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Control versus Complexity: Approaches to the Carbon Dioxide Problem at IIASA
1M.A., Leuphana Universität, CCP | Center for Global Sustainability and Cultural Transformation (CGSC), Scharnhorststr. 1, D-21335, Lüneburg.
Berichte Zur Wissenschaftsgeschichte
|June 11, 2020
Summary
This study examines two distinct approaches to the carbon dioxide problem at the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA) during the 1970s and 1980s. It contrasts techno-economic control strategies with complex systems approaches to climate change and sustainable development.
Area of Science:
- * History of Science and Technology
- * Environmental Systems Analysis
- * Climate Change Studies
Background:
- * Explores the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis's (IIASA) engagement with rising carbon dioxide (CO2) concentrations during the 1970s and 1980s.
- * Highlights the participation of scholars who later influenced the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and sustainability science.
- * Investigates the entry of the CO2 issue into IIASA's agenda, despite its non-traditional focus on geophysics or climatology.
Purpose of the Study:
- * To retrace the historical context and competing paradigms addressing the carbon dioxide problem at IIASA.
- * To contrast two distinct approaches: techno-economic control versus complex dynamical systems.
- * To outline the research, modeling, policy, and imaginaries associated with each paradigm.
Main Methods:
- * Analysis of historical research projects, workshops, and conferences at IIASA.
- * Examination of institutional archives and research repositories.
- * Comparative analysis of two competing discourse framings and their associated strategies.
Main Results:
- * Identified two primary paradigms: one focused on energy systems using physics, engineering, and economics; the other on ecological management and complex systems theory.
- * The first paradigm emphasized techno-economical control mechanisms for CO2 mitigation.
- * The second paradigm framed climate change within a broader context of sustainable development, advocating for multiple assessment methods.
Conclusions:
- * IIASA's engagement with the CO2 problem evolved through distinct, competing frameworks.
- * The study reveals the differing research, modeling, policy, and cultural imaginaries tied to control-oriented versus complexity-oriented approaches.
- * Understanding these historical framings offers insights into contemporary climate change and sustainable development discourse.