GEMMES Model: 23 Researchers From Around the World Gathered in Paris

• Ha Nguyen, PhD student at the University of Rouen (GEMMES Vietnam):

“I came to meet other researchers and share our experiences in the progress achieved in climate modelling. It’s an important program and AFD’s teams help us integrate the climate dimension into this new model, the first of its kind in Vietnam’s economy! I hope that it will become a tool for the Vietnamese Government for its public policy decision-making.”

• Charles Doukouré Fe, lecturer-researcher at the Abidjan School of Statistics (GEMMES Côte d’Ivoire):

“AFD gives us tools to take better account of the climate aspects in the adaptation of the GEMMES model and, at the same time, facilitate it. This is important as in Côte d’Ivoire we’re already feeling the effects of climate change. We need to break with the economic tradition and this model revolutionizes the tools currently available to the Ivorian Government.”

• Rym Chaker, energy engineer (GEMMES Tunisia):

“After three days of meetings, I have a better understanding of the situations and progress of the research of other researchers. We are all in a similar situation, and AFD has the skeleton of the model which we will subsequently adapt in our respective countries. This allows us to build a comprehensive picture of the situation in our countries. This is essential in Tunisia, which is in the midst of a transitional period.” 

• Naima Darouich, economist at the Department of Studies and Financial Forecasts of the Moroccan Ministry of Economy and Finance (GEMMES Morocco): 

“AFD brought in specialists from elsewhere and from its own ranks. Marie-Noëlle Woillez and Antoine Godin are experts in their fields who teach us how to take GEMMES on board to use it in other thematic areas, always in connection with the climate issue. This is very important for Morocco: we have just signed a project with AFD, and this meeting has allowed us to better understand the mechanism, the difficulties and the pitfalls to avoid.”

• Rafael Cattan, a graduate of the Rio de Janeiro State University (Gemmes Brazil):

“I’m an economist, so I only partially knew about the climate context before this meeting. It’s an opportunity to build new research together. AFD is developing one of the only models that actually takes into account the financial markets and their way of working. It’s much more connected to the reality than everything that was done before.”