Periodic Reporting for period 1 - PANTHEON (Pathways to(wards) carbon neutrality for climate, environment, health and socio-economic co-benefits (PANTHEON))
Période du rapport: 2024-03-01 au 2025-08-31
Climate change mitigation requires integrated strategies that jointly address environmental, health, and socio-economic dimensions of the transition to carbon neutrality. The European Union and China, together responsible for almost half of global greenhouse gas emissions, share the challenge of aligning decarbonization with sustainable growth, health protection, and social justice.
PANTHEON is a four-year project (2024–2028) that develops next-generation scientific tools to explore these interactions and provide actionable evidence for policymakers.
The project’s overall objective is to build a new Integrated Assessment Modelling (IAM) framework that combines high-resolution emission inventories, techno-economic data on net-zero technologies, land-use and biodiversity impact modules, health-impact and air-pollution models, and socio-economic feedback within a participatory process involving scientists, policy makers, industry representatives, and civil-society actors from the EU and China.
This comprehensive framework creates an integrated space where technical feasibility, environmental protection, and social fairness can be assessed together, producing three interlinked strands of impact:
- Scientific: a co-developed and transparent integrated modelling framework that unites multiple models and high-resolution datasets across space, time, and sectors, providing the scientific community with new open access tools, data, and scenarios to analyze the co-benefits and trade-offs of net-zero transitions.
- Societal: enhanced mutual learning and stakeholder co-creation foster reflexive, inclusive approaches to sustainability transitions, integrating diverse perspectives and ensuring that scientific outcomes remain connected to real-world needs.
- Policy: high-resolution roadmaps and socio-economic–environmental impact analyses inform evidence-based decarbonization policy recommendations.
PANTHEON is a four-year project (2024–2028) that develops next-generation scientific tools to explore these interactions and provide actionable evidence for policymakers.
The project’s overall objective is to build a new Integrated Assessment Modelling (IAM) framework that combines high-resolution emission inventories, techno-economic data on net-zero technologies, land-use and biodiversity impact modules, health-impact and air-pollution models, and socio-economic feedback within a participatory process involving scientists, policy makers, industry representatives, and civil-society actors from the EU and China.
This comprehensive framework creates an integrated space where technical feasibility, environmental protection, and social fairness can be assessed together, producing three interlinked strands of impact:
- Scientific: a co-developed and transparent integrated modelling framework that unites multiple models and high-resolution datasets across space, time, and sectors, providing the scientific community with new open access tools, data, and scenarios to analyze the co-benefits and trade-offs of net-zero transitions.
- Societal: enhanced mutual learning and stakeholder co-creation foster reflexive, inclusive approaches to sustainability transitions, integrating diverse perspectives and ensuring that scientific outcomes remain connected to real-world needs.
- Policy: high-resolution roadmaps and socio-economic–environmental impact analyses inform evidence-based decarbonization policy recommendations.
During the first 18 months of work, PANTHEON built the scientific and participatory foundations needed to explore fair and effective decarbonization pathways up to 2060.
Key results during this period include:
- Global emission inventory: researchers created the first consistent, high-resolution (approx. 10x10 kilometers) map of greenhouse gas and air-pollutant emissions worldwide, combining industrial data, ground measurements, and satellite data. This dataset forms the base for a new platform able to simulate how cleaner technologies and policy choices can reduce emissions and improve health.
- Comprehensive net-zero technology database: the team compiled data on the performance and costs of more than one hundred low- and zero-carbon technologies, and linked these data with advanced economic and environmental models to understand the combined effects of different transition options on the economy, the environment, and people’s well-being.
- Health, land use, and biodiversity: first assessments show how reducing pollution improves public health, while new model components are being developed to study how climate policies affect land use and ecosystems.
- Stakeholder engagement and reflexivity: PANTHEON defined its participatory approach to connect disciplines and regions and to co-create scientific results. European and Chinese experts exchanged perspectives through dedicated meetings, while reflexive tools were introduced to encourage mutual learning within the project team. Inclusive workshops, bringing together researchers, policy makers, and civil-society actors from both regions, are being prepared to guide joint scenario design and policy dialogue.
