Mapping and Modelling the Sustainable Development Goals Using CLEWs

File 1 contains an outline of the course, its learning objectives, duration, example assessment methods, and IT requirements. In File 2, an example timetable is provided that breaks the course into three different blocks. File 3 provides a comprehensive reading list with key publications highlighted.

This week introduces CLEWs (Climate, Land, Energy, Water Systems) modelling - an integrated approach for analysing interconnected resource systems to support sustainable development policy. CLEWs uses techno-economic optimisation to identify cost-effective pathways for meeting climate, energy, food, and water security goals while managing cross-sector trade-offs and synergies.

This week covers data requirements for CLEWs modelling, emphasising how robust data underpins credible analysis of integrated climate-land-energy-water systems. It details three core data purposes: system characterisation (defining resources, technologies, and interactions), validation of model results against historical data, and scenario definition for policy testing. We also build basic ‘Reference Energy/CLEW Systems’ to begin understanding the fundamentals of model development.

This week the course begins completing the open learn course ‘Introduction to CLEWs’ (the certificate of which. could be used as a form of assessment). Students can access the course online. There are four lectures to complete this week that introduce the CLEWs model, the energy system, building a RES and importantly, explaining the core OSeMOSYS parameters. Crucially, the practical ‘Hands-On’ exercises are also introduced, with exercises 1-4 due to be complete. It is recommended that instructors select only the pertinent parts of the lectures to ‘teach’ in class (allow students to complete the online course in their own time) and to provide practical guidance for the hands-on exercises.

In this week, the 'middle’ section of the Open Learn course is completed, namely lectures 5,6 &7 and their respective hands-on exercises. Again, it's recommended that instructors only pick pertinent aspects of the lectures to cover in class and focus on giving practical instruction in regard to the hands-on exercises. The topics covered this week are: time slices, land representation and the water cycle.

This week completes the Open Learn course. Similar to the previous two weeks, lectures 8-11 are completed as are their respective hands-on exercises. Students should evidence the final hands-on exercise results as part of the open learn course assessment. The topics covered in this week are: system interlinkages, the climate system and climate policies in CLEWs models.

This week has the students begin building a national level CLEWs model for their assigned country – typically a LMIC. Contact time, in all the remaining weeks, will likely be purely practical with hands-on guidance provided by the instructor. In this week, the students should develop the energy sector for their chosen country using the guidelines provided.

Continuing from the previous week, students should complete the land sector for their chosen national case study. The instructor may wish to demo their own model as an example and provided direct hands-on guidance.

Again, continuing from the previous week, students should complete the water sector for their chosen national case study. The instructor may wish to demo their own model as an example and provided direct hands-on guidance.

This week, students should add interlinkages to their national model and connect the different ‘systems’ together. The instructor may wish to demo their own model as an example and provided direct hands-on guidance.

In this final week, students should begin applying scenarios to their model using the suggested guidelines. The results of these scenarios should form the basis for their final report or assessment. Instructors should also consider adding another week for debugging and troubleshooting models if necessary.