Shared Socioeconomic Pathways – or SSPs – are storylines that describe alternate socioeconomic scenarios for how the future could unfold. They include potential trajectories of population and economic growth along with greenhouse gas emissions. Each SSP describes if and how a certain representative concentration pathway (RCP) could be achieved, given the socioeconomic characteristics and policy assumptions of the future it represents. Some SSPs are incompatible with more ambitious global warming limits of 1.5C and 2.0C.

Here are brief definitions of each of the five shared socioeconomic pathways, reproduced from The IIASA SSP Database Supplementary note for the SSP data sets.(Login required: See link under Readings and Resources)

SSP Storylines

SSP1 – Sustainability: This is a world making relatively good progress towards sustainability, with sustained efforts to achieve development goals, while reducing resource intensity and fossil fuel dependency. Elements that contribute to this are a rapid development of low-income countries, a reduction of inequality (globally and within economies), rapid technology development, and a high level of awareness regarding environmental degradation. Rapid economic growth in low-income countries reduces the number of people below the poverty line. The world is characterized by an open, globalized economy, with relatively rapid technological change directed toward environmentally friendly processes, including clean energy technologies and yield-enhancing technologies for land. Consumption is oriented towards low material growth and energy intensity, with a relatively low level of consumption of animal products. Investments in high levels of education coincide with low population growth. Concurrently, governance and institutions facilitate achieving development goals and problem solving. The Millennium Development Goals are achieved within the next decade or two, resulting in educated populations with access to safe water, improved sanitation and medical care. Other factors that reduce vulnerability to climate and other global changes include, for example, the successful implementation of stringent policies to control air pollutants and rapid shifts toward universal access to clean and modern energy in the developing world.

SSP 2 – Middle of the Road (or Dynamics as Usual, or Current Trends Continue, or Continuation, or Muddling Through): In this world, trends typical of recent decades continue, with some progress towards achieving development goals, reductions in resource and energy intensity at historic rates, and slowly decreasing fossil fuel dependency. Development of low-income countries proceeds unevenly, with some countries making relatively good progress while others are left behind. Most economies are politically stable with partially functioning and globally connected markets. A limited number of comparatively weak global institutions exist. Per-capita income levels grow at a medium pace on the global average, with slowly converging income levels between developing and industrialized countries. Intra-regional income distributions improve slightly with increasing national income, but disparities remain high in some regions. Educational investments are not high enough to rapidly slow population growth, particularly in low-income countries. Achievement of the Millennium Development Goals is delayed by several decades, leaving populations without access to safe water, improved sanitation, medical care. Similarly, there is only intermediate success in addressing air pollution or improving energy access for the poor as well as other factors that reduce vulnerability to climate and other global changes.

SSP 3 – Fragmentation (or Fragmented World): The world is separated into regions characterized by extreme poverty, pockets of moderate wealth and a bulk of countries that struggle to maintain living standards for a strongly growing population. Regional blocks of countries have re-emerged with little coordination between them. This is a world failing to achieve global development goals, and with little progress in reducing resource intensity, fossil fuel dependency, or addressing local environmental concerns such as air pollution. Countries focus on achieving energy and food security goals within their own region. The world has de-globalized, and international trade, including energy resource and agricultural markets, is severely restricted. Little international cooperation and low investments in technology development and education slow down economic growth in high-, middle-, and low-income regions. Population growth in this scenario is high as a result of the education and economic trends. Growth in urban areas in low-income countries is often in unplanned settlements. Unmitigated emissions are relatively high, driven by high population growth, use of local energy resources and slow technological change in the energy sector. Governance and institutions show weakness and a lack of cooperation and consensus; effective leadership and capacities for problem solving are lacking. Investments in human capital are low and inequality is high. A regionalized world leads to reduced trade flows, and institutional development is unfavorable, leaving large numbers of people vulnerable to climate change and many parts of the world with low adaptive capacity. Policies are oriented towards security, including barriers to trade.

SSP 4 – Inequality (or Unequal World, or Divided World): This pathway envisions a highly unequal world both within and across countries. A relatively small, rich global elite is responsible for much of the emissions, while a larger, poorer group contributes little to emissions and is vulnerable to impacts of climate change, in industrialized as well as in developing countries. In this world, global energy corporations use investments in R&D as hedging strategy against potential resource scarcity or climate policy, developing (and applying) low-cost alternative technologies. Mitigation challenges are therefore low due to some combination of low reference emissions and/or high latent capacity to mitigate.

Governance and globalization are effective for and controlled by the elite, but are ineffective for most of the population. Challenges to adaptation are high due to relatively low income and low human capital among the poorer population, and ineffective institutions.

SSP 5: Conventional Development (or Conventional Development First): This world stresses conventional development oriented toward economic growth as the solution to social and economic problems through the pursuit of enlightened self-interest. The preference for rapid conventional development leads to an energy system dominated by fossil fuels, resulting in high GHG emissions and challenges to mitigation. Lower socio-environmental challenges to adaptation result from attainment of human development goals, robust economic growth, highly engineered infrastructure with redundancy to minimize disruptions from extreme events, and highly managed ecosystems.