Greenhouse Gas and Air Pollution Interactions and Synergies (GAINS)-Model

The model is designed to contribute to the following policy areas: 

• Climate action through mitigation potentials for non-CO2 GHGs and Black Carbon
• Climate action through harnessing health co-benefits
• Public health through air pollution exposure levels
• Ecosystem protection through critical loads 

GAINS is used for policy analyses under the Convention on Long-range Transboundary Air Pollution (CLRTAP), e.g., for the revision of the Gothenburg Protocol, and by the European Commission for the EU Thematic Strategy on Air Pollution and the air policy review e.g. the EU Clean Air Outlooks (http://gains.iiasa.ac.at/models/gains_resources.html), and it was among the models used to inform the EC proposal “A Clean Planet for All” (COM (2018) 773). GAINS is used to assess domestic mitigation potential of non-CO2 GHGs for EU climate policy analyses. Scientists and government agencies in many nations (e.g., in Europe, China, India, Vietnam) use GAINS as a tool to assess emission reduction potentials in their regions.

In "scenario analysis" mode, it follows emission pathways from sources to impacts, providing estimates of regional costs and the environmental benefits of alternative emission control strategies.

In “optimization” mode, GAINS identifies cost-optimal portfolios of emission control measures for achieving specified targets, such as absolute emission limits, or health impacts.