William F. Lamb
About me
I am a senior researcher at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research. My work mainly focuses on emissions trends, climate policy analysis and carbon dioxide removal.
Here you can find links to some of my work, as well as additional figures, data and analysis. All of my analysis and code is open source and can be found on Github.
Selected outreach
2025
Participated in a press conference at the UNFCCC June Climate Meetings in Bonn for the “Indicators of Global Climate Change 2024” publication (19/06) [link]
Contributed to an Informal Dialogue at the UNFCCC June Climate Meetings on 1.5C science and narratives (19/06)
Invited expert to the 17th Meeting of the Research Dialogue, UNFCCC June Climate Meetings - though really Pep Canadell did all the work! (17/06)
Interviewed by Südwestrundfunk and tagesschau.de on the “Indicators of Global Climate Change 2024” publication (17/06) [link]
Interviewed by ARD for a piece on greenhouse gas emissions reporting (16/06)
Participated in a UK Science Media Centre Briefing for the “Indicators of Global Climate Change 2024” publication (12/06)
Interviewed for an article in DeSmog on the topic of Climate Delay (11/06)
Invited to present Discourses of Climate Delay at a GIZ event on Behavioural Change (27/03)
Inited to present on the IPCC 7th Assessment Report outline by the German-IPCC coordination group (20/03)
2024
Nominated to attend the IPCC Scoping Meeting for the 7th Assessment Report (09/12)
Participated in the preparation of evidence submitted by IPCC authors to the International Court of Justice for their case on the “legal obligations of countries in preventing climate change” (26/11)
Invited to present to the European Commission DG Clima division on the Emissions Gap Report 2024 (07/11)
Invited to present to the US Office of the Special Presidential Envoy for Climate on the Emissions Gap Report 2024 (31/10)
2023
Invited to a roundtable on climate misinformation with the Chief Scientific Advisor to the UK Government (21/06)
Poor records and bad memory before this… :)
Selected publications
2025
Max Callaghan, Lucy Banisch, Niklas Doebbeling-Hildebrandt, Duncan Edmondson, Christian Flachsland, et al. (2025). Machine learning map of climate policy literature reveals disparities between scientific attention, policy density, and emissions. npj Climate Action, 4(1): 7. https://doi.org/10.1038/s44168-024-00196-0
William Lamb, Robbie Andrew, Matthew Jones, Zebedee Nicholls, Glen Peters, et al. (2025). Differences in anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions estimates explained. Earth System Science Data Discussions, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-2025-188
Piers M. Forster, Chris Smith, Tristram Walsh, William F. Lamb, Robin Lamboll, et al. (2025). Indicators of Global Climate Change 2024: annual update of key indicators of the state of the climate system and human influence. Earth System Science Data, 17(6): 2641–2680. https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-17-2641-2025
Simon Montfort, Lukas Fesenfeld, Karin Ingold, William F. Lamb, Marina Andrijevic. (2025). Political enablers of ambitious climate policies: a framework and thematic review. npj Climate Action, 4(1): 14. https://doi.org/10.1038/s44168-024-00206-1
2024
Gaurav Ganti, Thomas Gasser, Mai Bui, Oliver Geden, William F. Lamb, et al. (2024). Evaluating the near- and long-term role of carbon dioxide removal in meeting global climate objectives. Communications Earth & Environment, 5(1): 377. https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-024-01527-z
Steve M Smith, Oliver Geden, Matthew J Gidden, William F Lamb, Gregory F Nemet, et al. (2024). The State of Carbon Dioxide Removal - 2nd Edition. https://doi.org/10.17605/OSF.IO/F85QJ
Piers M. Forster, Chris Smith, Tristram Walsh, William F. Lamb, Robin Lamboll, et al. (2024). Indicators of Global Climate Change 2023: annual update of key indicators of the state of the climate system and human influence. Earth System Science Data, 16(6): 2625–2658. https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-16-2625-2024
Niklas Döbbeling-Hildebrandt, Klaas Miersch, Tarun M. Khanna, Marion Bachelet, Stephan B. Bruns, et al. (2024). Systematic review and meta-analysis of ex-post evaluations on the effectiveness of carbon pricing. Nature Communications, 15(1): 4147. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-48512-w
William F. Lamb, Thomas Gasser, Rosa M. Roman-Cuesta, Giacomo Grassi, Matthew J. Gidden, et al. (2024). The carbon dioxide removal gap. Nature Climate Change, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-024-01984-6
William F Lamb. (2024). The size and composition of residual emissions in integrated assessment scenarios at net-zero CO2. Environmental Research Letters, 19(044029): https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ad31db
UNEP. (2024). Emissions Gap Report 2024: No more hot air … please! With a massive gap between rhetoric and reality, countries draft new climate commitments..
