JGCRI Deputy Director
JGCRI Deputy Director

Biography

Matthew Gidden is the deputy director of the Joint Global Change Research Institute—a partnership between the Department of Energy’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) and the University of Maryland at College Park—and is jointly appointed as a research professor in the UMD School of Public Policy’s Center for Global Sustainability. He focuses on studying sustainable pathways for meeting societal energy demand while mitigating changes to the environment. He engages across a variety of scientific communities and investes interdisciplinary issues, including the multi-sector dynamics of energy and economic transitions on people and the environment and the differential impact of approaches to global and national energy futures. Much of his work is focused on the intersection of energy systems analysis and policy and he has published widely in the scientific literature and also served as an contributing author of the 6th and a lead author of the 7th Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). He is particularly interested in the role that novel technologies can play in future energy and economic systems, including carbon dioxide removal and nuclear systems. He is keen to understand both the benefits and risks of different technologies, including concerns related to nuclear nonproliferation, hearkening back to his very first internship at PNNL in 2009.

Trained as a nuclear engineer, Matthew Gidden received his PhD and master’s degrees from the University of Wisconsin at Madison, and an undergraduate degree in the same field from Texas A&M University. He worked for nearly a decade at the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis based just outside of Vienna, Austria, where he gained deep expertise in multi-sector dynamics.

Disciplines and Skills

  • Earth System Science and Engineering
  • Global Change
  • Nuclear Fuel Cycle
  • Nonproliferation and Safeguards

Education

  • PhD in nuclear engineering/engineering physics, University of Wisconsin-Madison
  • BS in nuclear engineering, Texas A&M University

Publications

2025

  • Welder, L., Grant, N., and Gidden, M. J.: pathways-ensemble-analysis v1.1.0: an open-source library for systematic and robust analysis of pathway ensembles, Geosci. Model Dev., 18, 239–252, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-18-239-2025, 2025.
  • Gidden, M., Gasser, T., Grassi, G., Forsell, N., Janssens, I., Lamb, W., Minx, J., Nicholls, Z., Steinhauser, J., and Riahi, K.: Aligning climate scenarios to emissions inventories shifts global benchmarks, EGU General Assembly 2024, Vienna, Austria, 14–19 Apr 2024, EGU24-218, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu24-218, 2024.
  • Adriano Vinca, Marina Andrijevic, Edward Byers et al. Worldwide benefits of fair climate finance and mitigation, 04 March 2025, PREPRINT (Version 1) available at Research Square [https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-5968289/v1].
  • Kellou, D., Pratama, Y., Zuniga, C., Riany, F., Gidden, M. J., Heede, R., Ganti, G., and Schleussner, C.-F.: Evaluating the responsibility of investor-owned carbon majors to invest in direct air carbon capture and storage, EGU General Assembly 2025, Vienna, Austria, 27 Apr–2 May 2025, EGU25-18077, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu25-18077, 2025.
  • Vinca, A., Kikstra, J., Andrijevic, M., Byers, E., Pelz, S., Gidden, M., Krey, V., and Riahi, K.: Climate finance needs under macroeconomic and climate uncertainty:damage functions integration in IAM, EGU General Assembly 2025, Vienna, Austria, 27 Apr–2 May 2025, EGU25-20093, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu25-20093, 2025.
  • Schwinger, J., Merfort, L., Bauer, N., Bernardello, R., Butenschön, M., Bourgeois, T., Farooq, U., Gidden, M., Gupta, S., Lee, H., Mengis, N., Moustakis, Y., Nieradzik, L., Peano, D., Pongratz, J., Sauer, P., Tourigny, E., and Wårlind, D.: Assessing Earth system feedbacks in deep mitigation scenarios with activity-driven simulation of carbon dioxide removal, EGU General Assembly 2025, Vienna, Austria, 27 Apr–2 May 2025, EGU25-16915, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu25-16915, 2025.
  • Ganti, G., Pelz, S., Klönne, U., Gidden, M., Schleussner, C.-F., and Nicholls, Z.: Preventive carbon dioxide removal under climate response uncertainty, EGU General Assembly 2025, Vienna, Austria, 27 Apr–2 May 2025, EGU25-12619, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu25-12619, 2025.
  • Grassi, G., Peters, G.P., Canadell, J.G. et al. Improving land-use emission estimates under the Paris Agreement. Nat Sustain 8, 579–581 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41893-025-01565-1.
  • Gidden, M., Joshi, S., Armitage, J., Christ, A.-B., Boettcher, M., Brutschin, E., Koberle, A., Schellnhuber, H. J., Schleussner, C.-F., Riahi, K., and Rogelj, J.: A prudent planetary boundary for geological carbon storage, EGU General Assembly 2025, Vienna, Austria, 27 Apr–2 May 2025, EGU25-148, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu25-148, 2025.

