What is MACTool? 

MACTool (the Marginal Abatement Cost Tool) is a transparent and flexible software tool which provides an easy way to build marginal abatement cost curves, and calculate break-even carbon prices. It has a user-friendly interface which guides the user through a simple data entry process, from which it automatically generates output.

 
MACTool was developed by a team led by Christophe de Gouvello and supported by ESMAP based on World Bank Low Carbon Development studies in Brazil and Mexico.

 What does MACtool do?

There is tremendous demand for low-carbon planning. Many national and sub-national leaderships have adopted (or plan to adopt) voluntary emission reduction targets. Leaders in these countries often face challenging questions:

 Which mitigation options should we choose from the pool of available options?
 

• What are the potential results associated with each option?
•  What does it cost to implement each option?

MACTool provides answers to these questions.

The tool helps leaders compare the costs and benefits of emission reduction options that can be used to build low-carbon scenarios at a national or sub-national level. It provides a cost-benefit comparison of these options using a social discount rate by calculating the Marginal Abatement Cost and an estimate of the incentives needed to make these options attractive for the private sector by calculating break-even carbon prices. It also enables government to assess the total investment needed to shift towards low carbon growth. MACTool can also be used to test the possibility of a domestic cap and trade system, by exploring which sectors would be likely to respond to a given carbon price.
 

Technically, MACTool performs the following analysis:

1. Builds a reference scenario (several cases can be generated) which:

a) Reflects projected investment plans for Business As Usual (BAU) technologies along the planning period.
b) Reflects annual O&M cost, revenues, and emissions associated with the BAU technologies.

2. Builds a low-carbon scenario for each individual low-carbon option (supply side and demand side) which:

a) Allows users to schedule investments for low-carbon alternatives along the planning period.
b) Reflects annual O&M cost, revenues, and emissions associated with the low-carbon option.

3. Calculates differential of emissions, investments, costs and revenues between the two scenarios: marginal abatement costs, break-even carbon price, incremental investment.

4. Generate customized curves:

a) MAC, break-even carbon price, investment intensity.
b) Emissions and emissions reductions (MtCO₂/year).
c) Generation (MW) and Energy (MWh) per sub-sector.

What other countries have implemented MACTool?

In addition to Brazil, countries such as Uruguay, Colombia, Nigeria, Macedonia and Vietnam are currently implementing MACTool.

Is there any training or support on how to use MACtool?

MACTool comes with embedded videos which take the user step-by-step through the process of using MACTool. Additionally, ESMAP provides training and varying levels of operational and technical support to teams using MACTool. Training can be arranged for qualified teams. For more information, please contact Pedzi Makumbe at esmap@worldbank.org.
 

Low Carbon Development > Climate Resilience and Adaptation > Modeling Tools and E-Learning: MACTool