Variable overview

Drivers

Variable	Model driver group	Description	Is_used_in
Timber demand	Economic development	Demand for roundwood and pulpwood per region.	Forest management
Sector value added	Economic development	Value Added for economic sectors: Industry (IVA), Services (SVA) and Agriculture (AVA). These variables are used in IMAGE to indicate economic activity.	Energy supply and demand Energy demand
GDP per capita	Economic development	Gross Domestic Product per capita, measured as the market value of all goods and services produced in a region in a year, and is used in the IMAGE framework as a generic indicator of economic activity.	Energy supply and demand Agricultural economy Climate policy Emissions Energy demand Human development
Labour supply	Economic development	Effective supply of labour input to support economic activities, taking into account the participation rate of age cohorts.	Agricultural economy
Private consumption	Economic development	Private consumption reflects expenditure on private household consumption. It is used in IMAGE as a driver of energy.	Energy supply and demand Energy demand
Capital supply	Economic development	Capital available to replace depreciated stock and expand the stock to support economic growth.	Agricultural economy
GDP per capita - grid	Economic development	Scaled down GDP per capita from country to grid level, based on population density.	Ecosystem services Nutrients Flood risks
GINI coefficient	Economic development	Measure of income disparity in a population. If all have the same income, GINI equals 1. The lower the GINI, the wider the gap between the lowest and highest income groups.	Human development
Energy resources	Energy and land resources	Volume of energy resource per carrier, region and supply cost class (determines depletion dynamics).	Energy supply and demand Energy supply
Built-up area - grid	Energy and land resources	Urban built-up area per grid cell, excluded from all biophysical modelling in IMAGE, increasing over time as a function of urban population and a country- and scenario-specific urban density curve.	Land cover and land use
Protected area - grid	Environmental and other policies	Map of protected nature areas, limiting use of this area.	Land-use allocation Land cover and land use Terrestrial biodiversity Ecosystem services
Equity principles	Environmental and other policies	General concepts of distributive justice or fairness used in effort sharing approaches. Three key equity principles are: Responsibility (historical contribution to warming); capability (ability to pay for mitigation); and equality (equal emissions allowances per capita).	Climate policy
Domestic climate policy	Environmental and other policies	Planned and/or implemented national climate and energy policies, such as taxes, feed-in tariffs, renewable targets, efficiency standards, that affect projected emission reduction.	Climate policy
Air pollution policy	Environmental and other policies	Air pollution policies set to reach emission reduction targets, represented in the model in the form of energy carrier and sector specific emission factors.	Energy conversion
Biofuel policy	Environmental and other policies	Policies to foster the use of biofuels in transport, such as financial incentives and biofuel mandates and obligations.	Agricultural economy
Taxes and other additional costs	Environmental and other policies	Taxes on energy use, and other additional costs	Energy demand
Adaptation level	Environmental and other policies	Level of adaptation to climate change , defined as the share of climate change damage avoided by adaptation. This level is be calculated by the model to minimise adaptation costs and residual damage, or set by the user.	Climate policy
Energy policy	Environmental and other policies	Policy to achieve energy system objectives, such as energy security and energy access.	Energy conversion
Climate target	Environmental and other policies	Climate target, defined in terms of concentration levels, radiative forcing, temperature targets, or cumulative emissions.	Climate policy
Preferences	Lifestyle parameters	Non-price factors determining market shares, such as preferences, environmental policies, infrastructure and strategic considerations, used for model calibration.	Energy demand
Lifestyle parameters	Lifestyle parameters	Lifestyle parameters influence the relationship between economic activities and demand for energy.	Energy supply and demand Energy demand
Population	Population projections	Number of people per region.	Energy supply and demand Agricultural economy Climate policy Energy demand
Urban population fraction	Population projections	Urban/rural split of population.	Human development
Population - grid	Population projections	Number of people per gridcell (using downscaling).	Land-use allocation Nutrients Human development Flood risks
Irrigation project efficiency	Technological change in agriculture and forestry	Ratio of quantity of irrigation water required by the crop (based on soil moisture deficits) to the quantity withdrawn from rivers, lakes, reservoirs or other sources. This parameter is given at country level.
Irrigation conveyance efficiency	Technological change in agriculture and forestry	Ratio of water supplied to the irrigated field to the quantity withdrawn from the water source, determining the quantity of water lost during transport. This parameter is defined at country level.
Animal productivity	Technological change in agriculture and forestry	Effective production of livestock commodities per animal per year.	Livestock systems
Manure spreading fraction	Technological change in agriculture and forestry	Fraction of manure produced in staples that is spread on agricultural areas.	Nutrients
Livestock rations	Technological change in agriculture and forestry	Determines the feed requirements per feed type (food crops; crop residues; grass and fodder; animal products; scavenging), specified per animal type and production system (extensive/intensive/backyard/intermediate/intensive/broiler/laying hens).	Livestock systems Nutrients
Fertiliser use efficiency	Technological change in agriculture and forestry	Ratio of fertiliser uptake by a crop to fertiliser applied.	Nutrients
... further results