Key results during this period include:
- Global emission inventory: researchers created the first consistent, high-resolution (approx. 10x10 kilometers) map of greenhouse gas and air-pollutant emissions worldwide, combining industrial data, ground measurements, and satellite data. This dataset forms the base for a new platform able to simulate how cleaner technologies and policy choices can reduce emissions and improve health.
- Comprehensive net-zero technology database: the team compiled data on the performance and costs of more than one hundred low- and zero-carbon technologies, and linked these data with advanced economic and environmental models to understand the combined effects of different transition options on the economy, the environment, and people’s well-being.
- Health, land use, and biodiversity: first assessments show how reducing pollution improves public health, while new model components are being developed to study how climate policies affect land use and ecosystems.
- Stakeholder engagement and reflexivity: PANTHEON defined its participatory approach to connect disciplines and regions and to co-create scientific results. European and Chinese experts exchanged perspectives through dedicated meetings, while reflexive tools were introduced to encourage mutual learning within the project team. Inclusive workshops, bringing together researchers, policy makers, and civil-society actors from both regions, are being prepared to guide joint scenario design and policy dialogue.
PANTHEON advances current scientific practice by creating an integrated, open, and participatory framework that connects disciplines, scales, and regions in ways not previously attempted in climate research.
Wide integration
The project unites high-resolution emission inventories, energy-economic models, health and environmental impact assessments, and social data within a single coherent system. This structure allows the combined analysis of climate, air quality, health, and socio-economic effects of decarbonization strategies, bridging previously disconnected research domains.
Unprecedented resolution
PANTHEON delivers the first emission database covering both greenhouse gases and air pollutants at 10 × 10 km spatial resolution, integrating ground statistics, industrial point sources, and satellite observations. It also introduces a dynamic emission-factor system that captures regional and temporal variations across more than 200 sectors. These advances enable highly detailed simulations of how technologies and policies shape emissions, health, and environmental outcomes over time.
True interdisciplinarity
Going beyond conventional modeling, PANTHEON embeds reflexivity and social learning into its scientific design. The project integrates insights from the social sciences and humanities, turning qualitative perspectives into measurable elements for scenario design and policy evaluation.
Reproducibility and openness
All public datasets and models developed under PANTHEON comply with FAIR and open-science principles and are released through the project website and Zenodo with persistent DOIs. The project’s methods are fully documented to ensure that its tools can be reused and expanded by future EU and global research initiatives.
Pathways for uptake and future success
To ensure long-term impact, PANTHEON’s framework will be further adopted in research and international cooperation, presented in major scientific and policy fora, and transferred to national and regional authorities through open access and transparent documentation. Collaboration with other projects under the EU–China Flagship will foster further internationalization. These actions will ensure that the project’s innovations continue to inform policy design, industrial strategies, and societal awareness well beyond its lifetime.
Wide integration
The project unites high-resolution emission inventories, energy-economic models, health and environmental impact assessments, and social data within a single coherent system. This structure allows the combined analysis of climate, air quality, health, and socio-economic effects of decarbonization strategies, bridging previously disconnected research domains.
Unprecedented resolution
PANTHEON delivers the first emission database covering both greenhouse gases and air pollutants at 10 × 10 km spatial resolution, integrating ground statistics, industrial point sources, and satellite observations. It also introduces a dynamic emission-factor system that captures regional and temporal variations across more than 200 sectors. These advances enable highly detailed simulations of how technologies and policies shape emissions, health, and environmental outcomes over time.
True interdisciplinarity
Going beyond conventional modeling, PANTHEON embeds reflexivity and social learning into its scientific design. The project integrates insights from the social sciences and humanities, turning qualitative perspectives into measurable elements for scenario design and policy evaluation.
Reproducibility and openness
All public datasets and models developed under PANTHEON comply with FAIR and open-science principles and are released through the project website and Zenodo with persistent DOIs. The project’s methods are fully documented to ensure that its tools can be reused and expanded by future EU and global research initiatives.
Pathways for uptake and future success
To ensure long-term impact, PANTHEON’s framework will be further adopted in research and international cooperation, presented in major scientific and policy fora, and transferred to national and regional authorities through open access and transparent documentation. Collaboration with other projects under the EU–China Flagship will foster further internationalization. These actions will ensure that the project’s innovations continue to inform policy design, industrial strategies, and societal awareness well beyond its lifetime.