Joint Research Project « Carbon-constrained scenarios »

Launched in 2004, this study explores how major industrial sectors will be impacted by a carbon constraint stabilizing atmospheric CO₂ concentration at 450 ppm.

This research project was born from a joint initiative of the association Entreprises pour l'Environnement (Epe) and IDDRI. It was funded by FONDDRI from 2004 to 2008, actively helped by several market stakeholders (energy, steel, cement, etc.), and involved three research teams (Cired, Lepii-EPE et Enerdata). This allowed to develop an hybrid and consistent modelling platform between the sectoral energy model POLES and the macroeconomic model IMACLIM-R, and to produce two main scenarios up to 2050:  a reference scenario (no genuine carbon constraint) and a so-called "Factor 4" scenario (highly carbon-constrained).

The results of the study are available for download in English under two forms:

• a summary report for industrial stakeholders: Scenarios for transition towards a low-carbon world in 2050: What's at stake for heavy industries?
• the full and final study report: Carbon-constrained scenarios