Climate Policy in Light of Climate Science: the Iclips Project

The paper introduces the Tolerable Windows Approach (TWA) as a decision analytical framework for addressing global climate change. It is implemented as an integrated assessment model (IAM) developed in the project on Integrated Assessment of Climate Protection Strategies (ICLIPS). The background and the main objectives of the project are described and its relationships to other current integrated assessment efforts are elucidated. Key features of the TWA are compared with those of cost-benefit and cost-effectiveness frameworks. An overview of the ICLIPS IAM framework is provided together with its methodological foundations. Main features of the individual models are presented, covering the climate, the aggregated economic, and the impact models. Additional components of the framework include dynamic mitigation cost functions and an agriculture/landuse model (both incorporated into the fully integrated ICLIPS climate-economy model) as well as a global multi-region, multi-sector, dynamic general equilibrium model.