2024

  • Gaurav Ganti, Thomas Gasser, Mai Bui et al. Carbon dioxide removal deployment consistent with global climate objectives, 06 February 2024, PREPRINT (Version 1) available at Research Square [https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-3719978/v1].
  • Welder, L., Grant, N., and Gidden, M. J.: pathways-ensemble-analysis v1.0.0: an open-source library for systematic and robust analysis of pathways ensembles, EGUsphere [preprint], https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-761, 2024.
  • Lamb, W.F., Gasser, T., Roman-Cuesta, R.M. et al. The carbon dioxide removal gap. Nat. Clim. Chang. 14, 644–651 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-024-01984-6.
  • Lamb, W.F., Gasser, T., Roman-Cuesta, R.M. et al. Current national proposals are off track to meet carbon dioxide removal needs. Nat. Clim. Chang. 14, 555–556 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-024-01993-5.
  • Ganti, G., Gasser, T., Bui, M. et al. Evaluating the near- and long-term role of carbon dioxide removal in meeting global climate objectives. Commun Earth Environ 5, 377 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-024-01527-z.
  • Lamb, W.F., Gasser, T., Roman-Cuesta, R.M. et al. Author Correction: Current national proposals are off track to meet carbon dioxide removal needs. Nat. Clim. Chang. 14, 883 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-024-02065-4.
  • Sanderson, B. M., Booth, B. B. B., Dunne, J., Eyring, V., Fisher, R. A., Friedlingstein, P., Gidden, M. J., Hajima, T., Jones, C. D., Jones, C. G., King, A., Koven, C. D., Lawrence, D. M., Lowe, J., Mengis, N., Peters, G. P., Rogelj, J., Smith, C., Snyder, A. C., Simpson, I. R., Swann, A. L. S., Tebaldi, C., Ilyina, T., Schleussner, C.-F., Séférian, R., Samset, B. H., van Vuuren, D., and Zaehle, S.: The need for carbon-emissions-driven climate projections in CMIP7, Geosci. Model Dev., 17, 8141–8172, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-8141-2024, 2024.
  • Lamb, W.F., Gasser, T., Roman-Cuesta, R.M. et al. Author Correction: Current national proposals are off track to meet carbon dioxide removal needs. Nat. Clim. Chang. 14, 1323 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-024-02052-9.
  • William F Lamb*, Carl-Friedrich Schleussner, Giacomo Grassi, Stephen M Smith, Matthew J Gidden, Oliver Geden, Artur Runge-Metzger, Naomi E Vaughan, Gregory Nemet, Injy Johnstone, et, al. Countries need to provide clarity on the role of carbon dioxide removal in their climate pledges, 2024 Environ. Res. Lett. 19 121001, DOI 10.1088/1748-9326/ad91c7.

