About KnowlEdge
KE is a consulting company with international presence, supporting its clients in exploring socio-economic and environmental complexity to inform decision making for sustainability.
KE is a leader in developing customized methodologies and tools for the elaboration of integrated strategies, action plans and investment programs for green economy/green growth.
This includes work in the context of climate adaptation and mitigation, with emphasis on reducing vulnerability and enhancing resilience.
Why work with KE?
KE offers a multidisciplinary team, with expertise across geographies and thematic areas (e.g. national and provincial work, integrating knowledge across sectors for climate mitigation and adaptation and with various modeling techniques, experience in modeling health co-benefits of climate action).
Value for money
KE brings innovation, attention to client needs, knowledge and expertise to fully customize models to the goals of the project. Each model developed by KE is unique, in that it is personalized to the project and local context. KE’s experience with multi-methods and models as well as knowledge integration is unmatched globally. This is also testified by the number of publications authored in the topic of modeling for green economy and green growth in the past 15 years by KE and partners. Further, these publications are not only technical. Instead, most are policy focused. This highlights how the team at KE can translate complex messages into policy insights. Further, KE staff actively works on both the creation of training materials and manuals and on the creation of new model applications. This shows our attention to always being ahead of the curve and our drive for innovation.
Capacity building
KE staff regularly carry out training activities, for the vast majority of modeling projects. This has been performed for NCE/WRI in Indonesia and Ethiopia, but also for Save the Children, GGGI and other projects in all continents. Dr. Bassi has also developed and led the UNEP-UNITAR course on Green Economy for all its 7 editions, is the lead author of the new PAGE course on Green Economy Modeling, and teaches regularly short courses at the university as well (e.g. at ISPI in Milan, on Green Economy).
Policy analysis and outreach
The assessments created by KE have been presented at all levels of decision making. KE has in fact led the creation of many national and provincial policy documents (e.g. climate adaptation in Mauritius, energy efficiency in Cambodia, LEDS in Ethiopia and Burkina Faso). This has led to presentations to heads of State, ministers and technical staff. Further, Dr. Bassi has presented his work in several national and international policy and research fora, as well as to the press.
Multi-method modeling
KE has worked at more than 30 projects that have resulted in the integration of methods and models. Many more projects resulted in the creation of brand new integrated models based on System Dynamics, used for knowledge integration.
Dr. Bassi is the lead author of several reports that compare methods and models for Green Economy and Green Growth assessments. This includes work performed for UNEP, UNECA, WWF, TNC, WHO as well as UNFCCC, UN Statistics Division and TEEB. Further, Dr. Bassi has actively worked with these models and connected them to one another in multiple occasions. Specifically, we integrated CGE models and LEAP, TIMES with GEM for the ADB and WRI, linked CGE to System Dynamics with NCE in Brazil, linked InVEST with System Dynamics in 3 provinces of Indonesia with TNC, and more.
Climate change analysis
KE has been working in this area since its creation in 2010. KE is a member of the GCF community of practice (one of 3 organizations Worldwide) for Climate Information Services and Early Warning Systems (CIEWS) and was the lead organization tasked with the creation of sector guidelines for all proposals to be submitted to the GCF. KE is also actively engaged with the Copernicus program of the EU, to link climate data to System Dynamics models, via asset-level projects with IISD and via Aroha for national assessments.
Green economy modeling
Dr. Bassi has worked on Green Economy models since 2008, with UNEP’s Green Economy Initiative. This led to the creation of the global Green Economy model, published in 2012. Dr. Bassi, with KE has since supported about 50 countries with the formulation and assessment of green economy strategies. In 2019, Dr. Bassi was also hired by the UN Statistics Division and UNEP to write a manual on the potential use of SEEA in scenario planning. Similar work was already carried out in Indonesia, where environmental accounts developed via WAVES were introduced in the national IV2045 model. Full integration of spatial data, including for coastal resilience, was achieved with Aroha and implemented in 8 country studies in 2022-2023. This places KE at the forefront of this area of research and work.
Meet the Team
Dr. Andrea M. Bassi
Founder and CEO
Andrea has 20 years of experience working with more than 40 governments and international organizations on the development of customized models for the assessment of outcomes of policy and investment across social, economic and environmental indicators. Andrea holds a Ph.D. and M.Phil. in System Dynamics from the University of Bergen, Norway, a M.Sc. in Economics from LIUC, Italy and a post-graduate diploma on Modeling the Environment from the University of Catalunia, Spain.
Mr. Georg Pallaske
Project Manager
Georg Pallaske has joined KE in September 2016 and works at the customization and validation of System Dynamics models, and their integration with other modeling platforms, including energy planning and land use models. Georg specializes in country-level assessments, using the Green Economy Model (GEM). Georg holds a M.Phil. in System Dynamics and MBA from the European Master Programme (Erasmus Mundus) and is currently doing his Ph.D. at the University of Bergen in Norway.
Mr. Marco Guzzetti
Sustainability Analyst
Marco is a Research Fellow supporting the integration of spatial analysis in the systems models developed by KE, and performs Cost Benefit Analysis for sustainable agriculture and land use projects. Marco worked at the United Nations ESCAP in Bangkok, the European Parliament in Brussels and the Lombardy Foundation for the Environment prior to joining KE. He holds an MSc in Environmental Management from University of Stirling, UK and a BSc in Biology from University of Milan, Italy.
Ms. Nathalia Niño
Junior Project Manager
Nathalia is a System Dynamics modeler with experience in sustainability assessments, ranging from projects on resources management (e.g. water and waste) and infrastructure (e.g. public transport and urban resilience).
Nathalia’s work with KE includes macroeconomic and asset-level assessments. She holds a M.Phil. in System Dynamics from the University of Bergen, Norway, and a B.Eng. in Industrial Engineering from Icesi University, Colombia.