C-ROADS Article Published in System Dynamics Review

The current edition of the journal System Dynamics Review, features an article by our team here at Climate Interactive on our simulation C-ROADS.

With over 700 users worldwide and counting, C-ROADS has improved the understanding of which national climate commitments will have an impact and what is needed for us to close the gap between maintaining a safe livable planet and crossing tipping points that may have dire consequences. Our latest publication on C-ROADS reviews its uses and capabilities and explains a little bit of its structure and design. If you are new to C-ROADS and would like a better understanding of what this simulation can do for you we recommend checking out this article in particular. C-ROADS is available for free on our website. On our website you will also find much more detailed information and resources for you to explore as well.

Read “Climate Interactive: The C-ROADS Climate Policy Model”

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.

The New C-ROADS Simulation Has Amazing Climate Analysis Capabilities

Check out this short video to view the new features of C-ROADS.

(Click on the “Vimeo” word in the bottom right corner to view a larger version)

The top five improvements:

1. Choose from 14 different reference scenarios, pulled from EMF and SRES

2. Create emissions scenarios by changing Carbon intensity

3. Land use emissions are disaggregated by country (thanks to primary research funded by Heinz Center and TCG)

4. Flexible analysis of historical contribution by country to cumulative emissions, radiative forcing, and temperature (this feature is amazing — watch the video….)

5. Flexible analysis of effects of uncertainty

Dr. Phil Rice of Climate Interactive created this short video describing our “new tricks.” The improvements were completed primarily by Dr. Rice, Dr. Tom Fiddaman of Ventana Systems, Dr. Lori Siegel of Climate Interactive, and Tony Kennedy of Ventana Systems, through a contract with the US DOE and funding from Zennstrom Philanthropies, ClimateWorks Foundation, the Morgan Family Foundation, and others.

C-ROADS China Collaboration Grows

The collaboration of the C-ROADS team with Chinese climate analysts at Tsinghua University is growing via a university partnership.

At the recent UN conference in Copenhagen, Drew Jones of Sustainability Institute met with Professor He Jiankun of Tsinghua University (shown in the photo) to discuss extending and customizing the C-ROADS simulation to better match the energy development future in China.

And over the past two weeks, teams from Sustainability Institute, Tsinghua University, MIT, the Society for Organizational Learning, and Ventana Systems are collaborating to include important factors such as GDP, energy intensity, and fuel mix onsite at MIT in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA.

Some of the group at MIT in Cambridge are shown in the picture. Dr. John Sterman (MIT), Xiaohu Luo (Tsinghua), Lori Siegel (SI), Drew Jones (SI), Tom Fiddaman (Ventana), Zhou Li (Tsinghua), Peter Senge (MIT/SoL), Rebecca Niles (SI/STC).

Climate Interactive Presents C-ROADS and Scoreboard in Copenhagen

On Wednesday, here at COP15 in Copenhagen, the Climate Interactive team and partners presented the C-ROADS simulation and the Climate Scoreboard at the Bellona Room in the Bella Center to demonstrate our tools to support the negotiations. Watch a video of the presentation here.

Climate Interactive Events in Copenhagen

We hope to see many of you in Copenhagen!

If you will be in Copenhagen, look for members of our extended team using C-ROADS and sharing the Climate Scoreboard: Drew Jones (SI), Beth Sawin (SI), John Sterman (MIT), Lori Siegel (SI), Tom Fiddaman (Ventana Systems), Bob Corell (CAI), and Travis Franck (Tufts).

And please join us for the following events:

World’s Countries Ratify Global Climate Deal! in a Dartmouth simulation at least…

Professor David Peart and Dr. Lori Siegel led a powerful learning experience for Dartmouth College students using the C-ROADS simulator as part of the Copenhagen Climate Exercise (now World Climate)

The College created an engaging video on the experience — check it out above. And their press release is here.

Sustainability issues and our team’s connections run deep at Dartmouth College. The founder of our organization, Sustainability Institute, Donella Meadows, taught there for several decades.  Professor David Peart serves on our board. And four members of our core C-ROADS and Climate Interactive team — Dr. John Sterman (MIT), Dr. Beth Sawin (SI), Dr. Tom Fiddaman (Ventana Systems), and me (Drew Jones — SI) — are all alums.

The Shape of Things to Come

Modeling math and equation goddess Lori Siegel recently sent along the latest version of C-ROADS (formerly called Pangaea) — the latest evolution of it since our partners at the Forum for Active Philanthropy stepped up to prep the sim to match the UN climate negotiation process more closely. 

This is the shape of things to come in two ways.

1. The shape of our simulation. We are working to create a simulator that will test the actions of the parties to the UN agreement in Copenhagen in 2009 — all ~14 parties. We’ll include them in the model, post it on the web for the world to test, and then share the code open-source-style so others can adapt it.

2. The shape of CO2 emissions for regions of the world under the IPCC’s “A1Fi” future scenario. We need to avoid this.

Thought I’d post it since I’m excited for the progress (we’ll show this in Copenhagen at the end of November and in Poznan in December), proud of our modeler Lori for banging it out so fast, sobered by the ecological effects of all this, and a bit charmed by the pretty colors.