), Climate Interactive’s C-ROADS is uniquely able to show the steps needed to keep climate change below 2 degrees C by the end of the century. In order to make sure the insights gained through C-ROADS are available to everyone we make the model freely available. Request a download today or try C-Learn, a lighter-weight version of C-ROADS.

Comment: Climate change could be a ‘serious game’

14 Nov 2011

by Nico Aspinall

C-ROADS doesn’t present itself as a computer game, but underlying its graphs and sliders is a serious challenge: designing CO₂ emissions policies to find one which can keep global warming to less than 2⁰C.

Tropical Storm Irene Hits Close to Home

Source: Burlingon Free Press Facebook

Climate Interactive Co-Director Beth Sawin (who is coping with life in newly flooded Vermont – she and family are okay BTW) posted a timely perspective on this week’s Irene disaster on Romm’s Climate Progress blog and Burlington Free Press. We’re sharing it here as well.

My daughter, Jenna, will miss her first day of high school on Wednesday. Woodstock, Vermont, where her school lies, is essentially shut down by flooding. The covered bridge in Quechee I drove across just last week is ruined, and the store where I bought hurricane provisions is just now emerging from floodwaters. Across the state, 13 towns are stranded, 250 roads are impassable and more than 30 bridges are closed.

Okay, Irene was no Katrina. My family is fine. But, as a builder of climate simulations that connect burning fossil fuels to destruction like Irene’s, my ‘day job’ in the ‘real world’ and my home-life in a beautiful corner of Vermont finally collided.