The main purpose of this JRC activity is to create tools that can assist in flexibly creating a baseline for EU and global policy assessments. The JRC has therefore developed the Platform to Integrate Reconcile and Align Model-based Input-Output Data (PIRAMID) and strives to update it regularly while also enhancing its functionality.
Baselines generated by PIRAMID have been applied in modelling to support the in-depth assessment for the European Commission's long-term strategic vision on greenhouse gas reduction, the impact assessment of the 2030 climate target plan, and several GECO reports. As the data is made available for download, the dataset has been used by researchers in the EU and beyond.
Community exchange on baseline building
Beyond developing baselines in house, the JRC also engages in a wider exchange with international partners on this issue.
The Journal of Global Economic Analysis has published a special issue on long-term baselines for policy analysis with Computable General Equilibrium (CGE) models. This community-wide effort puts the spotlight on the baseline building process, is a crucial step in quantitative analyses of policy scenarios that often remains in the shadows.
The JRC collaborates with the Commission department for trade (DG TRADE), OECD, WTO, MIT, PIK, IIASA, CIRED and others.
The special issue contributes in collecting best practices in baseline building and showing avenues to construct more sophisticated baselines for advanced large-scale models.
The open access special issue can be found on the "Journal of Global Economic Analysis", Vol 5, No 1 (2020).