The UN Climate Change Secretariat has announced the launch of a new digital modelling interface to enable governments – particularly those in developing countries – to develop more evidence-based, inclusive climate policies.
The tool, the Climate Policy Impact Assessment General Equilibrium Model (CPIA-GEM), was unveiled during the UNFCCC’s June Climate Meetings (SB62) in Bonn last week.
“This interface has been designed to help make sophisticated modelling tools accessible to more stakeholders by simplifying how users interact with complex economic models,” commented Angélica Romero, a member of the Katowice Committee of Experts on the Impacts of the Implementation of Response Measures (KCI), who oversaw the launch.
The KCI was also involved in the development of the interface.
It enables stakeholders to define custom policy scenarios, input country-specific data, and visualise results using intuitive graphs and charts. It supports scenario comparisons and delivers insights into emissions, GDP, and trade outcomes at both global and national levels.
‘A critical gap’
According to UN Climate Change, it ‘addresses a critical gap’ in climate policy planning, with many countries continuing to face challenges when it comes to conducting policy impact assessments, interpreting findings, and integrating them into policy decisions.
”I see the wealth of tools that are available for impact assessment, but these tools are often inaccessible, and that’s why the work of the KCI and the UNFCCC to bring this tool into play is just so important,” added Lindsay Shutes, consultant economist at Elevate Economics, who was also involved in developing the interface.
Policy scenarios
The effectiveness of the new interface was demonstrated during a training session that took place in the Maldives, where 19 participants (with limited technical backgrounds) were able to design policy scenarios, identify contradictory energy subsidies, and consider alternative policy approaches – highlighting the tool’s potential to guide more coherent policymaking.
‘The CPIA-GEM interface aims to bridge capacity gaps and empower governments, analysts, and communities to co-create better informed, more equitable policy decisions,’ UN Climate Change added. ‘This launch represents part of KCI‘s broader effort to build capacity and make impact assessments and economic modelling more accessible to policymakers and stakeholders, aligning with principles of just transition and inclusive climate action.’ Read more here.
