Shared socio-economic pathways (Q997)
Subject, term, tag: Shared socio-economic pathways
- Shared socio-economic pathways (SSPs)
| Language | Label | Description | Also known as |
|---|---|---|---|
| English | Shared socio-economic pathways |
Subject, term, tag: Shared socio-economic pathways |
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Statements
IPCC Glossary v1.5
1 reference
27 May 2026
Shared Socio-economic Pathways (SSPs) have been developed to complement the Representative Concentration Pathways (RCPs). By design, the RCP emission and concentration pathways were stripped of their association with a certain socio-economic development. Different levels of emissions and climate change along the dimension of the RCPs can hence be explored against the backdrop of different socio-economic development pathways (SSPs) on the other dimension in a matrix. This integrative SSP-RCP framework is now widely used in the climate impact and policy analysis literature, where climate projections obtained under the RCP scenarios are analysed against the backdrop of various SSPs. As several emissions updates were due, a new set of emissions scenarios was developed in conjunction with the SSPs. Hence, the abbreviation SSP is now used for two things: On the one hand SSP1, SSP2, …, SSP5 are used to denote the five socio-economic scenario families. On the other hand, the abbreviations SSP1-1.9, SSP1-2.6, …, SSP5-8.5 are used to denote the newly developed emissions scenarios that are the result of an SSP implementation within an integrated assessment model. Those SSP scenarios are bare of climate policy assumption, but in combination with so-called shared policy assumptions (SPAs), various approximate radiative forcing levels of 1.9, 2.6, …, or 8.5 W m –2 are reached by the end of the century, respectively. (English)
IPCC Glossary v1.5
1 reference
27 May 2026