Your calculator should be a living tool that is added to and updated to suit your needs. Perhaps there is a new question you want to answer, or opinion has changed about how ambitious your trajectories should be. Maybe more recent data has become available that could be used as a new base line to make sure your results are as accurate as possible. Keep improving the tool, and it can keep having an impact.
With so many teams around the world building their own calculators, there is a great opportunity for people to share their experience and expertise with others, and help spread the calculator message of transparent modelling and evidence-based policy making. That’s why we’ve created a website with resources and an online community – www.2050.org.uk. We hope you will use it not only to ask questions and get support, but also to support others. Every team building a calculator has unique challenges and also brings their own skills and ideas. These may be very useful for someone just starting out or facing similar issues.
The calculator approach developed to answer questions about energy, but there is no reason why it couldn’t be used in other spheres of government, business or even everyday life. The calculator does two things well which are easily transferable:
- It models each sector using a “driver-tree” approach, showing the major forces that produce overall figures. Such an approach could be useful in understanding anything with a quantitative description.
- It brings all the sectors together in a common framework. This could be useful in any subject that involves trade-offs. Here are some ideas for ways the calculator could be used:
- Land use – with a limited amount of land available in each country, there are likely to be trade-offs to be made about how that land is used as populations grow and economies develop. A land calculator could ask how much land you should devote to agriculture or housing, or how much food can be grown using different farming techniques.
- Taxation – a tax calculator could help you understand how different combinations of tax policies affect overall tax revenue.
- Government spending – a government budget calculator could help explore per capita spending in different sectors, and compare this to outcomes. This could give some quick insights into how effective spending is, which areas could be prioritised, and an estimate of future subsidies.
You may have your own ideas – please let us know by contacting [email protected]