Page - 28 - in options, Volume winter 2021

KEYWAN RIAHI APPOINTED TO NEW UN TEN-MEMBER GROUP OF EXPERTS COMPLEXITY IN MACROECONOMICS AWARD FOR SEBASTIAN POLEDNA IIASA Energy, Climate, and Environment Program Director, Keywan Riahi has been appointed by UN Secretary-General, António Guterres, to serve on a special advisory group that will support the Technology Facilitation Mechanism, a key part of the post-2015 architecture for the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The new ten-member group will advise on ways of harnessing science, frontier technologies, and innovation to accelerate progress on the SDGs. They are internationally recognized in their respective areas of work and bring diverse expertise and experience across disciplines on science, technology, innovation, and entrepreneurship. www.iiasa.ac.at/news/21-Riahi IIASA Acting Research Group Leader Sebastian Poledna has won a research paper competition on the subject of complexity and macroeconomics organized by the Rebuilding Macroeconomics (RM) Network. In the awarded paper, Poledna and his colleagues designed and implemented a new prototype of an economic agent- based model (ABM) that is suitable for economic forecasting and evaluating policy measures. The network is funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) in the UK, and hosted by the National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR), which is the oldest independent economic research institute in the UK. www.iiasa.ac.at/news/21-Poledna Vienna Energy Forum conference SUSTAINABLE ENERGY: WHERE ACTION MEETS AMBITION Against a background of widespread, rapid, and intensifying climate change impacts and the COVID-19 pandemic, the Vienna Energy Forum (VEF) 2021, guided by the theme “Where Action Meets Ambition”, was held for the first time in a fully virtual format with an agenda to spur action. Founded in 2008 by a joint initiative of IIASA, the Austrian Government, and the United Nations Industrial Development Organization, VEF 2021 brought together thinkers and practitioners from across the world to explore key issues relating to advancing the sustainable development of energy. IIASA Deputy Director for Science, Leena Srivastava, spoke at the opening session while IIASA researcher Shonali Pachauri was a panelist at the first- ever Youth Forum (Youth for VEF). This was hosted in partnership with the SDG7 Youth Constituency and co-created with inputs from young researchers, professionals, entrepreneurs, activists, and other young people in the sustainable energy sector. IIASA was well-represented by researchers from the Energy, Climate, and Environment Program including Keywan Riahi, Bas van Ruijven, and Elina Brutschin – who presented at several side events covering a range of topics. These included: looking at a new generation of global transformation pathways, which explore strategies to limit temperature overshoot without relying on net negative emissions (part of a major community effort: ENGAGE); developing methods and standards for climate stress testing the financial sector to minimize the risks of climate change and climate policy on financial assets and productivity (part of a partnership with the Network for Greening the Financial System); and exploring possible pathways for decarbonizing industry (organized by the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay). A multimedia exhibition booth featured interactive presentations covering a range of IIASA research topics relating to sustainable energy and forging an inclusive pathway that leaves no one behind on the road to net-zero emissions by 2050. Further info: www.iiasa.ac.at/events/21-VEF INSTITUTE NEWSIIASA corner 28 Options www.iiasa.ac.atWinter 2021