Setu Sebastian Pelz

Research Scholar at IIASA. I work on energy poverty, climate equity, and climate change mitigation, using applied econometrics, geospatial analysis, and integrated assessment modelling.

Setu Sebastian Pelz
pelz@iiasa.ac.at IIASA · Energy, Climate, and Environment Program Co-PI, Real Zero Hub Co-chair, IAMC SWG on Justice, Equity and Human Development PhD, Europa-Universität Flensburg ORCID GitHub

Selected Work

Climate Equity

Entry points for assessing 'fair shares'

'Entry points' for embedding clear, transparent fairness into national mitigation contributions

Environmental Research Letters · 2025 →
 Climate Equity

Net-zero carbon debt

A forward-looking measure of regional responsibility for breaching a fair share of the 1.5C budget

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · 2025 →
 Climate Equity

Land-based carbon dioxide removal and the Rio Conventions

A framework aligning land-based CDR with the three Rio Conventions

One Earth · 2024 →
 Energy Access

Coal livelihoods and the just transition

Coal livelihoods concentrate within 5 km of mines, atop pervasive informal casual labour

Energy Policy · 2024 →
 Energy Access

Energy access for marginalized communities, rural North India

India's reforms narrowed caste-group gaps in LPG connections but left supply-quality inequities intact

World Development · 2021 →
 Energy Access

Measuring multidimensional energy poverty

New multidimensional energy-poverty measures are too complex globally, too prescriptive nationally

WIREs Energy and Environment · 2018 →

Software & Data

Software

fair-shares library

A Python library that turns fair-share carbon budget allocation into transparent, reusable code

github.com/setupelz/fair-shares →
 Data

Productive electricity-use constraints among Bihar enterprises

Good grid supply, yet 40% of Bihar micro-firms stay unconnected

Harvard Dataverse →
 Data

Coal livelihoods and the just transition

Coal livelihoods concentrate within 5 km of mines, atop pervasive informal casual labour

Harvard Dataverse →
 Data

Surveying electricity supply and use in Nigeria

An open survey of 3,599 households and 1,122 firms on Nigerian electricity supply quality

Harvard Dataverse →

Leadership & Advisory

Research Leadership

2026 –Co-Principal Investigator, Real Zero Hub; co-lead of the flagship Real Zero Project and lead of its pathways workstream.
2026 –Co-chair, IAMC Scientific Working Group on Justice, Equity and Human Development.
2025 –Co-lead, justMIP model intercomparison on justice and equity in mitigation pathways.
2025 –Member, Earth Commission, Transformation Pathways workstream.

Assessments & Policy Advice

2026Author, UNEP Emissions Gap Report 2026, Chapter 5 — sectoral progress towards Global Stocktake mitigation milestones.
2023Equity evaluation of European climate mitigation pathways, prepared for the EU Scientific Advisory Board on Climate Change. report

Expert Evidence

2025Statement of evidence on climate scenarios, with a supplementary report and oral evidence at hearing, in Whitehaven WS Pty Ltd v Australian Conservation Foundation Inc & Ors (Winchester South coal mine), Land Court of Queensland, MRA080-24. report
2025Statement with J. Rogelj on the approach used by Switzerland to calculate its 'implicit carbon budget', distributed in the Committee of Ministers execution proceedings of KlimaSeniorinnen v. Switzerland. report
2024 –Independent expert reports, 'Estimates of fair share carbon budgets', prepared with Y. Robiou du Pont and Z. Nicholls for climate proceedings concerning Italy, France, Switzerland, and the Netherlands. Italy · France · Switzerland · Netherlands

