Course

This course explores the interface between energy policy, energy system modelling, and political economy. It is designed for practitioners and researchers working with energy models who seek to increase the policy relevance and impact of their work. Energy models often produce technically robust and cost-optimal pathways. However, real-world policy decisions are shaped not only by technical evidence, but also by political incentives, institutional capacity, fiscal constraints, stakeholder interests, and public narratives. This course provides participants with conceptual and practical tools to better understand and navigate this complexity. The course begins by examining the policy cycle and the science–policy interface, highlighting how modelling evidence enters decision-making processes. It then introduces political economy concepts and problem-driven political economy analysis (PEA) as a structured approach to understanding actors, interests, institutions, and power dynamics in the energy sector. Building on this foundation, the course demonstrates how political economy thinking can be embedded across the modelling process – from problem definition and scenario design, to interpretation of results and strategic communication. Through case studies and applied exercises linked to participants’ own EMP modelling projects, the course illustrates how political economy can:

• Improve the realism of assumptions and scenarios

• Enhance credibility with policy actors

• Increase the likelihood that modelling results influence decisions

The aim is not to turn modellers into political economists, but to equip them with structured reflection tools that help ensure their modelling work is decision-relevant, credible, and impactful in real-world policy contexts.