Pre-Conference Workshops

Workshop I Life cycle assessment – theory and practice:

Date: June 25, 2024. 10:00 - 15:00 (CEST) / 3:00pm - 8:00pm (EDT)

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Description: Welcome to an enlightening workshop centered around Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) methodologies and practical training with the CCaLC software. This workshop is designed by a collaborative team of experts dedicated to empowering participants with the skills and knowledge to conduct comprehensive environmental assessments across various sectors and regions. Leveraging the power of LCA and CCaLC, participants will gain insights into the environmental impacts of products, processes, and policies, enabling informed decision-making for sustainable development.

Agenda:

Introduction to Life Cycle Assessment (LCA)
- Overview of LCA principles and methodologies
- Significance of LCA in sustainability assessment
- Applications of LCA in industry, policy-making, and research
Key Concepts in Life Cycle Assessment
- Goal and scope definition
- Life cycle inventory (LCI) analysis
- Life cycle impact assessment (LCIA)
- Interpretation of LCA results
Hands-on Training with CCaLC Software
- Introduction to CCaLC software and its features
- Setting up an LCA project
- Data entry and inventory analysis
- Conducting impact assessment and result interpretation
Case Studies and Practical Exercises
- Real-world examples showcasing LCA applications
- Group exercises to analyze environmental impacts using CCaLC
- Discussion on challenges and best practices in LCA implementation
Q&A Session and Discussion
- Clarification of LCA concepts and software functionalities
- Exchange of ideas and experiences among participants
- Exploring future directions in LCA research and applications

Who Should Attend:

Professionals and researchers in environmental science, sustainability, and related fields
Industry practitioners interested in assessing and mitigating environmental impacts
Policy-makers and regulators involved in environmental management and climate change mitigation
Students and academics seeking to enhance their understanding of LCA methodologies and tools

Workshop organizer:

Dr. Fehmi Görkem Üçtuğ, born in 1982 in Ankara, is a prominent academic and environmental consultant renowned for his expertise in chemical engineering, sustainability, and energy systems. Graduating top of his class from METU's Department of Chemical Engineering in 2004, he completed his doctoral studies at the University of Manchester, England, at the age of 25, supported by the European Union Marie Curie Scholarship in 2008. Beginning his academic journey as a lecturer at Bahçeşehir University's Energy Systems Engineering Department in 2010, he delved into studies focusing on energy economy, sustainability, and life cycle assessment. Transitioning to Manchester University in 2016, he joined the "Sustainable Industrial Systems" research group, contributing to projects on life cycle assessment, including solar energy and biodiesel production. Since 2017, Dr. Üçtuğ has been a faculty member at Izmir University of Economics Engineering Faculty, where he also serves as Deputy Dean. His consultancy work has included carbon footprint and environmental sustainability projects for various companies, alongside leading numerous scientific studies and university-industry collaborations. In July 2018, he was granted the title of associate professor by the Interuniversity Board. Dr. Üçtuğ's dedication and expertise led him to establish CANSET Yazılım Environmental Energy Consulting Services, aiming to provide professional corporate services in the environmental sector, drawing upon years of experience and consultancy endeavors.

Schedule:

10.00 – 11.00	Principles of LCA
11.00 – 11.15	Tea & coffee break
11.15 – 12.30	Life Cycle Inventory Preparation & Life Cycle Impact Assessment
12.30 – 13.30	Lunch
13.30 – 15.00	Life Cycle Modelling using CCaLC Software (*)
15.00 – 15.15	Tea & coffee break
15.15 – 17.00	Case Study

(*) Participants are strongly recommended to bring a laptop with MS Windows installed in order to be able to use the software during the workshop.

Registration fees:

Registered conference participants: 100 Euros / person

TRAEE (EED) members and representatives of institutional TRAEE members: 150 Euros / person

Other participants: 250 Euros / person

Workshop II: Low-Carbon Structural Economic and Employment Transformations - the MINDSET model at the World Bank Interactive Deep Dive with Exercises

Date: June 25, 2024. 10:00 - 15:00 (CEST) / 3:00pm - 8:00pm (EDT)

