Climate doomsday: UN pumps brakes on alarmism, but harm has already been done
The UN's scientific committee has officially retired the SSP5–8.5 climate scenario, deeming it implausible after years of misuse. This scenario has fueled alarming climate narratives and was widely taught in schools, despite its flawed assumptions. The continued reliance on this discredited model has contributed to significant climate anxiety among young people.
- ▪The SSP5–8.5 scenario was declared implausible by the UN's scientific committee after being used for over fifteen years.
- ▪Despite warnings about its inaccuracy, the scenario was still cited in numerous academic papers and relied upon in climate education.
- ▪A significant percentage of young people report high levels of anxiety regarding climate change, influenced by the extreme projections of the retired scenario.
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| Original publisher | Washington Examiner |
| Canonical URL | https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/op-eds/4576109/united-nations-drops-climate-doomsday-scenario/ |
| Publication time | Thu, 21 May 2026 12:00:00 +0000 |
| Retrieval time | 2026-05-21T12:06:11.031Z |
| Last seen | 2026-05-21T12:15:22.478Z |
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This April, the international scientific committee that designs climate scenarios for the United Nations did something it should have done a decade ago. It officially retired SSP5–8.5 — the corollary to the infamous RCP 8.5 — declaring the scenario “implausible” and removing it from the framework that will underpin the next IPCC assessment. For more than fifteen years, that scenario powered nearly every terrifying climate headline you have ever read: vanishing coastlines, uninhabitable cities, mass extinction, civilization collapse. It is also what millions of American schoolchildren were taught as the future — not as a remote stress test, but as established fact.
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