The IAMC timeseries data format
![_images/iamc-logo.png](_images/iamc-logo.png)
Background
The Integrated Assessment Modeling Consortium (IAMC) developed a standardised tabular timeseries format to exchange scenario data related to energy systems modelling, land-use change, demand sectors, and economic indicators in the context of climate change mitigation pathways and the the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Previous high-level use cases include reports by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and model comparison exercises within the Energy Modeling Forum (EMF) hosted by Stanford University.
Refer to https://data.ece.iiasa.ac.at/ for a selected list of projects using the IAMC data format.
An illustrative example
The table below shows a typical example of integrated-assessment scenario data following the IAMC format from the Horizon 2020 CD-LINKS project.
The scenario data is usually saved as xlsx or csv files in wide format (years as columns), but other types are also possible (e.g., via the pyam package).
![_images/iamc-example.png](_images/iamc-example.png)
Illustrative example of IAMC-format timeseries data from the IAMC 1.5°C Scenario Explorer
Project “templates”
Each project using the IAMC timeseries data format defines a list of “variables” and regions for comparison and scenario analysis, commonly known as a “variable template”.
The IAM community is developing a shared resource of variable and region definitions. The aim is to provide a central location to facilitate reuse of definitions and mappings across projects.
Visit https://github.com/IAMconsortium/common-definitions for more information.