The Energy Modeling Forum (EMF) is a structured forum for discussing important issues related to energy and the environment. The EMF was established in 1976 at Stanford University. The EMF works through a series of ad hoc working groups, each focusing on specific corporate or policy decisions. The EMF provides a non-partisan platform that ensures objective consideration of opposing views. Participation is by invitation only. Since the late 1990s, the EMF has made contributions to the economics of climate change, as reflected in the reports of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and in the field of integrated assessment modeling more generally. John Weyant is the current director of the EMF.

Ethos

The EMF was convened in 1976 over concerns that the insights that large-scale energy models could provide policymakers were being overshadowed by the "plethora of detailed quantitative results" being disseminated and discussed. As a result, the EMF sought to bring energy modelers together to provide a proper context for their work. Indeed, the EMF was "formed to foster better communication between the builders and users of energy models in energy planning and policy analysis". The EMF periodically establishes ad hoc working groups to conduct studies on selected energy topics. A working group then identifies relevant existing models and sets a series of tests to illuminate the basic structure and behavior of each model. Results are then compared, and the strengths and weaknesses of each model are documented in a report, which, as of 1982 is freely available.

List of EMF projects

Reports for most completed projects are available on the EMF website. However, reports since 2006 occasionally been published exclusively in special editions of paywalled academic journals instead.