Variable overview

Drivers

Model driver group	Description	is used in
Economic development	Effective supply of labour input to support economic activities, taking into account the participation rate of age cohorts.	Agricultural economy
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
Economic development	Capital available to replace depreciated stock and expand the stock to support economic growth.	Agricultural economy
Economic development	Scaled down GDP per capita from country to grid level, based on population density.	Ecosystem services Nutrients Flood risks
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
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
Economic development	Demand for roundwood and pulpwood per region.	Forest management
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
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
Energy and land resources	Volume of energy resource per carrier, region and supply cost class (determines depletion dynamics).	Energy supply and demand Energy supply
Environmental and other policies	Taxes on energy use, and other additional costs	Energy demand
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
Environmental and other policies	Policy to achieve energy system objectives, such as energy security and energy access.	Energy conversion
Environmental and other policies	Climate target, defined in terms of concentration levels, radiative forcing, temperature targets, or cumulative emissions.	Climate policy
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
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
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
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
Environmental and other policies	Policies to foster the use of biofuels in transport, such as financial incentives and biofuel mandates and obligations.	Agricultural economy
Lifestyle parameters	Lifestyle parameters influence the relationship between economic activities and demand for energy.	Energy supply and demand Energy demand
Lifestyle parameters	Non-price factors determining market shares, such as preferences, environmental policies, infrastructure and strategic considerations, used for model calibration.	Energy demand
Population projections	Urban/rural split of population.	Human development
Population projections	Number of people per gridcell (using downscaling).	Land-use allocation Nutrients Human development Flood risks
Population projections	Number of people per region.	Energy supply and demand Agricultural economy Climate policy Energy demand
Technological change in agriculture and forestry	Increase in productivity in crop production (yield/ha) and livestock production (carcass weight, offtake rate).	Agricultural economy
Technological change in agriculture and forestry	Measure of an animal's efficiency in converting feed mass into the desired output such as meat and milk (for cattle, poultry, pigs, sheep and goats).	Livestock systems
Technological change in agriculture and forestry	Fraction of harvested wood used as product, the remainder being left as residues. Specified per biomass pool and forestry management type.	Forest management
Technological change in agriculture and forestry	Demand for forest plantation area.	Forest management
Technological change in agriculture and forestry	Increase in irrigated area, often based on external projections (e.g., FAO).	Land-use allocation
Technological change in agriculture and forestry	Livestock production is distributed over two systems for dairy and beef production (intensive: mixed and industrial; extensive: pastoral grazing), and to three systems for pigs (backyard, intermediate, intensive) and poultry (backyard, boilers, laying hens) with specific intensities, rations and feed conversion ratios.	Livestock systems Nutrients
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