Pathway

Definition

The temporal evolution of natural and/or human systems towards a future state.

Note: Pathway concepts range from sets of quantitative and qualitative scenarios or narratives of potential futures to solution-oriented decision-making processes to achieve desirable societal goals. Pathway approaches typically focus on biophysical, techno-economic, and/or socio-behavioural trajectories and involve various dynamics, goals, and actors across different scales.

Source

IPCC (2022). Annex II – Glossary. In IPCC (2022) Climate Change 2022: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability.

Available at https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar6/wg2/

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