In order to meet the Paris Agreement, countries will need to reach net-zero emissions by the middle of the century. This has major implications for economies, creating opportunities in new markets, technologies and products, and risks for those business and sectors that may be left behind.

We analyse socioeconomic characteristics by applying our own toolkit of econometric, sectoral and macroeconomic models to climate and natural catastrophe models. This allows us to understand risks at the levels of assets, sectors, regions, societal groups or entire economies. In developing strategic responses to these risks, SDA offers leading expertise across planning, finance, and political economy. We have specific expertise in real options analysis, which we have applied in the context of climate change to investment decisions in water supply, flood protection, and energy systems. 

We are also specialists in the design of carbon markets and their integration within a broader policy suite. Within this, we help business navigate a complex policy landscape, to identify potential risks and capture strategic opportunities. We have a thorough understanding of different carbon strategies and policies worldwide. We are involved in the design, implementation and analysis of carbon pricing instruments around the world and bring this experience and international best practice to projects.

In all areas, we provide thought leadership, actionable advice for governments and the private sector to contribute to a low-carbon economy. We are though leaders on emerging topics in climate and energy, such as climate auctions to help achieve Nationally Determined Contributions and how to allocate mitigation outcomes between climate finance and carbon markets. By working with both public and private sector clients, we understand the imperatives of each and frame our analysis accordingly. We pride ourselves in communicating economic insights in an actionable manner to policy makers and industrial leaders.

• Sectoral strategies: We quantify climate policy risks and opportunities to industry competitiveness and advise on ways to avoid carbon leakage while cutting emissions. We understand competitiveness of industry under carbon constraints, including the valuation of assets, fiscal impacts and investment requirements of meeting the targets set by the Nationally Determined Contribution.

• Comprehensive long-term strategies. Our advisory helps governments and businesses plan for a net-zero emissions future. We draw on our deep understanding of economics, technology and policy to develop tractable scenarios for net-zero economies. Using these scenarios, we identify key drivers and indicators of country- and sector-specific changes to chart clear paths of action. We understand the economic drivers and technological challenges of net-zero emissions energy systems, and bring expertise in traditional and emerging negative emissions technologies. Our advice to governments shifts economic strategies and national climate and energy policy, while our insights have guided multinational companies in assessing the prospects for major energy commodities and informed investments in new and existing markets.

• Design of carbon markets. We advise firms and governments on carbon management strategies to make them more resilient to a changing business and economic environment. We are providing carbon market advise on primary and secondary market design and carbon price scenarios using our unique modelling suite. We are leaders in modelling the impacts of carbon pricing instruments on the economy, energy systems and emissions. Our frameworks of analysis offer insight on the effects of policy on prices, market shares, firm profits, emission and abatement incentives, and carbon price pathways that are not available elsewhere.

• Climate and disaster resilience planning. We advise governments and financiers on the role of disaster risk finance within broader disaster risk management plans. This includes the development of specific parametric products as well as advice on the integration of disaster risk finance products with existing management planning, financing, and emergency response strategies, including economic investment appraisal schemes.