Integrated Assessment Models: what are they and how do they arrive at their conclusions?
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![Bioenergy, like that produced from rapeseed, represents a key area of uncertainty in IAMs.](https://ca1-clm.edcdn.com/masthead/_800xAUTO_crop_center-center_none/oilseed-rape-10668_1920.jpg?v=1706692085)
Integrated Assessment Models (IAMs) models are used to evaluate the technological and economic feasibility of climate goals such as the Paris Agreement’s long-term temperature goal to hold global warming well below 2˚C and pursue efforts to limit this warming to 1.5˚C above pre-industrial.
The results of these models are assessed in Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) reports, and play a central role in the IPCC Special Report “Global Warming of 1.5°C” (SR1.5).
This briefing sets out some of the important context and caveats in relation to understanding IAMs and their results, particularly in relation to the Paris Agreement’s 1.5°C limit.