ESM projections underpin analyses of human dimensions of the climate issue, yet little is known about how ESMs are used in human dimensions research.

While every society can be exposed to heatwaves, some people suffer far less harm and recover more quickly than others from their occurrence.

Sanderson, Benjamin M., and Brian C. O'Neill. 2020. “Assessing the costs of historical inaction on climate change.” Scientific Reports 10, 9173 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-66275-4

Gao, Jing, and Brian C. O'Neill. 2020. "Mapping global urban land for the 21st century with data-driven simulations and Shared Socioeconomic Pathways." Nature Communications 11, 2302 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-15788-7

O'Neill, Brian C., Leiwen Jiang, Samir KC, Regina Fuchs, Shonali Pachauri, Emily K. Laidlaw, Tiantian Zhang, Wei Zhou and Xiaolin Ren. 2020.

“The effect of education on determinants of climate change risks.” Nature Sustainability 3, 520–528 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41893-020-0512-y

O'Neill, Brian C. and Steve Hedden. 2018. "Xcel Energy carbon emissions targets and limiting warming to less than 2 degrees C." Frederick S. Pardee Center for International Futures, University of Denver, Denver, CO.

Director of Research Brian O'Neill and former Pardee Center Lead System Administrator Steve Hedden published a report evaluating Xcel Energy's recently announced goals for carbon emissions reductions. Their findings, which are incorporated in Xcel Energy's own report outlining their goals, conclude that the company's aims of reducing emissions 80% by 2030 and delivering carbon-free electricity by 2050 are consistent with targets in the Paris Climate Agreement to limit warming to 2 degrees C or less.

Achievements and needs for the climate change scenarios framework. Plenary presentation at the Annual Meeting of the Integrated Assessment Modeling Consortium, Tsukuba, Japan. December 2, 2019.

O’Neill, B.C., Conde, C., Ebi, K., Friedlingstein, P., Fuglestvedt, J., Hasegawa, T., Kok, K., Kriegler, E., Monteith, S., Pichs-Madruga, R., Preston, B., Sillman, J., van Ruijven, B., van Vuuren, D. 2019. Forum on Scenarios of Climate and Societal Future

The goal of the Scenarios Forum was to bring together a diverse set of communities who are using or developing scenarios for use in climate change and sustainability analysis to exchange experiences, ideas, and lessons learned; identify opportunities for synergies and collaboration; and identify knowledge gaps for future research.

By taking stock of progress and facilitating further scenario-related research, the meeting aimed to inform the use of scenarios in the Sixth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). It also sought to help ensure a research base sufficient to inform future national and international assessments as well as policy initiatives, including the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).