Currently, there is no magic bullet for fossil fuels—no one energy technology that can provide a cheap and reliable alternative capable of supporting the world’s growing energy needs. Instead, decision-makers looking to lower greenhouse gas emissions must choose from an expansive menu of technology and policy options, says MIT Joint Program on the Science and Policy of Global Change Deputy Director Sergey Paltsev.

Paltsev, who is also a senior research scientist at the MIT Energy Initiative (MITEI), studies this array of technology and policy options, with the goal of easing any economic growing pains that might result from the world’s energy transition. Though his research spans a wide range of topics and regions, it is tied together by a common thread: understanding the economic and climate impacts of energy decisions.

In a keynote presentation “Scaling up low-carbon energy: Economic, Geopolitical and Environmental Impacts” that he delivered at the international symposium The Future of Energy: Tackling Climate Change in Madrid on March 17, Paltsev described a framework developed at the MIT Joint Program for addressing pathways to global decarbonization.

The symposium was organized by Fundación Ramón Areces and the MIT Industrial Liaison Program to showcase MIT research to representatives from different industries in Spain.

Watch the video of the presentation.

Photo: At the international symposium The Future of Energy: Tackling Climate Change held in Madrid on March 17, MIT Energy Initiative (MITEI) Senior Research Engineer Howard Herzog and MIT Joint Program Deputy Director/MITEI Senior Research Scientist Sergey Paltsev delivered presentations on pathways to global decarbonization. (Source: MIT Joint Program)