2023

  • Gidden, M., Gasser, T., Grassi, G., Forsell, N., Janssens, I., Lamb, W., Minx, J., Nicholls, Z., Steinhauser, J., and Riahi, K.: Policy implications from aligning IPCC scenarios to national land emissions inventories, EGU General Assembly 2023, Vienna, Austria, 24–28 Apr 2023, EGU23-6823, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu23-6823, 2023.
  • Ganti, G., Lejeune, Q., Gidden, M., Smith, C., Nauels, A., and Schleussner, C.-F.: A precautionary approach to carbon dioxide removal needs, EGU General Assembly 2023, Vienna, Austria, 23–28 Apr 2023, EGU23-14436, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu23-14436, 2023.
  • Matthew J Gidden, Elina Brutschin, Gaurav Ganti, Gamze Unlu, Behnam Zakeri, Oliver Fricko, Benjamin Mitterrutzner, Francesco Lovat and Keywan Riahi, Fairness and feasibility in deep mitigation pathways with novel carbon dioxide removal considering institutional capacity to mitigate, 2023 Environ. Res. Lett. 18 074006. DOI 10.1088/1748-9326/acd8d5.
  • Sanderson, B. M., Booth, B. B. B., Dunne, J., Eyring, V., Fisher, R. A., Friedlingstein, P., Gidden, M. J., Hajima, T., Jones, C. D., Jones, C., King, A., Koven, C. D., Lawrence, D. M., Lowe, J., Mengis, N., Peters, G. P., Rogelj, J., Smith, C., Snyder, A. C., Simpson, I. R., Swann, A. L. S., Tebaldi, C., Ilyina, T., Schleussner, C.-F., Seferian, R., Samset, B. H., van Vuuren, D., and Zaehle, S.: The need for carbon emissions-driven climate projections in CMIP7, EGUsphere [preprint], https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2023-2127, 2023.
  • Gidden, M.J., Gasser, T., Grassi, G. et al. Aligning climate scenarios to emissions inventories shifts global benchmarks. Nature 624, 102–108 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-023-06724-y.

2022

  • Leblanc, F., Bibas, R., Mima, S. et al. The contribution of bioenergy to the decarbonization of transport: a multi-model assessment. Climatic Change 170, 21 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10584-021-03245-3
  • Carl-Friedrich Schleussner, Gaurav Ganti, Joeri Rogelj, et al. Modelling assumptions rather than peak warming determine CO 2 removal needs in 1.5°C pathways. ESS Open Archive. February 04, 2022. DOI: 10.1002/essoar.10506712.2.
  • Ganti, G., J. Brecha, R., D. Lamboll, R., Nicholls, Z., Hare, B., Lewis, J., Meinshausen, M., Schaeffer, M., J. Smith, C., and J. Gidden, M.: Assessing the consistency of institutional pathways with the Paris Agreement, EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022, EGU22-9739, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-9739, 2022.
  • Kikstra, J. S., Nicholls, Z. R. J., Smith, C. J., Lewis, J., Lamboll, R. D., Byers, E., Sandstad, M., Meinshausen, M., Gidden, M. J., Rogelj, J., Kriegler, E., Peters, G. P., Fuglestvedt, J. S., Skeie, R. B., Samset, B. H., Wienpahl, L., van Vuuren, D. P., van der Wijst, K.-I., Al Khourdajie, A., Forster, P. M., Reisinger, A., Schaeffer, R., and Riahi, K.: The IPCC Sixth Assessment Report WGIII climate assessment of mitigation pathways: from emissions to global temperatures, EGUsphere [preprint], https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2022-471, 2022.
  • Matthew Gidden, Thomas Gasser, Giacomo Grassi, et al. Policy guidance and pitfalls aligning IPCC scenarios to national land emissions inventories. ESS Open Archive. October 24, 2022. DOI: 10.1002/essoar.10512676.2.

