REMIND - REgional Model of INvestments and Development
REMIND is a global multi-regional model incorporating the economy, the climate system and a detailed representation of the energy sector. It solves for an intertemporal Pareto optimum in economic and energy investments in the model regions, fully accounting for interregional trade in goods, energy carriers and emissions allowances. REMIND enables analyses of technology options and policy proposals for climate change mitigation.
The macro-economic core of REMIND is a Ramsey-type optimal growth model in which intertemporal global welfare is optimized subject to equilibrium constraints (02_welfare). Intertemporal optimization (80_optimization) with perfect foresight is subject to market clearing. The model explicitly represents trade in final goods, primary energy carriers, and when certain climate policies are enabled, emissions allowances (24_trade). The macro-economic production factors are capital, labor, and final energy. A nested production function with constant elasticity of substitution determines the final energy demand (01_macro, 29_CES_parameters). REMIND uses economic output for investments in the macro-economic capital stock as well as for consumption, trade, and energy system expenditures.
The macro-economic core and the energy system part are hard-linked via the final energy demand and the costs incurred by the energy system. Economic activity results in demand for final energy in different sectors (transport (35_transport), industry (37_industry), buildings (36_buildings)…) and of different type (electric (32_power) and non-electric). The primary energy carriers in REMIND include both exhaustible and renewable resources. Exhaustible resources comprise uranium as well as three fossil resources (31_fossil), namely coal, oil, and gas. Renewable resources include hydro, wind, solar, geothermal, and biomass (30_biomass). More than 50 technologies are available for the conversion of primary energy into secondary energy carriers as well as for the distribution of secondary energy carriers into final energy.
The model accounts for the full range of anthropogenic greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, most of which are represented by source. REMIND simulates emissions from long-lived GHGs (CO2, CH4, N2O), short-lived GHGs (CO, NOx, VOC) and aerosols (SO2, BC, OC). It accounts for these emissions with different levels of detail depending on the types and sources of emissions. It calculates CO2 emissions from fuel combustion, CH4 emissions from fossil fuel extraction and residential energy use, and N2O emissions from energy supply based on sources.
The code is structured in a modular way, with code belonging either to the model’s core, or to one of the modules. The folder structure is as follows: at the top level are the folders config, core, modules and scripts. The config folder contains the REMIND settings and configuration information. The core folder contains all the files that are part of the core. The modules folder holds all the files that belong to the modules, with numbered sub-folders for every module. The scripts folder contains helpful scripts for starting a model run and analysing results.
REMIND is run by executing the main.gms file, which loads the configuration information and builds the model, by concatenating all necessary files from the core and modules folders into a single file called full.gms. The concatenation process starts with files from the core and continues with files from activated modules, in increasing order of module-number. It observes the following structure:
The GAMS code follows a naming etiquette based on the following prefixes:
- “q_” to designate equations,
- “v_” to designate variables,
- “s_” to designate scalars,
- “f_” to designate file parameters (parameters that contain unaltered data read in from input files),
- “o_” to designate output parameters (parameters that do not affect the optimization, but are affected by it),
- “c_” to designate switches (parameters that enable different configuration choices),
- “s_FIRSTUNIT_2_SECONDUNIT” to designate a scalar used to convert from the FIRSTUNIT to the SECONDUNIT through multiplication, e.g. s_GWh_2_EJ.
These prefixes are extended in some cases by a second letter:
- “?m_” to designate objects used in the core and in at least one module.
- “?00_” to designate objects used in a single module, exclusively, with the 2-digit number corresponding to the module number.
Sets are treated differently: instead of a prefix, sets exclusively used within a module get that module’s number added as a suffix. If the set is used in more than one module no suffix is given.
The units (e.g., TWa, EJ, GtC, GtCO2, …) of variables and parameters are documented in the declaration files.
Authors
Tino Aboumahboub, Cornelia Auer, Nico Bauer, Lavinia Baumstark, Christoph Bertram, Stephen Bi, Jan Dietrich, Alois Dirnaichner, Anastasis Giannousakis, Markus Haller, Jerome Hilaire, David Klein, Johannes Koch, Alexander Körner, Elmar Kriegler, Marian Leimbach, Antoine Levesque, Alexander Lorenz, Gunnar Luderer, Sylvie Ludig, Michael Lüken, Aman Malik, Susanne Manger, Leon Merfort, Ioanna Mouratiadou, Michaja Pehl, Robert Pietzker, Franziska Piontek, Laura Popin, Sebastian Rauner, Renato Rodrigues, Niklas Roming, Marianna Rottoli, Eva Schmidt, Felix Schreyer, Anselm Schultes, Björn Sörgel, Jessica Strefler, Falko Ueckerdt
How to cite
Aboumahboub T, Auer C, Bauer N, Baumstark L, Bertram C, Bi S, Dietrich J, Dirnaichner A, Giannousakis A, Haller M, Hilaire J, Klein D, Koch J, Körner A, Kriegler E, Leimbach M, Levesque A, Lorenz A, Luderer G, Ludig S, Lüken M, Malik A, Manger S, Merfort L, Mouratiadou I, Pehl M, Pietzker R, Piontek F, Popin L, Rauner S, Rodrigues R, Roming N, Rottoli M, Schmidt E, Schreyer F, Schultes A, Sörgel B, Strefler J, Ueckerdt F (2020). “REMIND - REgional Model of INvestments and Development - Version 2.1.0.” <URL: https://www.pik-potsdam.de/research/transformation-pathways/models/remind>.
