Making the FRIDA World-Earth Model Accessible and Transparent for Real People

Integrated assessment models (IAMs) play an increasingly important role in informing climate and sustainability policy, yet their complexity often limits transparency, interpretability and meaningful engagement beyond expert communities. FRIDA (Feedback-based knowledge Repository for IntegrateD Assessments) is a World-Earth system model developed with the explicit aim of increasing transparency and accessibility, in order to enable broader engagement with integrated assessment modelling and support evidence-based policy discussions. To explore how the model can be used in different contexts, for different purposes and with different actors, a variety of applications of FRIDA have been made with diverse actors using an interactive learning environment (ILE), workshop material and other tools for facilitated sessions using FRIDA.

 

In particular, the Exploring Futures workshop (Brussels, 5 June 2025), the DIAMOND General Assembly workshop (Oslo, 11 June 2025), the ISEE-Degrowth conference workshop (Oslo, 24 June 2025) and the Workshop on Climate Policy Assessment and Modelling (Brussels, 30 October 2025) all engaged relevant actors engaged in the science-policy interface in order to provide them with insights using FRIDA, as well as gather inputs for further development of FRIDA and the FRIDA Users’ Toolbox (where tools include the workshop formats and material, notably). In addition, there have been two iterations of a remote study circle, incorporation of FRIDA in the Bergen Summer Research School 2025, self-paced use of the ILE, and contributions to existing courses and other educational initiatives. Together, these applications illustrate how accessible modelling tools can enable engagement with complex system dynamics that are central to many policy discussions.

 

Overall, FRIDA shows promise in its use with a diversity of actors. Users have reported that the ILE feels both easily navigable and comprehensive in its indicators and levers. This suggests that using the ILE effectively enables users to run FRIDA themselves without possessing the significant technical knowledge needed to run the model directly. At the same time, numerous points of improvement remain, including intuitively showing causal relationships in the model and in what ways these might explain the results obtained when running FRIDA under different scenarios. In conclusion, the experiences of using FRIDA suggest that it is possible for a diversity of actors to engage with FRIDA and conceivably other World-Earth models using tailored approaches. To build on that potential, it is recommended to continue cultivating collaborations with other actors to enable the continuation and development of approaches to use FRIDA.

 

This work is supported by FCT, I.P./MCTES through national funds (PIDDAC): LA/P/0068/2020 - https://doi.org/10.54499/LA/P/0068/2020 , UID/50019/2025, https://doi.org/10.54499/UID/PRR/50019/2025, UID/PRR2/50019/2025. This work has also received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2.5 – Climate Energy and Mobility programme under grant agreement No. 101081661 through the 'WorldTrans – TRANSPARENT ASSESSMENTS FOR REAL PEOPLE' project.