DCARB (Designing Climate Action and Regulations for SustainaBility)

This project is the source code (in the Julia programming language) and data for the DCARB (Designing Climate Action and Regulations for SustainaBility) tool, which is supported by the article "Designing Climate Action and Regulations for sustainaBility (DCARB): Framework and campus application" in Journal of Cleaner Production (July 2022).
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2022.131690

From the article:
"[DCARB is] the first optimization-based long-term planning tool tailored to the needs of academic institutions pursuing carbon neutrality. The novelty of this work stems from the optimization-based methodology and inclusion of a land-based carbon sequestration module as a nature-based approach to campus carbon neutrality. The approach closely resembles scheduling optimization, but in application is meant to generate multiple scenarios like pathway analysis. The ability to quickly optimize multiple pathways to neutrality based on user-input can assist institutional decision-makers by identifying initial possible pathways."

Abstract:
With increased understanding of the impacts of climate change, institutions across the world are committing to achieve carbon neutrality and other emissions reduction targets. Within academia, the American College & University Presidents’ Climate Commitment was created as a highly visible public contract with over 300 active signatories. Existing climate action planning tools rely on significant subjectivity and previously conducted project analysis. This work presents an optimization framework that develops a long-term planning tool tailored for use by academic institutions. Further, we highlight the potential for ecological solutions and land management as economically competitive actions for campuses. The presented tool, known as DCARB (Designing Climate Action and Regulations for sustainaBility), features an ability to quickly optimize multiple pathways towards carbon neutrality based on user-input and parameter variability. We showcase DCARB through an application for The Ohio State University to demonstrate the outputs of the tool based on current projects outlined in the institution’s climate action plan. Additionally, parameter variability is analyzed to explore how solutions might change due to data uncertainty or application to other campuses. The results encourage urgent action as they can provide cheaper pathways towards neutrality, including immediate consideration of land-based actions. Additionally, applications of the tool highlight challenges for achieving neutrality such as a reliance on market-based offsets, future market volatility, proper carbon credit accounting, and planning for future social and behavioral actions.

本项研究旨在提供 DCARB（针对可持续性的气候行动与法规设计）工具的源代码（采用 Julia 编程语言）及数据集，该工具由《Journal of Cleaner Production》杂志（2022年7月）发表的《Designing Climate Action and Regulations for Sustainability (DCARB)：框架与校园应用》一文所支持。https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2022.131690

文章中提到：[DCARB] 作为首个针对追求碳中和的学术机构需求的基于优化的长期规划工具，其创新之处在于基于优化的方法论以及将陆地碳封存模块作为基于自然的方法应用于校园碳中和。该方法论与调度优化极为相似，但在应用上旨在生成多种情景，如路径分析。能够根据用户输入快速优化多种中和路径的能力，可以帮助机构决策者识别初步可能的路径。

摘要：随着对气候变化影响的深入理解，世界各地的机构纷纷承诺实现碳中和及其他减排目标。在学术界，美国学院与大学校长气候承诺作为一种高度可见的公开契约，已有超过300个活跃签署方。现有的气候行动规划工具依赖显著的主体性和先前进行的项目分析。本研究提出了一种优化框架，开发了适用于学术机构的长期规划工具。此外，我们强调了生态解决方案和土地管理作为校园经济竞争性行动的潜力。所提出的工具，即 DCARB（针对可持续性的气候行动与法规设计），具备根据用户输入和参数变异性快速优化多条碳中和路径的能力。我们通过俄亥俄州立大学的应用展示了 DCARB 工具的输出，基于机构气候行动计划中概述的当前项目。此外，我们还分析了参数变异性，以探讨由于数据不确定性或应用于其他校园而导致解决方案可能发生的变化。结果表明，它们可以提供更经济的中和路径，包括立即考虑基于土地的行动。此外，该工具的应用突显了实现碳中和的挑战，如对基于市场的抵消措施、未来市场波动、适当的碳信用额核算以及为未来的社会和行为行动进行规划。”
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