William F Lamb, Carl-Friedrich Schleussner, Giacomo Grassi, Stephen M Smith, Matthew J Gidden, et al. (2024). Countries need to provide clarity on the role of carbon dioxide removal in their climate pledges. Environmental Research Letters, 19(12): 121001. https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ad91c7
Jan C Minx, Jerome Hilaire, Finn Müller-Hansen, Gregory Nemet, Francesca Diluiso, et al. (2024). Coal transitions—part 2: phase-out dynamics in global long-term mitigation scenarios. Environmental Research Letters, 19(3): 033002. https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ad24cd
William F. Lamb, Thomas Gasser, Rosa M. Roman-Cuesta, Giacomo Grassi, Matthew J. Gidden, et al. (2024). Current national proposals are off track to meet carbon dioxide removal needs. Nature Climate Change, 14(6): 555–556. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-024-01993-5
2023
Steve M Smith, Oliver Geden, Gregory F Nemet, Matthew J Gidden, William F Lamb, et al. (2023). The State of Carbon Dioxide Removal - 1st Edition.
Nicola Cerutti, William F Lamb, Monica Crippa, Adrian Leip, Efisio Solazzo, et al. (2023). Food system emissions: a review of trends, drivers, and policy approaches, 1990–2018. Environmental Research Letters, 18(7): 074030. https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/acddfd
Piers M. Forster, Christopher J. Smith, Tristram Walsh, William F. Lamb, Robin Lamboll, et al. (2023). Indicators of Global Climate Change 2022: annual update of large-scale indicators of the state of the climate system and human influence. Earth System Science Data, 15(6): 2295–2327. https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-2295-2023
UNEP. (2023). Emissions Gap Report 2023: Broken Record – Temperatures hit new highs, yet world fails to cut emissions (again). https://doi.org/10.59117/20.500.11822/43922
Gregory F. Nemet, Matthew J. Gidden, Jenna Greene, Cameron Roberts, William F. Lamb, et al. (2023). Near-term deployment of novel carbon removal to facilitate longer-term deployment. Joule, 7(12): 2653–2659. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.joule.2023.11.001
Matthew J. Gidden, Thomas Gasser, Giacomo Grassi, Nicklas Forsell, Iris Janssens, et al. (2023). Aligning climate scenarios to emissions inventories shifts global benchmarks. Nature, 624: 102–108. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-023-06724-y
2022
Felix Creutzig, Leila Niamir, Xuemei Bai, Max Callaghan, Jonathan Cullen, et al. (2022). Demand-side solutions to climate change mitigation consistent with high levels of well-being. Nature Climate Change, 12(1): 36–46. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-021-01219-y
UNEP. (2022). Emissions Gap Report 2022: The Closing Window — Climate crisis calls for rapid transformation of societies.
Shobhakar Dhakal, Jan C Minx, F. L. Toth, Amr Abdel-Aziz, Maria Josefina Figueroa Meza, et al. (2022). Chapter 2: Emissions Trends and Drivers. Climate Change 2022: Mitigation of Climate Change. Contribution of Working Group III to the Sixth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
Priyadarshi R. Shukla, Jim Skea, Raphael Slade, Alaa Al Khourdajie, Renée van Diemen, et al. (2022). Summary for Policymakers. Climate Change 2022: Mitigation of Climate Change. Contribution of Working Group III to the Sixth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
Minal Pathak, Raphael Slade, Ramon Pichs-Madruga, Diana Urge-Vorsatz, Priyadarshi R. Shukla, et al. (2022). Technical Summary. Climate Change 2022: Mitigation of Climate Change. Contribution of Working Group III to the Sixth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
2021
Jan C. Minx, William F. Lamb, Robbie M. Andrew, Josep G. Canadell, Monica Crippa, et al. (2021). A comprehensive and synthetic dataset for global, regional, and national greenhouse gas emissions by sector 1970–2018 with an extension to 2019. Earth System Science Data, 13(11): 5213–5252. https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-13-5213-2021
William F. Lamb, Thomas Wiedmann, Julia Pongratz, Robbie Andrew, Monica Crippa, et al. (2021). A review of trends and drivers of greenhouse gas emissions by sector from 1990 to 2018. Environmental Research Letters, 16(7): 073005. https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/abee4e
William F. Lamb, Michael Grubb, Francesca Diluiso, Jan C. Minx. (2021). Countries with sustained greenhouse gas emissions reductions: an analysis of trends and progress by sector. Climate Policy, https://doi.org/10.1080/14693062.2021.1990831
Doris Fuchs, Julia Steinberger, Elke Pirgmaier, William Lamb, Lina Brand-Correa, et al. (2021). A corridors and power-oriented perspective on energy-service demand and needs satisfaction. Sustainability: Science, Practice and Policy, 17(1): 162–172. https://doi.org/10.1080/15487733.2021.1912907
