IPCC SRES Emissions Scenarios Through 2100

Forty distinct global and regional greenhouse gas and sulfur emissions scenarios project future levels every decade from 1990 to 2100. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change produced this foundational data set, which underpins major climate change assessments. Columbia University's CIESIN distributes the collection.

Use Cases

• Compare projected CO2 levels across different socio-economic scenario families for the 21st century.
• Analyze decadal trends in regional sulfur emissions under alternative development pathways.
• Use the 40 scenario time series as inputs for climate impact models requiring future emissions data.
• Benchmark newer emissions scenarios against the established SRES framework for historical context.

Strengths

• 40 distinct scenarios provide a broad exploration of possible futures.
• Projections span a 110-year period from 1990 to 2100.
• Scenarios are based on an open, peer-reviewed process with wide participation.

Limitations

• Scenario narratives and underlying driver data are not included, limiting interpretability.
• Projections end in 2100 and do not cover more recent scenario frameworks like SSPs.
• Specific row counts and column details for the underlying data tables are unknown.

Provenance

Source

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), distributed by Columbia University CIESIN.

Collection Method

Based on assessment of driving forces, emissions literature, and alternative modeling approaches.

Time Range

1990 to 2100, with 10-year intervals.

Freshness

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Geography

Global and regional coverage.