Representative Concentration Pathways

Representative Concentration Pathways (RCPs) are a set of scenarios that were developed to explore future greenhouse gas emissions and their potential impacts on the Earth's climate. They are used as inputs to climate models to project how the Earth's climate may change in the coming decades and centuries.

There are four RCPs, RCP2.6, RCP4.5, RCP6, and RCP8.5, whichrepresent different levels of radiative forcing, or the difference between theincoming solar radiation and the outgoing infrared radiation.

·     RCP2.6 represents a world where strong action istaken to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and the radiative forcing is limitedto 2.6 watts per square meter by the end of the century.

·     RCP4.5 represents a world where emissions peakaround 2040 and then decline, stabilizing at a radiative forcing of 4.5 watts persquare meter by the end of the century.

·     RCP6 represents a world where emissions continueto rise throughout the century, reaching a radiative forcing of 6 watts persquare meter by the end of the century.

·     RCP8.5 represents a world where emissions continueto rise rapidly throughout the century, reaching a radiative forcing of 8.5watts per square meter by the end of the century.

The RCPs are useful for exploring different future pathways and their potential impacts on the Earth's climate, and they provide a framework for comparing and contrasting different climate policies and actions.