In a nutshell
Purpose
premise enables the alignment of life cycle inventories within the ecoinvent 3.6-3.10 database, using either a “cut-off” or “consequential” system model, to match the output results of Integrated Assessment Models (IAMs) such as REMIND, IMAGE or TIAM-UCL. This allows for the creation of life cycle inventory databases under future policy scenarios for any year between 2005 and 2100.
Note
The ecoinvent database is not included in this package. You need to have a valid license for ecoinvent 3.6-3.9.1 to use premise. Also, please read carefully ecoinvent’s EULA before using premise.
Publication
The methodology behind premise is described in the following publication:
R. Sacchi, T. Terlouw, K. Siala, A. Dirnaichner, C. Bauer, B. Cox, C. Mutel, V. Daioglou, G. Luderer, PRospective EnvironMental Impact asSEment (premise): A streamlined approach to producing databases for prospective life cycle assessment using integrated assessment models, Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 2022, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rser.2022.112311.
Note
If you use premise in your research, please cite the above publication.
Additionally, you may want to cite the ecoinvent database:
Wernet, G. et al. The ecoinvent database version 3 (part I): overview and methodology. Int. J. Life Cycle Assess. 21, 1218–1230 (2016) . http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s11367-016-1087-8.
Finally, you may want to cite the IAM model used with premise:
REMIND: Baumstark et al. REMIND2.1: transformation and innovation dynamics of the energy-economic system within climate and sustainability limits, Geoscientific Model Development, 2021.
IMAGE: Stehfest, Elke, et al. Integrated assessment of global environmental change with IMAGE 3.0: Model description and policy applications. Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency (PBL), 2014.
TIAM-UCL: L. Clarke, et al. International climate policy architectures: Overview of the EMF 22 International Scenarios, Energy Economics, 2009.
Models
Workflow
As illustrated in the workflow diagram above, premise follows an Extract, Transform, Load (ETL) process:
Extract the ecoinvent database from a Brightway project or from ecospold2 files. Expand the database by adding additional inventories for future production pathways for certain commodities, such as electricity, steel, cement, etc. Modify the ecoinvent database, focusing primarily on process efficiency improvements and market adjustments. Load the updated database back into a Brightway project or export it as a set of CSV files, such as Simapro CSV files.
Default IAM scenarios
Provided a decryption key (ask the maintainers), the following IAM scenarios are available when installing premise:
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SSP1-None |
2.3-2.8 °C |
Optimistic trends for human develop. and economy, driven by sustainable practices. |
None |
SSP1-Base |
SSP1-Base |
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SSP1-None |
~2.2 °C |
Optimistic trends for human develop. and economy, driven by sustainable practices. |
National Policies Implemented (NPI). |
SSP1-NPi |
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SSP1-None |
~1.9 °C |
Optimistic trends for human develop. and economy, driven by sustainable practices. |
Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs). |
SSP1-NDC |
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SSP1-RCP2.6 |
~1.7 °C |
Optimistic trends for human develop. and economy, driven by sustainable practices. |
Paris Agreement objective. |
SSP1-PkBudg1150 |
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SSP1-RCP1.9 |
~1.3 °C |
Optimistic trends for human develop. and economy, driven by sustainable practices. |
Paris Agreement objective. |
SSP1-PkBudg500 |
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SSP2-None |
~3.5 °C |
Extrapolation from historical developments. |
None (eq. to RCP6) |
SSP2-Base |
SSP2-Base |
SSP2-Base |
SSP2-None |
~3.3 °C |
Extrapolation from historical developments. |
National Policies Implemented (NPI). |
SSP2-NPi |
SSP2-RCP45 |
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SSP2-None |
~2.5 °C |
Extrapolation from historical developments. |
Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs). |
SSP2-NDC |
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SSP2-RCP2.6 |
1.6-1.8 °C |
Extrapolation from historical developments. |
Paris Agreement objective. |
SSP2-PkBudg1150 |
SSP2-RCP26 |
SSP2-RCP26 |
SSP2-RCP1.9 |
1.2-1.4 °C |
Extrapolation from historical developments. |
Paris Agreement objective. |
SSP2-PkBudg500 |
SSP2-RCP19 |
SSP2-RCP19 |
SSP5-None |
~4.5 °C |
Optimistic trends for human develop. and economy, driven by fossil fuels. |
None |
SSP5-Base |
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SSP5-None |
~4.0 °C |
Optimistic trends for human develop. and economy, driven by fossil fuels. |
National Policies Implemented (NPI). |
SSP5-NPi |
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SSP5-None |
~3.0 °C |
Optimistic trends for human develop. and economy, driven by fossil fuels. |
Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs). |
SSP5-NDC |
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SSP5-RCP2.6 |
~1.7 °C |
Optimistic trends for human develop. and economy, driven by fossil fuels. |
Paris Agreement objective. |
SSP5-PkBudg1150 |
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SSP5-RCP1.9 |
~1.0 °C |
Optimistic trends for human develop. and economy, driven by fossil fuels. |
Paris Agreement objective. |
SSP5-PkBudg500 |
CarbonBrief wrote a good article explaining the meaning of the SSP/RCP system.
Additionally, we provided a summary of the main characteristics of each scenario here.
You can however use any other scenario files generated by REMIND or IMAGE. If you wish to use an IAM file which has not been generated by either of these two models, you should refer to the Mapping section.
Requirements
Python language interpreter >=3.9
License for ecoinvent 3
Brightway2 (optional)
Note
If you wish to export Brightway 2.5-compatible databases, you will need ot upgrade bw2data to >= 4.0.0.
How to install this package?
Two options:
A development version with the latest advancements (but with the risks of unseen bugs), is available on Anaconda Cloud:
conda install -c conda-forge premise
For a more stable and proven version, from Pypi:
pip install premise
This will install the package and the required dependencies.
How to use it?
Examples notebook
This notebook will show you everything you need to know to use premise.
ScenarioLink plugin
There now exists a plugin for Activity Browser, called ScenarioLink, which allows you to directly download IAM scenario-based premise databases from the browser, without the use of premise. You can find it here.