Before using scenarios, it is essential to know how to correctly interpret them. This implies first navigating the complex ecosystem of climate-related scenarios and identifying those that can be used to explore issues linked to the low-carbon transition: transition scenarios. It also requires fully understanding the issues relating to these scenarios.
The goals of this publication are therefore:
– Explaining the key concepts underpinning climate-related scenarios, presenting the main families of scenarios and the questions these scenarios help to answer;
– Providing keys to reading transition scenarios in order to facilitate their interpretation and to avoid misunderstanding.
A framework for reading transition scenarios was developed to provide readers with a step-by-step guide to scenarios. It summarises the eight main steps to follow in order to interpret a transition scenario according to the explanations developed in this study, and is applied to 5 publicly-available scenarios.