DECIPHER Webinar #4: “Rational, Enlightening, or Legitimizing? Use of Economic Modelling in the Adoption of the EU 55% Emissions Reduction Target”
On June 5, 2025, DECIPHER Project hosted the webinar “Rational, Enlightening, or Legitimizing? Use of Economic Modelling in the Adoption of the EU 55% Emissions Reduction Target”, featuring insights from researchers Nihit Goyal and Stephan Huber, from Delft University of Technology.
The session examined how economic modelling influenced the EU’s decision to adopt the 55% emissions reduction target for 2030. Drawing on established frameworks of knowledge utilization, the presentation highlighted that modelling served not only rational and technical purposes but also played legitimizing and enlightening roles during different stages of the policymaking process.
Key insights include:
- Modelling supported both policy goal-setting and the selection of instruments through various uses of knowledge
- While it contributed to the depoliticization of climate targets, it did not meet the knowledge requirements of key actors in the policy process
- Better awareness of the political environment in which modelling takes place could help modelers increase its effectiveness and inclusivity
This webinar deepens our understanding of the strategic role of expert knowledge in shaping climate governance and offers critical reflections on the future use of modelling in EU policy processes.
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