(i) To improve the scientific understanding of the linkages between climate change and multiple sustainable development objectives
CD-LINKS analysed synergies and trade-offs between multiple policy objectives, including food security, air quality, water and employment. Analysis was done at the national level to better understand how specific conditions influence the degree to which synergies or trade-offs between climate policy and sustainable development objectives emerge. This was complemented by conceptual research on the suitability of integrated assessment models for assessing linkages between different SDGs. Models were improved in the area of energy poverty, air quality, water, food security and economic development, biodiversity and life cycle analysis indicators, which allowed quantification of indicators related to several SDGs. A scenario set examining different climate policies was developed that led to numerous peer-reviewed publications.
(ii) To broaden the evidence base in the area of policy effectiveness by exploring past and current policy experiences
This research concentrated on the comparability across different nations, their policies and technology developments and consisted of four parts: (i) an assessment of pros and cons of the policies to deploy renewables in Brazil and Germany, including possible policy transfers between countries; (ii) cross-country comparisons of the effectiveness of energy access policies and lessons for the replicability of these in other country settings, focusing on the case of electricity access policies in Brazil, India and Morocco; (iii) an exploration of the implications of climate policies on innovation in countries that have enacted such policies, as well as of spill-over effects for other technology-producing and -exporting countries; and (iv) low-carbon technology flows between countries and the prospects for policy transfer, with a particular focus on India.
(iii) To develop globally consistent, national development pathways
A special issue on national low-carbon development pathways was published in Climatic Change. These papers explore the requirements for the deployment and upscaling of new technologies, investment and finance needs, and regional gaps or inconsistencies compared to the aspirations implied by the long-term objectives of 1.5 and 2°C. The national modelling teams completed a set of scenarios that mirror the set-up of the global scenarios, via cumulative CO2 budgets until 2050, which are informed by the global scenarios and have been set in an iterative process between global and national teams. The special issue also includes a critical assessment of whether current policies are on track to achieve the Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs).
(iv) To establish a research network and capacity building platform in order to leverage knowledge-exchange among institutions from Europe and other key players within the G-20.
Throughout the project, a range of stakeholder and capacity building workshops were held in Austria, Italy, China, Germany, India, Brazil and Belgium. A Summer School on integrated assessment modeling was held in Venice, Italy, and attended by 20 young scholars from a broad range of disciplinary backgrounds who received advanced training. In addition, the CD-LINKS research exchange program enabled 13 young scholars from various institutes to collaborate with other project partners to research topics such as the development of better modelling of water use in India and more accurate forest sector descriptions in Brazil.
The CD-LINKS consortium also organized multiple official UNFCCC side-events, at COP22 in Marrakesh, at COP23 in Bonn, and at COP24 in Katowice as well as two side events at SBSTA. Two events at COP25 in Madrid are also being organized.
