Integrated assessment models (IAMs) are a form of advanced computer modelling that integrates and links science from several disciplines regarding energy, economic and climate systems at global scales with the ambition to produce results of high policy relevance, and they constitute the core of the Working Group III in the IPCC. These models have an interpretative privilege and a dominant position in the interface between climate science, economics and policymaking. The IAMs deal with endless complexities and uncertainties and many issues are deeply intertwined with ethics, politics and values. This project explores questions such as: How can the processes of conceptualizing complexities and uncertainties within the IAM communities be understood? How are the boundaries between IAM-science in the broader sense and politics/policymaking negotiated? How are the boundaries between the disciplines within the IAM communities negotiated? Which values and perspectives are neglected in these processes and how do that influence the framings and conceptualizations of emergency, action and responsibility?

Research Leader: Anders Hansson