Despite the wide recognition of the complex interactions between trade (policy) and climate (policy), the state-of-the-art capabilities in macroeconomic models face substantial limitations, such as lack of granular data, dependence on conventional trade theories, limited empirical evidence on trade-climate interactions, limited representation of the value and material chain in key (existing and emerging) sectors, heavy reliance on frameworks not accounting for endogenous technical change, limited understanding of the role of developing countries in trade, etc. ENTICE aims to develop novel data and modelling capacity to enhance our knowledge and inform policymakers on the positive and negative impacts of trade and trade policy on climate and the environment, by combining well-established macroeconomic modelling with new trade theories, empirical analysis, and enhanced data granularity. The project will focus on emissions and climate change issues but also integrate the broader effects on the environment, biodiversity, pollution, and natural resources depletion. The ENTICE work programme includes a novel theoretical conceptualisation of trade, climate, environment, and industry interactions, significant improvements to sectoral detail and relevant granularity in the GTAP database, integrating the new data into and enhancing a toolbox of well-renowned CGE, macroeconometric, integrated assessment, and sectoral models and other methodologies, and analysis of the interactions between trade (policy), climate (policy), the environment, and broader economic and sustainability objectives in the EU and beyond. Finally, ENTICE places considerable emphasis on transparency, legitimacy, and open science and data, as well as on development and research that directly respond to stakeholder needs and trade and climate policy discourse.

Experimental research on solar radiation modification (SRM) is controversial and feared to distract from climate change mitigation or leading to dangerous SRM use. It is not clear whether and under which conditions and governance arrangements experimental SRM research may be desirable for reducing uncertainties and lowering the probability of problematic outcomes including unilateral deployment elsewhere. Co-CREATE seeks to help structure this decision problem through co-creative scoping, analysis, and engagement for the development of principles and guidelines. The project starts with a series of scoping notes that outline key dimensions of experimental SRM research including possible cases and their geographical, stake- and rightsholder, and regulatory implications, which ground the conceptual work. Co-CREATE then analyses and develops decision-support tools by asking what we can learn from governance analogues, and how various (risk) evaluation frameworks may help identify key characteristics of research proposals. Co-CREATE furthermore analyses possible legal and procedural conditions including appropriate participation. Co-CREATE itself will for the development of these governance elements enter an extensive stakeholder and rightsholder dialogue that validates preliminary analytical work, ensures stakeholders’ diverse dimensions of concern are included, and strengthens deliberative capacity. Co-CREATE proposes guidelines and principles to facilitate decision-making by the relevant authorities on broader categories of experimental research of SRM as well as case-by-case decisions. A draft will be discussed at a Co-CREATE hosted conference and later refined based on feedback received. Proposed principles and guidelines will be grounded in a understanding of scientific merit, physical and political dimensions of risk and risk-attenuation benefit, and consideration of broader sets of values and concerns – co-creatively identified during the project.

UPTAKE aims to facilitate the sustainable upscaling of carbon dioxide removal (CDR) methods by developing a set of robust strategies through technical, theoretical, and practical analysis accompanied by interactive dialogue within a CDR stakeholder forum. As a result, UPTAKE will develop a harmonised, comprehensive, inclusive, integrated, and transparent CDR knowledge inventory to evaluate a wide range of CDR technologies and methods, quantifying their national, European, and global costs, effectiveness, and removal potential as well as risks, constraints, and side-effects at different scales, and their prospects of technological progress. The UPTAKE approach will allow the assessment of geographical, sectoral, socioeconomic, demographic, and temporal trade-offs, co-benefits, and opportunities emerging from portfolios of different CDR methods. The enhanced socio-technical understanding of CDR methods will feed into an ensemble of state-of-the-art integrated assessment models (IAMs), which will help improve the integration of CDR methods given the EU policy objectives set for 2030, 2050, and beyond climate neutrality. UPTAKE will assess CDR governance and policy frameworks considering social acceptance, accountability, monitoring, and regulations for sustainable CDR rollout at scale. As a result, UPTAKE will generate an open and interactive CDR roadmap explorer to investigate strategies that are resilient to risks of failure and disruption, and minimise adverse impacts on society, economy, and the environment, aiming for a just, inclusive, and sustainable transition.