This briefing paper, produced in collaboration with ClimateWorks Foundation, explores how different futures analysis methods can be used to better understand how rapidly changing world might present challenges and opportunities towards achieving ambitious climate change mitigation goals.

This briefing paper reviews existing evidence on the risk of adverse regional, industrial and societal impacts of a rapid transition to a low-carbon economy, and discusses how those risks can be minimised. The transition to a low-carbon economy is gathering pace.

The Paris Agreement from the 21st Conference of Parties (COP21) to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in December 2015 states that by 2050-2100, there should be a “balance between anthropogenic emissions by sources and removals by sinks of greenhouse gases” (GHGs) to limit the global mean temperature rise to less than 2˚C rel