Introduction
GCAM previously known as miniCAM, short for Mini-Climate change Assessment Model. GCAM models interactions among
various systems that reflect interactions between society-earth-climate in an integrated mode for global
changes. Broadly, the modeled systems belong to energy, economy, technology, land use, and climate sectors. The
GCAM incorporates information from various sources including international trades, markets, land use, population
growth, labor productivity, and computes energy supplies and demands across various systems as well as variety
of other variables including land use, greenhouse gas emissions and radioactive elements. The model’s wide
variety of calculations allows its use for a wide range of applications, which chiefly include compare,
analysis, and exploration of policies in different sectors (e.g., energy, land use, emissions) for different
future scenarios.
GCAM deals input of two types, XML files and XML database, and its model interface allows viewing and modifying
these databases directly in addition to several other functions. GCAM models the entire globe dividing it into
14 subregions, however, its modular structure and its availability under open source allow customization of GCAM
specific to a region or input of interest.
