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Research Fellow

Department of Chemical Engineering

Imperial College London

https://profiles.imperial.ac.uk/a.alkhourdajie

a.alkhourdajie (at) imperial (dot) ac (dot) uk

Guest Research Scholar

Integrated Assessment and Climate Change Research Group

Energy, Climate, and Environment Program

International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis

https://iiasa.ac.at/staff/alaa-al-khourdajie

alkhourdajie (at) iiasa (dot) ac (dot) at

Lead Author

7th Assessment Report

IPCC

https://www.ipcc.ch/assessment-report/ar7/

Global Environment Outlook - 7th Assessment

UN Environment Programme

https://www.unep.org/global-environment-outlook/geo-7

High-impact climate events, tipping points, and irreversible regional impacts assessment

World Climate Resource Programme

https://www.wcrp-climate.org/slc-activities/tpa

Bio

Dr Alaa Al Khourdajie is a Research Fellow at Imperial College London, Department of Chemical Engineering. His work is focused on climate change mitigation, employing Integrated Assessment Models (IAMs) to analyse long-term scenarios for transitioning to low-emission societies. This involves a multidisciplinary approach, examining the interplay of energy systems, technology, policy, economics, and societal factors, with a focus on pathways to meet the Paris Agreement goals.

Dr Al Khourdajie leads Work Package 4 in the EU Horizon project DIAMOND. His research extends across several key themes. He investigates various mitigation approaches, including carbon capture and storage (CCS). A significant focus of his recent work is the impact of disruptive events on mitigation scenarios, for which he led the development of a systematic scenario framework. This also ties with his work on understanding how investors' expectations about climate risks and opportunities can enable or hinder climate change mitigation.

Methodologically, Dr Al Khourdajie applies decomposition methods and explores advanced machine learning techniques (e.g. dimensionality reduction and clustering techniques) to assess large scenario ensembles. Furthermore, he is actively researching the role of artificial intelligence (AI) in augmenting mitigation scenario development and in enhancing the processes of scientific assessments of climate change.

A key aspect of Dr Al Khourdajie's career is his engagement at the science-policy interface, contributing to major global assessments. He is a Lead Author (LA) for the IPCC's Working Group III (Climate Mitigation) 7th Assessment Report (AR7) (2025-29), a Member of the IPCC's Task Group on Data (TG-Data), and LA of the UN Environment Programme's Global Environment Outlook (GEO7, 2022-25), building on his previous role as a Senior Scientist in the Technical Support Unit for the IPCC and a Contributing Author during AR6. His assessment work extends to specialised topics, where he is an LA for the World Climate Research Programme's (WCRP) assessment of high-impact climate events and tipping points, and currently serves on the Scientific Steering Committee (SSC) of the upcoming joint WCRP-IPCC Co-sponsored Workshop on Earth system high impact events, tipping points, and their consequences.

Dr Al Khourdajie also informs critical policy and legal forums. He has supported UNFCCC negotiations and SBSTA, including the Global Stocktake, and was part of the IPCC team briefing the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague to provide scientific insights in preparation for the case on 'obligations of States in respect of climate change,' following the United Nations General Assembly resolution 77/276. Furthermore, his work extends to the finance sector, where he serves on the Academic Board for the upcoming global bond index addressing fossil fuel expansion, an initiative by the University of Cambridge and Bloomberg.

Dr Al Khourdajie is a Guest Research Scholar at the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA) since May 2022, and has been a guest researcher at Utrecht University and the Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency (PBL) in summer 2023.

He holds a Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Bath (2017), focusing on applied game theory and climate change cooperation.

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