Climate risk assessment of the sovereign bond portfolio of European Insurers

In the first collaboration between climate economists, climate financial risk modellers and financial regulators, we apply the CLIMAFIN framework described in Battiston at al. (2019) to provide a forward-looking climate transition risk assessment of the sovereign bonds’ portfolios of solo insurance companies in Europe. We consider a scenario of a disorderly introduction of climate policies that cannot be fully anticipated and priced in by investors. First, we analyse the shock on the market share and profitability of carbon-intensive and low-carbon activities under climate transition risk scenarios. Second, we define the climate risk management strategy under uncertainty for a risk averse investor that aims to minimise her largest losses. Third, we price the climate policies scenarios in the probability of default of the individual sovereign bonds and in the bonds’ climate spread. Finally, we estimate the largest gains/losses on the insurance companies’ portfolios conditioned to the climate scenarios. We find that the potential impact of a disorderly transition to low-carbon economy on insurers portfolios of sovereign bonds is moderate in terms of its magnitude. However, it is non-negligible in several scenarios. Thus, it should be regularly monitored and assessed given the importance of sovereign bonds in insurers’ investment portfolios

The MESSAGEix-GLOBIOM model and scenarios for transition risk analysis

This report provides background information to the MESSAGEix-GLOBIOM scenarios that were selected to support transition risk analysis for the Task-Force for Climate Related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) Banking Pilot Phase II. The first part provides an overview of the MESSAGEix-GLOBIOM integrated assessment model, its core methodology, main components and definitions. The second part discusses the selected scenarios and motivation for this selection. The selected scenario cover a range of emission reductions that vary in stringency and pace of emission reduction. We selected the following types of scenarios: Current policy scenarios that limit climate policy to currently implemented or announced policies (NPi: National implemented policies and NDC: Nationally Determined Contributions for 2030) and scenarios with immediate global climate action based on a carbon budget (Immediate2C and Immediate1p5C). Finally, scenarios with delayed global climate action scenarios based on carbon budgets (Delayed2C) and immediate global climate action based on a peak-temperature goal (LowCDR2C and LowCDR1p5C) represent cases with steep emission reductions either immediately or after 2030

Interactie tussen boven- en ondergrondse organismen

Herstel van biodiversiteit is een moeilijk proces aangezien lang niet alle onderliggende mechanismen bekend zijn. Zo is niet bekend hoe boven- en ondergronds levende organismen elkaar beïnvloeden in hun interacties met planten en wat het effect daarvan is op de plantendiversiteit. Met behulp van een 'realistische' proefopstelling hebben we daar meer zicht op gekrege

Mechanical properties of the mandibular condyle and consequences for habitual loading and deformation

Everts, V. [Promotor]Koolstra, J.H. [Copromotor

Improving poverty and inequality modelling in climate research

As climate change progresses, the risk of adverse impacts on vulnerable populations is growing. As governments seek increased and drastic action, policymakers are likely to seek quantification of climate-change impacts and the consequences of mitigation policies on these populations. Current models used in climate research have a limited ability to represent the poor and vulnerable, or the different dimensions along which they face these risks. Best practices need to be adopted more widely, and new model features that incorporate social heterogeneity and different policy mechanisms need to be developed. Increased collaboration between modellers, economists, and other social scientists could aid these developments. We review the history and state of the art of models used in climate research, including integrated assessment models (IAMs) and national studies, and those that model mitigation and climate-change impacts. We assess how and to what extent they represent distributional impacts within countries. We argue that there is much scope to improve the representation of income distribution and poverty. Given the diversity of models, this endeavour presents fundamental challenges for some models, but possibly requires only incremental changes in others

Redirect and unleash clean energy investment to achieve Paris climate targets

Investment in low-carbon energy is making a difference. IIASA research now provides decision makers with valuable data on the capital required to ramp up renewables, boost energy efficiency, redirect energy portfolios, and fill investment gaps

Global residential scenarios towards low energy and material demands

Transition to low energy and material demand (LEMD) for buildings is key to reach climate change mitigation and sustainability targets but will require unprecedent technological and social transformations. Scenarios addressing LEMD transformations for the global building sector are still largely unexplored. In this study, we assess global residential energy and material demands until 2050 for three alternative sustainable development pathways (SDPs): Economy-driven innovation (EI), driven by technology and energy efficiency; Resilient communities (RC), a post-growth scenario centred around local communities and behavioural change; and Managing the global commons (MC), with strong global institutions and high electrification. We use the bottom-up framework MESSAGEix-Buildings, soft-linked to the integrated assessment model MESSAGEix-GLOBIOM, to model the three SDPs for the global residential sector. We show that the RC scenario entails the highest potential towards reducing energy and material demand driven by behavioural change. The EI and MC scenarios are characterized by relatively higher energy and material demand levels and might require additional efforts on the supply-side to reduce total building-related operational and construction greenhouse gases emissions. This study can support decision making on strategies towards sustainability and zero-energy and emission targets in the buildings sector