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Description: A cross-unit team of researchers at the World Bank has put together a demand-driven global model to rapidly analyze short- and medium-term sectoral output, labor demand, and cross-border competitiveness effects of carbon fiscal reforms and other climate-development policies within and across countries. It has a Multi-Regional Input-Output core, is written in Python, and based on the GLORIA MRIO Database (Lenzen et al., 2021). MINDSET is used to analyze a wide set of climate and development policies, for instance:

a) Carbon prices: fossil fuel subsidy, energy, and agricultural tax reforms, differentiated by commodities, sectors and countries[1]

b) Carbon Border Adjustments Mechanism (CBAM): domestic carbon prices can be accompanied by border adjustments for user-defined energy-intensive trade-exposed sector, differentiated by sectors and countries for various global collaboration scenarios

c) Labor tax reductions: tax revenues can be used for labor tax cuts, differentiated by skill-level

d) Sectoral public spending policies

e) Sectoral public investment, including green investments

Examples of model result and indicators are:

· Sectoral output multipliers of tax and spending policies,

· Sectoral labor demand changes, or employment multipliers of tax and spending policies

· Distributional effects, differentiated by income, skill levels, occupation types and spatially, subnational provinces

· Sectoral tax revenue collection

· Competitiveness effects & changes in sectoral imports & exports volumes

Speakers and presenters.

Ira Irina Dorband is an Economist working at the World Bank. Her research examines how climate and development policies interact, focusing on equity and political economy aspects. She is developing new global models and applied tools to guide low-carbon development which benefits industries, workers, and consumers. Ira worked in climate policy research and consulting in Europe, Asia, and Africa before joining the World Bank in 2020. Her PhD is with the Mercator Research Institute of Global Commons (MCC Berlin) and the Technical University of Berlin, she completed her Master's degree with Duke University and the Free University of Berlin.

Hector Pollitt is a Senior Economist at the World Bank, focusing on climate change in the East Asia Pacific region. He has extensive expertise in macroeconomic modelling, including comparison of different modelling approaches. His current research focuses on the complex linkages between the economy and the consumption of natural resources, and policy interventions to promote sustainable development. Before working for the World Bank, Hector was a Director and Head of Modelling at Cambridge Econometrics. At the European level, Hector has contributed macroeconomic analysis to the official Impact Assessments of the EU’s long-term climate strategy and prior to that for the 2030 climate and energy targets.

Bence Kiss-Dobronyi works as a consultant for the World Bank. Prior to joining the World Bank Bence has gained over 5 years' experience in climate- and environmental policy and macroeconomic and integrated modelling of such issues, working for Cambridge Econometrics as a Managing Economist in Budapest and Brussels. He has worked with policy makers in the EU, Africa and Asia, leading modelling projects and engaging with stakeholders. He is currently working towards a PhD at the Corvinus University of Budapest.

Ulrike Lehr is a Senior Economist at the World Bank. She works for the Jobs Group on measurement and definition of Green Jobs on a country and global scale. Before joining the Bank, she headed the Socio-economic Unit at IRENA. She is currently on leave from the German Institute of Economic Structures Research (GWS) where she headed the Climate and Energy Unit. Her research focuses on employment macroeconometric modeling of employment impacts of climate policies and green transitions. Ulrike received a MSc in physics from UGH-Essen, Germany, and in economics from Virginia Tech, as well as a PhD in Economics, from Hohenheim, Germany.

Learning Outcomes: Participants will understand the modeling philosophy behind MINDSET and get deep dives into the modeling framework.

Typical applications will be shared which will be aligned with participants’ questions.

Potential questions are:

What are economic effects of a clean energy scenario in Pakistan?
How can the Philippines transition to net zero and what will happen to jobs?
What are the effects on the western Balkans, once the CBAM from the EU is in full force?
How can shifting away from coal-based power and heat generation could affect the Mongolian economy?

Participants will also have the chance to propose and discuss other critical ideas.

Target Audience: The workshop should be of interest to young energy professionals, and anyone who has a keen interest in modeling socio-economic outcomes in a non-neoclassical, non-equilibrium way.

Tentative schedule

10.00-10.30	Welcome and Introduction	Ulrike Lehr
10.30-11.30	Model Philosophy – what’s different in MINDSET	Hector Pollitt
11:30-11:45	Break
11:45-12:45	How is MINDSET applied in World Bank work? Case studies	Ira Dorband
12:45 – 2:00 pm	LUNCH
2:00 pm – 3:00 pm	Setting-up and running a scenario with MINDSET #1	Bence Kiss-Dobronyi
3:00 pm- 4:pm	Setting-up and running a scenario with MINDSET #2 and Q&A	All