Ricardo provides insight for flagship UN Environmental Programme report
Ricardo has contributed to the latest United Nations Environmental Programme’s (UNEP)’s Global Environment Outlook 7 (GEO 7).
A flagship environmental report, GEO 7 is considered the “most comprehensive scientific assessment of the global environment to this day”, bringing together the voices of 287 experts from 82 countries, with contributions from over 800 reviewers worldwide.
A solution-oriented assessment, GEO-7 synthesises the latest evidence on the “triple planetary crisis” - climate change, biodiversity loss (and land degradation), and pollution & waste - while assessing how current policies are performing, and where transformation is urgently needed. It provides clear, actionable “solution pathways” for policymakers, offering guidance on how to steer energy, food, waste, and economic systems toward sustainability, including trade-offs, synergies, timing and socio-economic benefits.
Ricardo’s E3M modelling experts, Leonidas Paroussos and Panagiotis Fragkos, were lead authors to chapter 10 and 11, with Dimitris Fragkiadakis contributing to chapter 11. Using Ricardo’s state-of-the-art macroeconomic modelling tool, GEM-E3, the chapters analyse the economic impacts of the continuation of current global trends and assess alternative transformation pathways towards achieving global environmental and societal goals.
The GEM-3 Model is an internationally recognised model that simulates the interaction between economic, energy and environmental systems. It enables consistent comparative analysis of policy scenarios, modelling the full system and reporting on 100s of variables including GDP (and components), employment, energy use, greenhouse gas emissions, public finances and trade, allowing stakeholders to assess the economic and environmental impacts of alternative policy pathways.
Ricardo’s Director of Energy and Economic Modelling, Leonidas Paroussos said, “We’re incredibly proud to have contributed to the latest UNEP, Global Environmental Outlook 7, contributing to the understanding of where we are today concerning the climate crisis and where we need to go. Through robust modelling and in depth scenario analysis, this work can support stakeholders in understanding the practical and credible pathways available to deliver meaningful environmental and socio-economic outcomes.”
