Project description
Rethinking energy planning in an uncertain world
Geopolitical and socio-economic uncertainties can have a profound impact on energy and climate policies. These deep uncertainties challenge the analytical assessments that inform policymaking, increasing the risk of missing climate targets. The ERC-funded UNITES project addresses this issue by developing a new paradigm for long-term energy planning (one that systematically incorporates uncertainty into energy-climate models). The project will deliver three key contributions: theoretical advances to capture different types of uncertainty in energy planning; data to quantify and characterise input uncertainties; and AI methods to distil complex modelling outputs into clear, actionable policy insights. Through this approach, UNITES aims to help decision-makers develop robust and flexible strategies.
Objective
Geopolitical and socio-economic uncertainties are putting the European and Global energy transitions at stake. These deep uncertainties affect the analytical assessments underpinning energy and climate policies. For example, the models used to inform energy planning rely on uncertain forecasts and assumptions for future energy demands, macroeconomic indicators, social acceptance, fuel prices, technology costs, and climate scenarios. Due to fundamental methodological, computational, and data challenges, this uncertainty is at best rarely considered in energy planning, which increases the risk of failing to meet our urgent climate targets. This makes accounting for uncertainty one of the major unsolved problems in energy planning.
UNITES addresses these limitations to enable a new paradigm for long-term energy planning. In contrast to current approaches, which try to accurately predict the future, UNITES’ ambition is a systematic integration of uncertainty in energy-climate models. The project will result in three fundamental contributions: (i) theoretical developments to consider different types of uncertainty in energy planning models; (ii) data to quantify and characterize input uncertainties; (iii) AI methods to streamline the complex outputs of uncertainty studies into interpretable policy decisions.
The transferable and interdisciplinary developments across the data science, energy, and social sciences domains, unique to Europe and not available in concert elsewhere in the world, will bring about a breakthrough scientific contribution by overcoming important barriers for uncertainty analyses in a wide array of disciplines. The project will also be highly impactful on society, bringing together for the first time quantitative and qualitative dimensions to provide decision-makers with actionable policies to steer the energy transition, which will be central to ensuring that we can meet our climate neutrality targets in the face of a highly unpredictable future.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
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Keywords
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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HORIZON.1.1 - European Research Council (ERC)
MAIN PROGRAMME
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Topic(s)
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Funding Scheme
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
HORIZON-ERC - HORIZON ERC Grants
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Call for proposal
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) ERC-2024-STG
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Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.
20133 Milano
Italy
The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.