Climate Change Solutions Simulator
En-ROADS is a transparent, freely-available policy simulation model that provides policymakers, educators, businesses, the media, and the public with the ability to explore, for themselves, the likely consequences of energy, economic growth, land use, and other policies and uncertainties, with the goal of improving their understanding. The simulation, developed by Climate Interactive, Ventana Systems, and MIT Sloan, runs on an ordinary laptop in a fraction of a second, is available online, offers an intuitive interface, has been carefully grounded in the best available science, and has been calibrated against a wide range of existing integrated assessment, climate and energy models.
A wide range of people have used En-ROADS, including members of the U.S. Congress, HSBC bank, the Hewlett Foundation, local community groups, the UN Secretary-General’s Office, university professors around the world, leading science educator Bill Nye, and many others.
En-ROADS is best used as part of one of our two facilitated group learning experiences: the En-ROADS Climate Workshop and the Climate Action Simulation. Both experiences can be offered either in-person or via online platforms. Be sure to explore our online resources for engaging people around climate using the En-ROADS simulator.
All are welcome and encouraged to join our free online trainings to learn more about the science behind the simulator and event facilitation.
Watch a three minute demonstration of its operation and features below.
Ways to Use En-ROADS
By yourself
Create a scenario and share it
Experiment with the simulator and create your climate vision in En-ROADS.
In a workshop
The En-ROADS Climate Workshop
A non-role-playing workshop experience for groups to learn about climate solutions – which can be run in-person or online.
In a game
Climate Action Simulation
A highly interactive, role-playing game using En-ROADS in a model-UN-like summit – which can be run in-person or online.
The En-ROADS Ambassador Program
The En-ROADS Climate Ambassador Program is a unique leadership opportunity intended for highly-motivated facilitators of the En-ROADS Climate Workshop and Climate Action Simulation game. Our team works closely with our Ambassadors to grow our network, run international events, and deliver crucial insights to decision-makers using the En-ROADS Climate Solutions Simulator. Together, we hope to inspire meaningful climate action in legislative halls, board rooms, communities, classrooms, and beyond. Although anyone is welcome to run these events, our Ambassadors belong to a distinct cohort of volunteers who are committed to mastering our tools and spreading data-driven climate insights across the globe.
Learn more about the Ambassador Program
Our facilitators and En-ROADS Climate Ambassadors are already beginning to run events all around the world. If you’ve run an En-ROADS event, be sure to register it to ensure we can add it on the map!
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Each marker shows an En-ROADS workshop or game that has been held in that location. Zoom in on the map and click on markers to see more details about each unique event.
Register your event to add it to the Map
En-ROADS RESOURCES
- The En-ROADS Simulator
The simulator itself!
- Resources for Online Engagement
Explore our methods for online engagement with En-ROADS, the game, and the workshop.
- En-ROADS Webinars
Explore En-ROADS webinars on a variety of topics – including the Mastering En-ROADS training series.
- En-ROADS Student Assignment
Resources to help educators use En-ROADS successfully in their classroom.
- The En-ROADS Training Plan
Join our interactive training plan if you are interested in learning how to facilitate the workshop and/or game.
- One-page Guide to the Control Panel
A basic overview to the main sliders in En-ROADS.
- The En-ROADS Climate Workshop
With a group, use En-ROADS to explore the impacts of climate solutions in real-time.
- The En-ROADS Forum
Explore our online forum to connect with other facilitators, share facilitation advice, discuss model clarifications, and offer personal insights and experiences.
- The Climate Action Simulation
Lead an engaging role-playing game using En-ROADS where participants are oil executives, activists, heads of state, and others.
- The En-ROADS Reference Guide
Documentation of the model structure and assumptions behind En-ROADS.
Ways to Share En-ROADS
En-ROADS games and workshops have been delivered around the world. Here’s how you can get involved:
Simulator Science
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, have taken on the more recent model developments in continued collaboration with MIT Sloan’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. En-ROADS stands for Energy Rapid Overview and Decision-Support.
En-ROADS is a high-order, non-linear differential equation model built originally and contemporaneously in Vensim software. We then translated En-ROADS into WebAssembly via a tool we built with Todd Fincannon called SDEverywhere so that it can run in a web browser. When a user moves a slider, the En-ROADS application calculates the results from ~14,000 equations, with a time step of ~45 days, over 110 years from 1990 to 2100, in 60 milliseconds.
If you like En-ROADS, you may appreciate exploring the larger, more disaggregated models that our modeling team used to test and calibrate our simulator. One group of models is the Energy Modeling Forum out of Stanford University, which includes 18 energy-economy and integrated assessment models.
All assumptions, equations, and parameters are documented in the En-ROADS Reference Guide (380 pages).
A brief overview of the insights from academic literature supporting the need for En-ROADS is here.
Below, you can see the main En-ROADS interface.
En-ROADS in the Media
Quotes on En-ROADS