2021

  • Huppmann, D. and Gidden, M.: pyam - an open-source Python package for energy system scenario analysis & visualization, EGU General Assembly 2021, online, 19–30 Apr 2021, EGU21-13096, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu21-13096, 2021.
  • Hörsch, J., Aboumahboub, T., Ganti, G., Gidden, M., Bir Shrestha, H., Welder, L., and Zimmer, A.: Replacing Coal with Wind and Solar in South Korea’s electricity system, EGU General Assembly 2021, online, 19–30 Apr 2021, EGU21-11085, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu21-11085, 2021.
  • Geiges, A., Fyson, C., Hans, F., Jeffery, L., Mooldijk, S., Gidden, M., Ramapope, D., Hare, B., Stockwell, C., Gonzales, S., and Nascimento, L.: Implications of current net zero targets for long-term emissions pathways and warming levels, EGU General Assembly 2021, online, 19–30 Apr 2021, EGU21-11018, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu21-11018, 2021.
  • Pachauri, S., Poblete-Cazenave, M., Aktas, A. et al. Access to clean cooking services in energy and emission scenarios after COVID-19. Nat Energy 6, 1067–1076 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41560-021-00911-9.
  • Höhne, N., Gidden, M.J., den Elzen, M. et al. Wave of net zero emission targets opens window to meeting the Paris Agreement. Nat. Clim. Chang. 11, 820–822 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-021-01142-2.

2020

  • Aboumahboub, T., Brecha, R. J., Shrestha, H. B., Fuentes, U., Geiges, A., Hare, W., Schaeffer, M., Welder, L., & Gidden, M. J. (2020). Decarbonization of Australia’s Energy System: Integrated Modeling of the Transformation of Electricity, Transportation, and Industrial Sectors. Energies, 13(15), 3805. https://doi.org/10.3390/en13153805.
  • Aboumahboub, T., Brecha, R., Gidden, M., Geiges, A., and Bir Shrestha, H.: Integrating energy sectors in a state-resolved energy system model for Australia , EGU General Assembly 2020, Online, 4–8 May 2020, EGU2020-20428, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu2020-20428, 2020
  • Byers, E. A., Riahi, K., Kriegler, E., Krey, V., Schaeffer, R., van Vuuren, D., Gidden, M., Huppmann, D., Kikstra, J., Lamboll, R., Meinshausen, M., Nicholls, Z., and Rogelj, J.: Systematic scenario process to support analysis of long-term emissions scenarios and transformation pathways for the IPCC WG3 6th Assessment Report, EGU General Assembly 2020, Online, 4–8 May 2020, EGU2020-20564, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu2020-20564, 2020.
  • Feng, L., Smith, S. J., Braun, C., Crippa, M., Gidden, M. J., Hoesly, R., Klimont, Z., van Marle, M., van den Berg, M., and van der Werf, G. R.: The generation of gridded emissions data for CMIP6, Geosci. Model Dev., 13, 461–482, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-13-461-2020, 2020.
  • Meinshausen, M., Nicholls, Z. R. J., Lewis, J., Gidden, M. J., Vogel, E., Freund, M., Beyerle, U., Gessner, C., Nauels, A., Bauer, N., Canadell, J. G., Daniel, J. S., John, A., Krummel, P. B., Luderer, G., Meinshausen, N., Montzka, S. A., Rayner, P. J., Reimann, S., Smith, S. J., van den Berg, M., Velders, G. J. M., Vollmer, M. K., and Wang, R. H. J.: The shared socio-economic pathway (SSP) greenhouse gas concentrations and their extensions to 2500, Geosci. Model Dev., 13, 3571–3605, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-13-3571-2020, 2020.
  • Gidden, M., Nicholls, Z., Byers, E., Ganti, G., Kikstra, J., Lamboll, R., Meinshausen, M., Riahi, K., and Rogelj, J.: Climate assessment of emissions scenarios for use in WG3 of the IPCC’s Sixth Assessment Report, EGU General Assembly 2020, Online, 4–8 May 2020, EGU2020-18182, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu2020-18182, 2020.
  • Rogelj, J., Huppmann, D., Krey, V., Riahi, K., Clarke, L., Gidden, M., Nicholls, Z., and Meinshausen, M.: A new scenario logic for the Paris Agreement long-term temperature goal, EGU General Assembly 2020, Online, 4–8 May 2020, EGU2020-10262, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu2020-10262, 2020.

