Enhancing engagement between the population, environment, and climate research communities: The shared socio-economic pathway process

This paper describes a new framework being developed by the climate research community that holds potential as an organizing tool for population–climate scholarship, as well as being useful for identifying demographic research gaps within the climate change field. The shared socio-economic pathways (SSPs) represent plausible alternative trends in the evolution of social and natural systems over the twenty-first century at the scale of the world and large regions.

The SSPs can help identify population-environment research gaps by illuminating areas of intersection that will shape climate futures but require deeper scientific understanding -- the association between urbanization and energy consumption is an example. Also, to vastly enhance the policy relevance of local case studies, the parameters outlined within the SSPs can offer a basic level of harmonization to facilitate generalization.