Equinox Dialogue: Modelling the Economics of Climate Change

The workshops are limited to 40 in-person attendees, so early registration is encouraged. However, online participation is available for those unable to attend in person.

Register for in-person or online participation here.

The CTNTE, in partnership with JPI Climate and with support from MAGICA, is organising the EQUINOX Dialogue – two days of dialogue focussing on the advancement and future direction of Integrated Assessment Models (IAMs) and the economics of climate change.

These workshops will provide an opportunity to gain the latest insights into IAMs in a science-policy context. Expanding on themes within the Trust’s previous workshops, the dialogue will consider how current economic norms are reflected in IAMs and other dominant modelling approaches (including their underlying assumptions), what IAMs can adequately address, and the current limitations of IAMs when informing transitional and transformational processes.

The EQUINOX Dialogue aims to contribute towards discussions on what can be done to address concerns about current approaches to modelling the economic impacts of climate change and climate change policies. To do so, the dialogue aim to:

1. Identify improvements for more reliable and realistic modelling
2. Spotlight existing and emerging complementary approaches
3. Establish development and research priorities

The Dialogue begins with a welcoming address by Sir Jim Skea, IPCC Chair, and each session will feature presentations from leading experts, followed by participant discussions. Dialogue themes reflect the needs identified in national, European, and UN discussions. Topics will be guided by practical examples, such as equity, to provide focus and direction.

The outcomes from these discussions will be consolidated into a report that will inform the next Climate Neutrality Forum (scheduled for May 2026).

Four core topics will be considered:

1. The omission of climate change impacts and adaptation costs from many IAMs and climate change mitigation scenarios, which can result in economic comparisons that fail to account for the true costs of climate change and adaptation measures.
2. Concerns that equity and justice are insufficiently integrated into IAM scenarios, leading to unrealistic responsibilities placed on developing countries and overlooking their development needs.
3. The lack of detailed consideration of finance and financial flows in IAMs, including the mechanisms for funding climate actions at both national and international scales (such as Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) and Long-Term Strategies (LTS)). Areas such as climate finance as aid (Paris Agreement Article 9), and the shift from brown to green finance (Paris Agreement Article 2.1.c), require more robust modelling to reflect their roles in reducing climate risk.
4. IAMs’ limited treatment of technological development, deployment, and transfer – including technologies for carbon reduction and removal, as well as the risks associated with these innovations.

Further information about the event, alongside the role of IAMs, is available on JPI Climate’s website.

If you have any questions about the event, please contact: secretariat@jpi-climate.belspo.be