Project consortium

The Wuppertal Institute undertakes research and develops models, strategies, and instruments for transitions to a sustainable development at local, national, and international level. Sustainability research at the Wuppertal Institute focuses on the resources, climate and energy related challenges and their relation to economy and society. As an applied research institute, it integrates cutting-edge inter- and transdisciplinary research to generate practical and actor-oriented solutions. The nexus of socio-ecological transformation and socio-economic structural change has been at the core of the Institute’s research agenda for over a decade. During that period the Wuppertal Institute has become a leading global think tank in both environmental policy and transdisciplinary research.

The Institute employs an inter- and transdisciplinary approach to science and approaches the ecological and social challenges at hand from a systemic perspective. The research staff of the Wuppertal Institute is trained in a wide variety of scientific disciplines: natural and environmental sciences, geography, systems sciences, engineering, planning, law, economics as well as political and social sciences. With its approximately 200 employees – 51.2 % of which are female, the Wuppertal Institute is one of the largest as well as most influential think tanks for applied sustainability science in Europe.

The Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB) is a public university located in Brussels, Belgium, with origins dating back more than 180 years. It offers a full range of bachelor's and master's programs, as well as an extensive research portfolio, with eight faculties covering social sciences, medicine, engineering, arts, sciences, law, psychology, and physical education. The Brussels School of Governance is an alliance between the Institute for European Studies (Vrije Universiteit Brussel), which has a long-standing reputation in postgraduate education & research, and Vesalius College, which has a solid undergraduate & graduate education offering.

The Brussels School’s Centre for Environment, Economy and Energy (3E Centre) specifically focuses on the international and European governance of today’s environmental, economic, and energy transitions and their interactions. It analyses and develops innovative legal and policy instruments to govern these turbulent transitions towards decarbonised, resource-efficient economies in Europe and worldwide. Key sub-themes include the techno-economic transition, democratic transition governance, reconciliation of values, and European external relations.

IDDRI is an independent policy research institute and a multi-stakeholder dialogue platform that identifies the conditions and proposes tools to put sustainable development at the heart of international relations and public and private policies. Four major issues are at the very heart of IDDRI's work: Climate, Biodiversity and ecosystems, Ocean, and Sustainable development governance.

IDDRI has a multidisciplinary international team of around 40 people, the majority of whom are researchers. It is a foundation of public interest. Its programmes are determined by transparent decision-making processes subject to collective deliberation by IDDRI’s governance bodies: a Board, a Scientific Council and a Strategic Advisory Council. Under the Climate programme, IDDRI seeks to create the conditions for an ambitious and fair response to the challenges of climate change. This is in response to the large gap between the actual pace of change and the necessary level of ambition in order to move towards a decarbonised economy and to enable the world population to address the effects of climate change.

The DLR Institute of Networked Energy Systems in Oldenburg and Stuttgart develops technologies and concepts for future energy supply based on renewable energy sources. The major challenge is how to form stable and efficient energy systems from weather-dependent decentralised production units. The research for this transformation is considering the aspects “defossilation”, “decentralisation” and “digitalisation”. The Institute’s three departments – Urban and Residential Technologies, Energy Systems Technology and Energy Systems Analysis – work on system-related issues for intelligent and efficient linking of the electricity, heating, and transport sectors. The Institute also evaluates energy systems at national and international levels, using its own network structure models and technology assessment methods.

The DLR Institute of Vehicle Concepts addresses the development of future technology systems for sustainable, safe, and affordable generations of vehicles on road and rail. The Institute's contributions range from conception and design through construction, calculation, and simulation to the presentation of research demonstrators, components, and vehicles. The department of Vehicle Systems and Technology Assessment identifies, analyses, and motivates future vehicle concepts for road and rail traffic from the perspective of engineering, commerce, society, and environment. Technology assessment is aligned quantitatively, prospectively, and systematically in order to enable assessment of novel vehicle technologies with respect to the criteria of energy, emissions, costs, and utilities in the context of society. Changing parameters and requirements are being continually identified and reflected on or projected into the design of future vehicle concepts.

E3-Modelling is a knowledge-intensive company that provides consulting services based on large-scale empirical modelling of the economy-energy-environment nexus. The company owns and operates PRIMES and GEM-E3, two renowned modelling tools used extensively in the preparation of major impact assessment studies and scenario building of the European Commission. For the past 30 years, E3-Modelling has been delivering cutting-edge research and hands-on consulting services to governments, the private sector and international organisations on the design and impact analysis of transition pathways towards low- and net-zero emissions in the fields of energy, climate, and transport. Furthermore, the company is at the forefront of macro-economic research, modelling economic growth, sectoral growth, and employment at European and global levels. 

The Basque Centre for Climate Change (BC3) is an Excellence Research Centre based in the Basque Country (Spain), created in 2008, jointly promoted by the Basque Government and the University of the Basque Country. BC3’s mission is to strategically foster the co-production of knowledge relevant to decision-making by integrating environmental, socioeconomic, and ethical dimensions of climate change. For the past decade, BC3’s research of climate change and the science-policy interface offers knowledge, tools, and new methodologies that are aimed towards action and shared work to design and apply policies for sustainable development. Since July 2018, BC3 is among the 7 organisations distinguished as María de Maeztu units of excellence by the Ministry of Science of the Spanish Government.

With approximately 15,500 students and 2,700 members of staff, the University of Eastern Finland is one of the largest universities in Finland. The activities of the UEF underscore multidisciplinarity and sustainable development. Environmental change and sustainable use of natural resources is one of the UEF profile areas in research and education. In terms of research, the UEF aims to (1) produce world-class science that is based on a high quality of interdisciplinary research, (2) produce science for all through open science and communication, and (3) participate in regional and global development.

