Representative
Concentration Pathways

The United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel for Climate Change (IPCC) has stablished a set of potential future scenarios, that span from near zero carbon dioxide emissions to the current high carbon dioxide emissions scenario.

The scenarios are labelled based on the associated radiative forcing to each of the future greenhouse gas emissions.

Future Scenarios

The four scenarios used for future model projections are the RCP 2.6, 4.5, 6.0 and 8.5. Each one corresponds to atmospheric CO2 concentrations that span approximately from 400 parts per million (ppm) to 1000 ppm.

Fossil Fuels

Part of the greenhouse gas emissions considered for the definition of the Representative concentration pathways are those produced by fossil fuel combustion. The associated values for each year to the corresponding scenarios are displayed here, from 0 to 30 GtC per year at the end of the century.