ENGAGE is a research project led by PIK in collaboration with the Ifo Center for International Economics Munich and advised by Stéphane Hallegatte of the World Bank. It is funded by the Leibniz society and originally ran from March 2016 to February 2019. On the PIK side it has been extended until August 2020. ENGAGE brings together researchers from various areas: empirical economists, integrated assessment modelers and biophysical impact researchers.
Motivation
After the historical Paris climate agreement policy makers face the challenge to move the world on an emissions path keeping global warming well below 2°, requiring a decarbonisation of the economy until the middle of the century. This requires solid information on the costs, risks and benefits of transformation pathways which means an integrated assessment of mitigation, adaptation and avoided as well as residual damages for different levels of global warming. For a solid scientific policy advice a realistic quantification of the socio-economic impacts of climate change, including impacts on long-term growth and development, is crucial. However, both the qualitative understanding and the quantitative tools are presently lacking to fill this gap. ENGAGE aims for advances in this area.
Objectives
ENGAGE addresses three challenges:
- to develop sound theoretical understanding and empirical quantification of the channels through which climate impacts may affect long-term growth and development patterns
- to develop new approaches for a bottom-up economic valuation of biophysical impacts bridging the gap between impact and economic models
- the integration of impacts and mitigation in a global dynamic growth framework.
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