TD1: The first meeting of the Technical Dialogue
The representatives of 19 research institutes, think tanks, universities, as well as governmental agencies and institutions from 11 European countries came together during the first meeting of the Climate Recon 2050’s Technical Dialogue to exchange knowledge on development of decarbonisation scenarios, analytical approaches and results presentation and communication.
The meeting introduced the first of the eight core topics of the Technical Dialogue: modelling for low emission mobility. Ruth Blanck from Öko-Institut provided insights from the institute’s work on modelling travel demand scenarios, as part of a larger research project presenting several climate protection scenarios for the transport sector in Germany. The modelling exercise that was brought into focus included a set of measures meant to improve a quality of life in inner cities and the concept of “city of short distances”. Those insights were complimented by Fraunhofer-ISI’s Patrick Plötz’s presentation on modelling market diffusion of alternative fuel vehicles with simulation models, followed by a discussion on results communication and using insights from modelling for planning and policy. The researchers’ contributions are gathered in the first Technical Note on low-emission mobility & transport.
Beyond the topical focus, the Technical Dialogue meetings include a series of national case studies, aiming to highlight lessons learned from national scenario-building exercises used to inform the national strategies. During the first meeting Monika Dittrich of ifeu provided an overview of the modelling efforts to show ambitious pathways to reach an emission neutral and resource efficient Germany until 2050, including a consistent calculation of required raw materials. The presentation provided an in-depth explanation of one of the one of the five scenarios, and, linking to the meeting’s core topic, the scenario’s main results regarding mobility.
Finally, the meeting was used to shape the topical focus of the platform’s future meetings. In a participatory exercise, all attendees were invited to propose topics of interest and vote on the refined list of suggestions, to ensure that the platform’s meetings focus on themes that are of key interest to participating stakeholders.