Global Sustainability · 2018 · 150 citations · 45 references
Social SciencesEnvironmental PolicyPolitical ScienceClimate PolicyEnvironmental PoliticsScience PolicyCarbon Emissions ManagementCarbon GovernanceClimate ChangeClimate GovernanceClimate PoliticsClimate Science PolicyClimate Change PolicyClimate Change PoliticsClimate Political EconomyEmission Scenario ProjectionsEmissions ScenariosIntergovernmental InstitutionsNegative Emissions Pathways
Non-technical summary In the post-Paris political landscape, the relationship between science and politics is changing. We discuss what this means for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), using recent controversies over negative emissions technologies (NETs) as a window into the fraught politics of producing policy-relevant pathways and scenarios. We suggest that pathways and scenarios have a ‘world-making’ power, potentially shaping the world in their own image and creating new political realities. Assessment bodies like the IPCC need to reflect on this power, and the implications of changing political contexts, in new ways.
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