Coordination and Assessment of Research and Innovation in Support of climate Mitigation Actions (CARISMA)

While decision-makers, both in the private and public sector, often have a good understanding of costs and potentials of options for climate change mitigation, especially when implemented as a stand-alone project or small-scale programme, the consequences of large-scale implementation of options, in longer time frames, in different social contexts, are often less clear.

For example, costs of a technology when implemented as a technology project may be mainly related to investment and operational costs. When scaling up the technology application within the sector or country, additional costs become relevant such as those related to grid system modifications (system level costs) and economy-wide costs. Moreover, people may not mind a single wind turbine or solar photovoltaic project, but may resist large-scale implementation of these technologies. It is in these areas where implementation problems often arise, and it is important that early in the policy cycle, at the stages of agenda setting, policy formulation and adoption of a policy package, the potential impacts of scaling up mitigation options are clearly understood and addressed.

Within the project UNEP DTU made contributions to new research and analyses in terms of

i) understanding the positive or negative interactions between climate or environmental policies, as well as innovation policies, within and beyond the EU, at the country or firm level

ii) international cooperation in the field of technology and innovation, as well as on the ‘transfer’ of effective policies to other contexts.

The CARISMA project was funded by the EU’s Horizon 2020 Programme (2015-2018) involving 10 European organisations, led by Radboud University.