FAQs

Please take the survey to shape the baseline direction of SEP.

Take the Survey

Help build the SEP coordination team. We are seeking nominations for the SEP Orchestration Working Group, particularly from researchers outside the Global North. Nominate below.

Submit a Nomination

Submit a paper to our Special Issue on “Socioeconomic futures frameworks for motivating actions for sustainability” in the journal Futures. We are soliciting scholarly contributions that articulate constructive ideas and improvements for scenario development. The deadline for initial submission of full, review-ready drafts is January 3, 2027. 

Call for Papers

Please share our website and our survey link with your communities.

• Website: sep.du.edu

• Survey link: https://udenver.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_dbSpgaAde1bHqVE

Below we provide a short pitch on why people should contribute as well as slide decks ready for circulation. If you would like additional recruitment materials, please contact us. Text to share for motivation:  

Are you interested in shaping the next generation of socioeconomic scenarios used in climate change research, and beyond? The Shared Socioeconomic Pathways (SSP) framework has become foundational for climate and sustainability research, but many emerging challenges now extend its original design, and it is time to start a collective process on how to evolve it. We want to hear your perspectives in a survey that will help us gather diverse views on current limitations of the SSPs, unmet needs and missing sectoral and regional perspectives, as well as your ideas for improving future scenario frameworks. Please visit https://www.du.edu/scenario-evolution-process/survey 

Slide decks for circulation: 

• 1-Slide Version 
• 4-Slide Version

Scenario: A central goal is to facilitate feedback, discussion, and understanding of the use and limitations of current global socio-economic scenarios. We are most interested in the current iteration of the Shared Socioeconomic Pathways (SSPs). 

Evolution: We are unsure of what will come next in the next evolution of global socioeconomic scenarios. It may be an update of the current scenarios, or a complete rework producing entirely new scenarios. Because we do not know what the next evolution will be, we use “evolution” as opposed to update, revamp, or another more definitive word.

Process: This is an ongoing process with a timeline continuing into 2035.

Of course not. Though global socio-economic scenarios are largely used by integrated assessment modelers, SEP should be of interest to anyone who uses, consumes research, or is interested in these types of scenarios.