Climate Policy Modelling Protocol

This protocol includes current energy and climate policies for major economies, and details the instruments, targets and sectors for each policy. It provides a detailed list of climate policies as well as their quantification (following the Integrated Assessment Modelling Community (IAMC) conventions where possible). The final goal is to translate climate policies into energy and climate model input, and facilitate policy impact projections on greenhouse gas emissions.

Climate policy on the national level, is defined as the result of climate policy formulation and climate policy implementation that encompasses aspirational goals not secured by legislation, national targets that are secured by legislation, and policy instruments designed to implement these targets. Only implemented policies are included in this protocol, and are defined as policies adopted by the government through legislation or executive orders, and non-binding targets backed by effective policy instruments.

To compose the protocol, first a selection of climate policies with potentially high impact in terms of emission reductions is performed by the policy teams of PBL and NewClimate (Climate Policy Database), and translated into model input indicators. Then, with the help of (inter)national experts and partners, an evaluation round of the selected policies is performed, before finalizing the complete policy list. Policy instruments are represented in the integrated assessment models as explicit as possible, but simplification is sometimes necessary; replicating the impact on greenhouse gas emissions and the energy system transformation is considered as the most important factor. 

It should be noted that the policy environment is constantly changing, thus policy changes with a possibly high impact may occur between protocol updates that are not included in certain versions. Under ELEVATE, the protocol received major updates in terms of standardization of policy and target variable names and units - according to IAMC conventions, to facilitate use from all Integrated Assessment Models in the community.