Upcoming special issue in Economic Systems Research: Integration of energy systems models and economic models - theoretical advances and applications

This Special Issue of Economic Systems Research — a leading journal in applied economics —  is co-edited by our colleague Prof. Matteo Vincenzo Rocco (Politecnico di Milano), Prof. Claudio Socci (Università degli Studi di Macerata) and Prof. Rossella Bardazzi (Università degli Studi di Firenze), and aims to explore conceptual, methodological, and applied advances in bridging energy and economic modeling, with a focus on improving the consistency and robustness of energy transition pathways. 

Submissions will be accepted until end February 2026; however, early submissions are encouraged. All papers will undergo the standard peer-review process of Economic Systems Research.

For any inquiries, please contact the guest editors.

Abstract:
The European strategy for a prosperous, modern, competitive and climate-neutral economy by 2050 imposes to
its member States an urgent act to address the challenge of energy transition. At the same time, the implementation of energy transition policies could generate multifaceted effects within the economic system, requiring an attentive evaluation of the feasibility and sustainability of any potential path taken. For this reason, there is a growing need for developing consistent and coherent integrations across different models categories. Models’ integration is in fact instrumental to assess the impact of potential policy actions and to keep track of the technological feasibility and the economic, social and environmental sustainability of a technology transition process.

Integrating economic models and energy system models presents several challenges, which can be grouped into conceptual, methodological, and computational categories. Conceptually, the integration requires bridging the gap between micro-level energy decisions and macroeconomic impacts while addressing issues such as uncertainty representation, agent behavior, interindustry feedbacks and distributional effects. Methodologically, differences in temporal and spatial scales, model structures, and feedback loops between energy and economic systems make integration complex, often requiring simplifications that may impact accuracy. Computationally, linking models leads to high-dimensional problems, making solving them a challenge due to data inconsistencies, model size, and the need for iterative or decomposition techniques. In our view, existing models that integrate engineering and economic models do not satisfactorily address these challenges. We advocate that the scientific community should move towards a new generation of advanced integrated modelling frameworks combining different approaches so that knowledge can be effectively transformed, tailored and disseminated with robust policy recommendations. An integrated platform should be able to incorporate disaggregated industries, institutional sectors and environmental aspects in a structured and transparent way to enable a consistent definition of energy transition pathways and to underpin their technical feasibility, effectiveness and robustness.

We invite contributions that bring together researchers with expertise in economic and engineering modelling to enhance methodological approaches for developing integrated models that improve consistency and reliability in energy transition pathways.

Topics of interest include, but are not limited to:

• Conceptual advances: novel approaches for integrating energy systems and economic models and for handling epistemic and stochastic uncertainties.
• Methodological advances in linking models, and improvements in data integration and consistency across models.
• Empirical analyses of energy transition based on integration of different models (Input-Output, Computable General Equilibrium, Stock-Flow-Consistent, Energy systems optimization/simulation models, others).

Multidisciplinary contributions addressing the above themes and topics related to modelling energy transition pathways are encouraged. Submissions may include theoretical analyses, empirical studies, comparative assessments, and in-depth case studies.

Update: link to the Special Issue is now available