Previous En-ROADS users:
If you had plans to use En-ROADS in a presentation or simulation game, please contact Yasmeen Zahar (yzahar@climateinteractive.org) for assistance.
Climate Solutions Simulator
En-ROADS is a fast, powerful climate simulation tool for understanding how we can achieve our climate goals through changes in energy, land use, consumption, agriculture, and other policies.
En-ROADS 2019 will be released later this year.
Whether you are a policy analyst, industry expert, elected official, educator, or engaged citizen, En-ROADS is accessible and easy to use. The simulator runs in less than a second and focuses on how changes in global GDP, energy efficiency, technological innovation, carbon price, and other factors change carbon emissions and global temperature.
It is designed to provide a synthesis of the best available science on climate solutions and put it at the fingertips of groups in policy workshops and role-playing games. These experiences enable people to explore the long-term climate impacts of global policy and investment decisions.
En-ROADS is being developed by Climate Interactive, Ventana Systems, Todd Fincannon, UML Climate Change Initiative, and John Sterman of MIT Sloan.
Features of En-ROADS 2019
- Control — The dialogue about climate action has shifted over the years, and En-ROADS 2019 will offer ways to explore a range of possible strategies for addressing climate change including: subsidizing renewable energy, new technology breakthroughs, taxing coal, vehicle electrification, implementing a carbon price, reducing deforestation, developing carbon removal technologies, and more.
- Accessibility — No longer do you need to read dozens of scientific articles to make sense of the strategies that make a difference on climate. En-ROADS provides a synthesis of studies and data that is easy to use no matter who you are.
- Rigor – En-ROADS is a scientifically-reviewed system dynamics model with over 32,000 equations developed by a team from Climate Interactive, MIT, and Ventana Systems.
- Transparency — With over 150 variables that can be adjusted and an extensive reference guide to the underlying equations, you can explore the underlying assumptions of any results.
En-ROADS Uses
En-ROADS is built to be displayed on a screen, discussed, and shared with others. Groups can engage with the simulator in policy workshops or group role-playing simulations. Alongside the release of the simulator will be a suite of materials to support you in facilitating these activities for groups.
Use En-ROADS to explore questions such as:
- Can cheap renewable energy alone limit warming to below 2°C?
- How much would a carbon price help?
- Can carbon sequestration allow us to continue on our current path of fossil fuel use?
- What will it take to limit warming to below 1.5°C?
- What would we have to assume about technology and the economy to scale climate solutions at the speed necessary to achieve our climate goals?
- What are the likely dynamics of the emergence of a new energy supply? How fast could it grow and displace high-carbon sources and, thus, reduce carbon emissions?
En-ROADS Background
En-ROADS is a system dynamics model with origins in the MIT PhD theses of Dr. John Sterman and Dr. Tom Fiddaman. Recent breakthroughs have enabled the model to be made user friendly and accessible to wide audiences. The modeling team at Climate Interactive, led by Dr. Lori Siegel and Andrew Jones have taken on the more recent model developments in continued collaboration with MIT’s John Sterman, Ventana System’s Tom Fiddaman, and many others.
En-ROADS is a global model that focuses on how changes in the energy, economic, and public policy systems could affect greenhouse gas emissions and climate outcomes. Behind the simulator is an extensive study of the literature of important factors such as delay times, progress ratios, price sensitivities, historic growth of energy sources, and energy efficiency potential.
