2025
Forum on Scenarios for Climate and Societal Futures
16-18 July 2025
University of Leeds, UK
The Forum on Scenarios for Climate and Societal Futures (Scenarios Forum 2025) is an influential multi-disciplinary conference organised by the Priestley Centre for Climate Futures and the University of Leeds, building on the successes of previous forums in Denver (2019) and IIASA (2022).
Dedicated to advancing the use of socioeconomic scenarios in addressing some of the most complex and interconnected challenges of our time, this year’s forum was particularly timely as we navigate an era defined by rapid environmental shifts, social upheavals, and global uncertainties.
Youtube playlist from the Scenarios Forum
2022
Forum on Scenarios for Climate and Societal Futures
https://www.scenariosforum.org/
20-22 June, 2022
International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA), Laxenburg, Austria
The Forum on Scenarios for Climate and Societal Futures brings together a diverse set of communities who are using or developing scenarios for use in climate change and sustainability analysis to:
- exchange experiences, ideas, and lessons learned;
- identify opportunities for synergies and collaboration;
- reflect on the use of scenarios; and
- identify knowledge gaps for future research.
The Scenarios Forum 2022 is presented by the International Committee on New Integrated Climate Change Assessment Scenarios (ICONICS) and the hosted by the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA). For any further queries, please do not hesitate to contact the Organizing Committee.
2019
Forum on Scenarios for Climate and Societal Futures
March 11-13, 2019
University of Denver, Denver, Colorado
A rapidly expanding set of activities is extending and applying the new framework on integrated climate change scenarios. Researchers are using Shared Socioeconomic Pathways (SSPs), Representative Concentration Pathways (RCPs), and other approaches to characterizing future societal and environmental conditions to investigate global change issues, including the Sustainable Development Goals. The Scenarios Forum aimed to bring together a diverse set of communities working with the new framework to share their experiences, progress, and plans. By taking stock of progress and facilitating scenario-related research, this meeting informed the use of scenarios in the IPCC Sixth Assessment Report (AR6) and helped ensure a research base sufficient to inform future assessments and policy initiatives.
The Forum was presented by the International Committee on New Integrated Climate Change Assessment Scenarios (ICONICS) and the Pardee Center for International Futures at the University of Denver.
2015
Start Date: Monday, May 18, 2015
End Date: Wednesday, May 20, 2015
Location: Laxenburg, Austria
The purpose of the meeting is to take stock of the achievements of the process during the IPCC AR5 (5th assessment report) cycle, to facilitate dialogue and share available information across scientific communities, and to discuss the possible role of scenarios in future IPCC products.
2014
Start Date: Monday, December 15, 2014
End Date: Friday, December 19, 2014
Location: 2896
Session Link: 2014 AGU Fall Meeting
Session ID#: 2896
Session Description
Researchers assessing the future impacts of climate change rely on projections of future climate conditions, but the number of scenarios that can be simulated by climate and earth system models is limited. Pattern scaling and climate model emulation has been presumed to be able to fill this gap, but it is unclear whether these approaches are up to the task. This session invites presentations by users and developers of emulation techniques in order to take stock of the current state of this research area and its most promising future directions. The goal is to provide guidance to impact modelers and to the design of climate model experiments in the Climate Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP6), which would greatly benefit from the use of model emulation to fill gaps in its scenario coverage.
Co-Sponsor(s)
- SI – Societal Impacts and Policy Sciences
Index Terms
1626 Global climate models [GLOBAL CHANGE]
1627 Coupled models of the climate system [GLOBAL CHANGE]
1630 Impacts of global change [GLOBAL CHANGE]
1637 Regional climate change [GLOBAL CHANGE]
Primary Convener: Claudia Tebaldi, Climate Central, Princeton, NJ, United States; National Center for Atmospheric Research, Climate and Global Dynamics Division, Boulder, CO, United States
Co-Convener: Brian C O’Neill, NCAR, Boulder, CO, United States
Start Date: Sunday, August 3, 2014
End Date: Friday, August 8, 2014
Location: Aspen, CO, USA
Event URL: Workshop: Experimental design for CMIP6: Aerosol, land use and future scenarios
Start Date: Wednesday, July 30, 2014
End Date: Friday, August 1, 2014
Location: Snowmass, CO, USA
Event URL: Workshop: Needs for Scenarios: Science, Assessments and Decision-Making
Start Date: Wednesday, April 23, 2014
End Date: Friday, April 25, 2014
Location: Boulder, CO, USA
Event URL: Pattern Scaling, Climate Model Emulators and their Application to the New Scenario Process
This workshop was held at the National Center for Atmospheric Research and brought together the statistical, climate, integrated assessment and impact modeling communities. The main goals of the workshop were to:
-
- Assess the current state of climate model emulator science
- Assess to what extent current approaches can meet the needs of integrated assessment and impact modelers for climate change information
- Identify and prioritize research directions so that these statistical methods can better meet the needs of applied research in the future.
View slides and recorded talks from the workshop, or read the final workshop report.
2013
Start Date: Thursday, December 12, 2013
End Date: Thursday, December 12, 2013
Location: San Francisco, CA, USA
Event URL: AGU Session: Closing the Loop: Integrating Socio-Economic and Climate Scenarios in the Assessment of Global Change Impacts
Start Date: Wednesday, December 11, 2013
End Date: Wednesday, December 11, 2013
Location: San Francisco, CA, USA
Event URL: AGU Session: Closing the Loop: Integrating Socio-Economic and Climate Scenarios in the Assessment of Global Change Impacts
Start Date: Sunday, August 4, 2013
End Date: Friday, August 9, 2013
Location: Aspen, CO, USA
Event URL: Workshop:Next generation of climate change experiments needed to advance knowledge and for assessment of CMIP6
Start Date: Wednesday, July 31, 2013
End Date: Friday, August 2, 2013
Location: Snowmass, CO, USA
Event URL: Workshop: Scenarios for Climate Research and Assessment
2012
Start Date: Wednesday, July 25, 2012
End Date: Wednesday, July 25, 2012
Location: Snowmass, CO, USA
Event URL: Workshop: Progress toward the Development of Shared Socio-economic Pathways (SSPs) and Scenarios
Start Date: Monday, May 14, 2012
End Date: Wednesday, May 16, 2012
Location: The Hague, Netherlands
Start Date: Wednesday, January 25, 2012
End Date: Thursday, January 26, 2012
Location: Utrecht, Netherlands
2011
Start Date: Wednesday, November 2, 2011
End Date: Friday, November 4, 2011
Location: Boulder, CO, USA
Event URL: Workshop: The Nature and Use of New Socioeconomic Pathways for Climate Change Research
Start Date: Saturday, July 16, 2011
End Date: Sunday, July 17, 2011
Location: Changwon City, South Korea
2010
Start Date: Monday, November 1, 2010
End Date: Friday, Wednesday, November 3, 2010
Location: Berlin, Germany
Event URL: Workshop:Joint IPCC Workshop Working Group III & II on Socioeconomic Scenarios for Climate Change Impact & Response Assessments
Start Date: Thursday, February 4, 2010
End Date: Friday, February 5, 2010
Location: Washington, DC, USA
Event URL: Workshop: Describing Socioeconomic Futures for Climate Change Research and Assessment