The NDC ASPECTS project will be implemented by the UEF Law School which is part of the Faculty of Social Sciences and Business Studies. The Law School is the leading Finnish academic institution in climate change, energy, natural resources, and environmental law. The Law School hosts the Centre for Climate, Energy and Environmental Law (CCEEL), bringing together seven professors, ten senior or post-doctoral researchers and more than 20 PhD researchers working in these areas and forming the largest concentration of expertise on these issues in the Nordic countries. CCEEL aims to produce high quality and policy-relevant research within its fields of expertise. The research activities cover international, European, and national legal and policy developments. CCEEL researchers also actively participate in relevant theoretical and methodological discussions in legal studies.

The Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad is recognized as a premier global management school operating at the frontiers of management education and promoting excellence in scholarship by encouraging high-quality research, distinctive and impactful teaching, and meaningful contribution to knowledge-creation in a variety of disciplines. In the field of Energy, Climate Change and Development, policy research is carried out in close interaction with various ministries of the Government of India, industry associations and international organizations. Some prominent areas of research include long-term energy and emissions scenarios and modelling, global climate change negotiations, nationally determined contributions and long-term climate strategies, technology transition strategies in energy intensive sectors including transport, environmental risk assessment, energy efficiency in buildings, land-use transitions in cities, bidirectional linkages between economic reforms and climate mitigation, forestry and land-use linkages with GHG mitigation etc.

The University of Cape Town (UCT) is South Africa's oldest university and is one of Africa's leading teaching and research institutions. UCT is committed to engaging with the key issues of our natural and social worlds through outstanding teaching, research, and scholarship. UCT seeks to advance the status and distinctiveness of scholarship in Africa through building strategic partnerships across the continent, the global south, and the rest of the world.

UCT’s contribution to the NDC Aspects project will come from the Energy Systems Research Group (ESRG) in the Department of Chemical Engineering in the Faculty of Engineering & the Built Environment (EBE), under the directorship of Prof. Harro Von Blottnitz. The Energy Systems Research Group is one of the leading groups in the global south in the field of energy-economic modelling and policy-oriented research on energy systems and climate policy. ESRG combines modelling of energy and economic systems with policy analysis and field-based research, to generate and enhance knowledge of energy systems at sectoral, regional, national, and sub-continental scales, focused on South Africa and the Southern African Development Community region. Such large systems are known to behave counter-intuitively, and ESRG’s modelling helps to study the interaction of multiple components under changing conditions over longer time periods, providing intelligence needed for policy regulation and on optimal capital investment into costly infrastructure.

Institute of Energy, Environment, and Economy, Tsinghua University (3E), established in 1980, is a university-wide interdisciplinary research and education institution, and a joint initiative of Institute of Nuclear and New Energy Technology, Tsinghua University and School of Economics & Management, Tsinghua University. 3E is among the pioneers in terms of research on energy systems analysis and climate changes among Chinese universities. 3E has also been selected as a key national center for Management Science and Engineering research and education by Ministry of Education. 3E is also among the earliest institutions which are entitled to have doctoral and post-doctoral programs in China. Now the institute has more than 60 researchers, including 7 full professors, 8 associate professors, and 7 assistant professors. There are currently 21 doctoral students and 23 master students under 3E’s graduate program, and about 10 researchers under 3E’s post-doctoral program. The mission of 3E institute is to create, develop and disseminate the knowledge, ideas and methodologies needed for building sustainable energy systems and climate change mitigation, and provide scientific solutions to sustainable energy system transformation and low carbon development for China and the world. Through conducting multidisciplinary and high-quality academic research, 3E would like to become a leading academic institution with global reputations, a policy think tank with global influences, and a cradle of future leaders.

Center for Climate Risk and Opportunity Management in South East Asia and Pacific (CCROM-SEAP) is a research center at IPB University, Indonesia. Initially, CCROM-SEAP was established to help build in-country capacity with the support of CU Earth Institute’s International Research Institute for Climate and Society (IRI). The main focuses of the research in CCROM-SEAP are enhancing the capacity of the society in Southeast Asia and Pacific to well understand the impact of climate variability and climate change on development agenda and advancing the risk and opportunity management of climate change to improve human welfare and environment.

CCROM-SEAP has been actively working with national and international multi-stakeholder, from government and development agencies to NGOs, other research agencies, and communities. Our 15 full-time research team came from various expertise background to cover the multidiscipline aspect of climate study. CCROM research and activity comprises low emission and sustainable development, climate risk assessment, and sectoral climate impact (e.g., water resources, agriculture and food security, human health, and livelihoods and hydro-meteorological shocks).

The Center for Global Sustainability (CGS) sits within the School of Public Policy at the University of Maryland (UMD). CGS is devoted to solving global climate, development, and sustainability challenges. CGS was created in response to the global need for integrated analytics and engagement to support higher ambition in achieving climate, development, and sustainability goals. CGS utilizes a collaborative, interdisciplinary approach to deliver research, education, and engagement for policy impact. Launched in 2016, it features a core team of twelve leading scholar-practitioners and over 25 staff, students, and affiliates with an annual budget of roughly $3 million. CGS achieves its mission by integrating field-leading research and policy analysis; and implementing it through partnerships and engagement at all scales. In doing this, CGS fills a critical gap to link robust technical capacity closely to decision-making at all levels. CGS is committed to fostering a just, equitable, diverse, and inclusive world both within our community and through collaborative research and action on local and global scales.

HOLISTIC is a dynamic consultancy firm offering a wide range of services in the fields of energy and environmental policy and planning as well as in Big Data analytics. The firm consists of executives with long experience in the development of projects on these topics and considerable research and academic background in related methodologies, systems, and technologies. HOLISTIC has extensive know-how in undertaking and executing complex projects of public and private organisations in the EU and can also provide specialised administration services and management support.