Publications

2026
Household energy burdens in Europe at times of geopolitical energy price volatility
M Poblete-Cazenave, S Pelz, S Pachauri
Energy Strategy Reviews Energy Access
Advancing representations of equity and justice in climate mitigation futures
S Pachauri, E Brutschin, MJ Gidden, T Hasegawa, M Hejazi, K Jiang, JS Kikstra, V Krey, WF Lamb, K Mintz-Woo, A Nauels, S Pelz, J Rogelj, J Roy, R Schaeffer, K Scheifinger, Y Sokona, M Tavoni, B van Ruijven, A Vinca, SS Vishwanathan, C Zimm, K Riahi
PLOS Climate Climate Equity
2025
Using net-zero carbon debt to track climate overshoot responsibility
S Pelz, G Ganti, R Lamboll, L Grant, C Smith, S Pachauri, J Rogelj, K Riahi, W Thiery, MJ Gidden
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Climate Equity
Subnational survey data reveal persistent gaps in living standards across 75 low and middle-income countries
R Hoffmann, O Patange, C Zimm, S Pachauri, C Belmin, S Pelz, E Brutschin, JS Kikstra, M Kuhn, J Min, R Muttarak, K Riahi, T Schinko, K Mintz-Woo
Nature Communications Energy Access
Aligning differentiated mitigation capacity with the Paris agreement goals
E Brutschin, C Bertram, LB Baptista, V Bosetti, V Daioglou, HS De Boer, L Drouet, F Fosse, D Fragkiadakis, K Fragkiadakis, O Fricko, S Fujimori, J Kejun, V Krey, J Kikstra, S Pianta, S Pelz, K Riahi, O Richters, R Rodrigues, R Schaeffer, K Scheifinger, D Silva, I Tagomori, B Van Ruijven, D Van Vuuren, Z Vrontisi
Environmental Research: Climate Climate Equity
Fair carbon removal obligations under climate response uncertainty
G Ganti, S Pelz, U Klönne, MJ Gidden, C-F Schleussner, Z Nicholls
Climate Policy Climate Equity
Entry points for assessing 'fair shares' in national mitigation contributions
S Pelz, G Ganti, S Pachauri, J Rogelj, K Riahi
Environmental Research Letters Climate Equity
A principle-based framework to determine countries' fair warming contributions to the Paris Agreement
M Li, S Pelz, R Lamboll, C Wang, J Rogelj
Nature Communications Climate Equity
High-income groups disproportionately contribute to climate extremes worldwide
S Schöngart, Z Nicholls, R Hoffmann, S Pelz, C-F Schleussner
Nature Climate Change Climate Equity
How stocks judge COPs: market impacts of climate conferences
R Lamboll, A Al Khourdajie, S Pelz
Environmental Research Letters Cross-cutting
A geospatial perspective on electrification strategy in urbanizing Africa
J Kersey, S Miles, V Sakhrani, BB Koo, S Pelz
Applied Geography Energy Access
2024
A dataset of income distribution on provincial, urban, and rural levels for China from 2020 to 2100
M Lei, S Pelz, S Pachauri, W Cai
Scientific Data Energy Access
Women's decision-making power, cooking fuel adoption and appliance ownership: Evidence from Rwanda, Nepal and Honduras
S Flechtner, U Lich, S Pelz
Energy Research & Social Science Energy Access
Balancing energy transition: Assessing decent living standards and future energy demand in the Global South
S Chatterjee, A Mastrucci, L Niamir, K Ashok, A Sreenivas, S Dukkipati, V Daioglou, O Edelenbosch, S Pelz, B Boza-Kiss, P Kumar, D Ürge-Vorsatz
Energy Research & Social Science Energy Access
Innovation in distributed energy services for sustainable development: case studies from sub-Saharan Africa
S Pachauri, O Coldrey, G Falchetta, S Pelz
Environmental Research Letters Energy Access
High with low: Harnessing the power of demand-side solutions for high wellbeing with low energy and material demand
M Sugiyama, C Wilson, D Wiedenhofer, B Boza-Kiss, T Cao, JS Chatterjee, S Chatterjee, T Hara, A Hayashi, Y Ju, V Krey, MF Godoy León, L Martinez, E Masanet, A Mastrucci, J Min, L Niamir, S Pelz, J Roy, Y Saheb, R Schaeffer, D Ürge-Vorsatz, B van Ruijven, Y Shimoda, E Verdolini, F Wiese, Y Yamaguchi, C Zell-Ziegler, C Zimm
Joule Energy Access
The spatial and economic footprint of the coal industry on rural livelihoods in Jharkhand, India
S Pelz, A Krumm, M Aklin, V Nandan, J Urpelainen
Energy Policy Energy Access
Understanding land-based carbon dioxide removal in the context of the Rio Conventions
K Dooley, S Pelz, A Norton
One Earth Climate Equity
2023
Short-run effects of grid electricity access on rural non-farm entrepreneurship and employment in Ethiopia and Nigeria
S Pelz, S Pachauri, G Falchetta
World Development Perspectives Energy Access
Evaluating equity in European climate change mitigation pathways
S Pelz, J Rogelj, K Riahi
IIASA (report) Climate Equity
Electricity supply quality and use among rural and peri-urban households and small firms in Nigeria
S Pelz, N Chinichian, C Neyrand, P Blechinger
Scientific Data Energy Access
2022
Supply preferences and productive electricity use constraints among micro and small enterprises in Bihar, India
S Pelz, M Aklin, J Urpelainen
Energy for Sustainable Development Energy Access
Conceptual and institutional prerequisites for guiding equitable progress towards universal access
S Pelz, E Brutschin, S Pachauri
Economics of Energy & Environmental Policy Energy Access
Fairness considerations in global mitigation investments
S Pachauri, S Pelz, C Bertram, S Kreibiehl, ND Rao, Y Sokona, K Riahi
Science Climate Equity
Household energy service and home appliance choices in urban China
X Han, M Poblete-Cazenave, S Pelz, S Pachauri
Energy for Sustainable Development Energy Access
2021
Application of an alternative framework for measuring progress towards SDG 7.1
S Pelz, S Pachauri, N Rao
Environmental Research Letters Energy Access
Energy access for marginalized communities: Evidence from rural North India, 2015–2018
S Pelz, N Chindarkar, J Urpelainen
World Development Energy Access
Electrification and productive use among micro- and small-enterprises in rural North India
S Pelz, M Aklin, J Urpelainen
Energy Policy Energy Access
2020
Measuring and explaining household access to electrical energy services: Evidence from rural northern India
S Pelz, J Urpelainen
Energy Policy Energy Access
Disaggregated household energy supply measurement to support equitable municipal energy planning in rural Nepal
S Pelz
Energy for Sustainable Development Energy Access
2018
A critical review of modern approaches for multidimensional energy poverty measurement
S Pelz, S Pachauri, S Groh
WIREs Energy and Environment Energy Access