Bibtex format
@Misc{,
title = {REMIND - REgional Model of INvestments and Development - Version 2.1.0},
author = {Tino Aboumahboub and Cornelia Auer and Nico Bauer and Lavinia Baumstark and Christoph Bertram and Stephen Bi and Jan Dietrich and Alois Dirnaichner and Anastasis Giannousakis and Markus Haller and Jerome Hilaire and David Klein and Johannes Koch and Alexander Körner and Elmar Kriegler and Marian Leimbach and Antoine Levesque and Alexander Lorenz and Gunnar Luderer and Sylvie Ludig and Michael Lüken and Aman Malik and Susanne Manger and Leon Merfort and Ioanna Mouratiadou and Michaja Pehl and Robert Pietzker and Franziska Piontek and Laura Popin and Sebastian Rauner and Renato Rodrigues and Niklas Roming and Marianna Rottoli and Eva Schmidt and Felix Schreyer and Anselm Schultes and Björn Sörgel and Jessica Strefler and Falko Ueckerdt},
date = {2020-03-27},
year = {2020},
url = {https://www.pik-potsdam.de/research/transformation-pathways/models/remind},
}Citation File Format
cff-version: 1.0.3
message: If you use this model, please cite it as below.
authors:
- family-names: Aboumahboub
given-names: Tino
- family-names: Auer
given-names: Cornelia
affiliation: Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research
- family-names: Bauer
given-names: Nico
affiliation: Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research
- family-names: Baumstark
given-names: Lavinia
affiliation: Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research
- family-names: Bertram
given-names: Christoph
affiliation: Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research
- family-names: Bi
given-names: Stephen
affiliation: Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research
- family-names: Dietrich
given-names: Jan
affiliation: Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research
- family-names: Dirnaichner
given-names: Alois
orcid: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3240-2608
affiliation: Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research
- family-names: Giannousakis
given-names: Anastasis
affiliation: Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research
- family-names: Haller
given-names: Markus
- family-names: Hilaire
given-names: Jerome
affiliation: Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research
- family-names: Klein
given-names: David
affiliation: Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research
- family-names: Koch
given-names: Johannes
affiliation: Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research
- family-names: Körner
given-names: Alexander
- family-names: Kriegler
given-names: Elmar
affiliation: Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research
- family-names: Leimbach
given-names: Marian
affiliation: Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research
- family-names: Levesque
given-names: Antoine
affiliation: Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research
- family-names: Lorenz
given-names: Alexander
- family-names: Luderer
given-names: Gunnar
affiliation: Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research
- family-names: Ludig
given-names: Sylvie
- family-names: Lüken
given-names: Michael
- family-names: Malik
given-names: Aman
affiliation: Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research
- family-names: Manger
given-names: Susanne
- family-names: Merfort
given-names: Leon
affiliation: Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research
- family-names: Mouratiadou
given-names: Ioanna
- family-names: Pehl
given-names: Michaja
affiliation: Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research
- family-names: Pietzker
given-names: Robert
affiliation: Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research
- family-names: Piontek
given-names: Franziska
affiliation: Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research
- family-names: Popin
given-names: Laura
- family-names: Rauner
given-names: Sebastian
affiliation: Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research
- family-names: Rodrigues
given-names: Renato
affiliation: Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research
- family-names: Roming
given-names: Niklas
- family-names: Rottoli
given-names: Marianna
affiliation: Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research
- family-names: Schmidt
given-names: Eva
- family-names: Schreyer
given-names: Felix
affiliation: Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research
- family-names: Schultes
given-names: Anselm
affiliation: Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research
- family-names: Sörgel
given-names: Björn
affiliation: Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research
- family-names: Strefler
given-names: Jessica
affiliation: Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research
- family-names: Ueckerdt
given-names: Falko
affiliation: Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research
title: REMIND - REgional Model of INvestments and Development
version: 2.1.0
date-released: '2020-03-27'
repository-code: https://github.com/remindmodel/remind
keywords:
- energy
- economy
- modeling
license: AGPL-3.0-or-later
url: https://www.pik-potsdam.de/research/transformation-pathways/models/remind