2019

  • Stefan Pfenninger, Lion Hirth, Ingmar Schlecht, Eva Schmid, Frauke Wiese, Tom Brown, Chris Davis, Matthew Gidden, Heidi Heinrichs, Clara Heuberger, Simon Hilpert, Uwe Krien, Carsten Matke, Arjuna Nebel, Robbie Morrison, Berit Müller, Guido Pleßmann, Matthias Reeg, Jörn C. Richstein, Abhishek Shivakumar, Iain Staffell, Tim Tröndle, Clemens Wingenbach, Opening the black box of energy modelling: Strategies and lessons learned, Energy Strategy Reviews, Volume 19, 2018, Pages 63-71, ISSN 2211-467X, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.esr.2017.12.002.
  • Lu Liu, Simon Parkinson, Matthew Gidden, Edward Byers, Yusuke Satoh, Keywan Riahi and Barton Forman, Quantifying the potential for reservoirs to secure future surface water yields in the world’s largest river basins, 2018 Environ. Res. Lett. 13 044026, DOI 10.1088/1748-9326/aab2b5.
  • Fiedler, S., Stevens, B., Gidden, M., Smith, S. J., Riahi, K., and van Vuuren, D.: First forcing estimates from the future CMIP6 scenarios of anthropogenic aerosol optical properties and an associated Twomey effect, Geosci. Model Dev., 12, 989–1007, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-12-989-2019, 2019.
  • Gidden, M. J., Riahi, K., Smith, S. J., Fujimori, S., Luderer, G., Kriegler, E., van Vuuren, D. P., van den Berg, M., Feng, L., Klein, D., Calvin, K., Doelman, J. C., Frank, S., Fricko, O., Harmsen, M., Hasegawa, T., Havlik, P., Hilaire, J., Hoesly, R., Horing, J., Popp, A., Stehfest, E., and Takahashi, K.: Global emissions pathways under different socioeconomic scenarios for use in CMIP6: a dataset of harmonized emissions trajectories through the end of the century, Geosci. Model Dev., 12, 1443–1475, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-12-1443-2019, 2019.
  • Gidden et al., (2019). pyam: a Python Package for the Analysis and Visualization of Models of the Interaction of Climate, Human, and Environmental Systems. Journal of Open Source Software, 4(33), 1095, https://doi.org/10.21105/joss.01095.
  • Fiedler, S., Stevens, B., Gidden, M., Smith, S. J., Riahi, K., and van Vuuren, D.: First forcing estimates from the future CMIP6 scenarios of anthropogenic aerosol optical properties and an associated Twomey effect, Geosci. Model Dev., 12, 989–1007, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-12-989-2019, 2019.
  • Gidden, M. J., Riahi, K., Smith, S. J., Fujimori, S., Luderer, G., Kriegler, E., van Vuuren, D. P., van den Berg, M., Feng, L., Klein, D., Calvin, K., Doelman, J. C., Frank, S., Fricko, O., Harmsen, M., Hasegawa, T., Havlik, P., Hilaire, J., Hoesly, R., Horing, J., Popp, A., Stehfest, E., and Takahashi, K.: Global emissions pathways under different socioeconomic scenarios for use in CMIP6: a dataset of harmonized emissions trajectories through the end of the century, Geosci. Model Dev., 12, 1443–1475, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-12-1443-2019, 2019.
  • Daniel Huppmann, Matthew Gidden, Oliver Fricko, Peter Kolp, Clara Orthofer, Michael Pimmer, Nikolay Kushin, Adriano Vinca, Alessio Mastrucci, Keywan Riahi, Volker Krey, The MESSAGEix Integrated Assessment Model and the ix modeling platform (ixmp): An open framework for integrated and cross-cutting analysis of energy, climate, the environment, and sustainable development, Environmental Modelling & Software, Volume 112, 2019, Pages 143-156, ISSN 1364-8152, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envsoft.2018.11.012.