Pathways Explorer
Visualizing scenarios
On July 5, 2023, the Institut de l'énergie Trottier (IET) of Polytechnique Montréal launched the Pathways Explorer, a new interactive online dashboard for visualizing Canadian carbon neutrality scenarios.
The tool is an innovative resource that facilitates the comparison of possible pathways to carbon neutrality, and can inform decision-making and public policy development. Powered by more than a hundred scenarios, this platform is aimed at both decision-makers and people interested in climate and energy issues. The project was designed and piloted by the IET, with the participation of ESMIA Consultants for modeling and Kashika Studio for data visualization. It was funded in part by the Government of Canada.
The results presented come from NATEM, a techno-economic optimization model of the energy system, fed by explicit representations of the technologies. Modeling Canada at the provincial and territorial level, it optimizes the overall cost of transforming the energy system according to the constraints imposed.
In addition to a results visualization interface, the Pathfinder integrates analyses produced by IET experts, guiding the user through the mass of information made available.
Even if the development of the tool is complete, new scenarios and analyses are likely to be added at any time. In particular, following the publication of Canadian Energy Perspectives, 3rd edition, the scenarios corresponding to the updated model have been made available.