Jefim Vogel, Julia K. Steinberger, Daniel W. O’Neill, William F. Lamb, Jaya Krishnakumar. (2021). Socio-economic conditions for satisfying human needs at low energy use: An international analysis of social provisioning. Global Environmental Change, 69: 102287. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2021.102287
Francesca Diluiso, Paula Walk, Niccolò Manych, Nicola Cerutti, Vladislav Chipiga, et al. (2021). Coal transitions—part 1: a systematic map and review of case study learnings from regional, national, and local coal phase-out experiences. Environmental Research Letters, 16(11): 113003. https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ac1b58
2020
William F. Lamb, Miklós Antal, Katharina Bohnenberger, Lina I. Brand-Correa, Finn Müller-Hansen, et al. (2020). What are the social outcomes of climate policies? A systematic map and review of the ex-post literature. Environmental Research Letters, 15(11): https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/abc11f
Julia K Steinberger, William F. Lamb, Marco Sakai. (2020). Your money or your life? The carbon-development paradox. Environmental Research Letters, 15(044016): https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ab7461
Lina Brand-Correa, Giulio Mattioli, William F Lamb, Julia K Steinberger. (2020). Understanding (and tackling) need satisfier escalation. Sustainability: Science, Practice, and Policy, 16(1): https://doi.org/10.1080/15487733.2020.1816026
William F Lamb, Giulio Mattioli, Sebastian Levi, J Timmons Roberts, Jan C Minx, et al. (2020). Discourses of climate delay. Global Sustainability, 3(e17): 1–5. https://doi.org/10.1017/sus.2020.13
William F. Lamb, Jan C. Minx. (2020). The political economy of national climate policy: Architectures of constraint and a typology of countries. Energy Research and Social Science, 64: 101429. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.erss.2020.101429
2019
Felix Creutzig, Steffen Lohrey, Xuemei Bai, Richard Dawson, Shobhakar Dhakal, et al. (2019). Upscaling urban data science for global climate solutions. Global Sustainability, 2(e2): 1–25. https://doi.org/10.1017/sus.2018.16
William F Lamb, Felix Creutzig, Max W Callaghan, Jan C Minx. (2019). Learning about urban climate solutions from case studies. Nature Climate Change, (194): https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-019-0440-x
2018
Jan C Minx, William F Lamb, Max W Callaghan, Sabine Fuss, Jérôme Hilaire, et al. (2018). Negative emissions—Part 1: Research landscape and synthesis. Environmental Research Letters, 13(6): 063001. https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/aabf9b
Sabine Fuss, William F Lamb, Max W Callaghan, Jérôme Hilaire, Felix Creutzig, et al. (2018). Negative emissions - Part 2: Costs, potentials and side effects. Environmental Research Letters, 13(063002): https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/aabf9f
Felix Creutzig, Joyashree Roy, William F. Lamb, Inês M.L. Azevedo, Wandi Bruine de Bruin , et al. (2018). Towards demand-side solutions for mitigating climate change. Nature Climate Change, 8(April): 260–271. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-018-0121-1
Gregory F Nemet, Max W Callaghan, Felix Creutzig, Sabine Fuss, Jens Hartmann, et al. (2018). Negative emissions - Part 3: Innovation and upscaling. Environmental Research Letters, 13(063003): https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/aabff4
Daniel W O’Neill, Andrew L Fanning, William F Lamb, Julia K Steinberger. (2018). A good life for all within planetary boundaries. Nature Sustainability, 1: 88–95. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41893-018-0021-4
William F. Lamb, Max W. Callaghan, Felix Creutzig, Radhika Khosla, Jan C. Minx. (2018). The literature landscape on 1.5°C Climate Change and Cities. Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability, 30: 26–34. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cosust.2018.02.008
2017
William F Lamb, Julia K Steinberger. (2017). Human well-being and climate change mitigation. Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Climate Change, 8(6): 1–16. https://doi.org/10.1002/wcc.485
Jan Christoph Minx, Max W Callaghan, William F Lamb, Jennifer Garard, Ottmar Edenhofer. (2017). Learning about climate change solutions in the IPCC and beyond. Environmental Science and Policy, 77: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envsci.2017.05.014
2016
William F. Lamb. (2016). Which countries avoid carbon-intensive development?. Journal of Cleaner Production, 131: 523–533. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2016.04.148
2014
William F. Lamb, Julia K. Steinberger, Alice Bows-Larkin, Glen P. Peters, J. Timmons Roberts, et al. (2014). Transitions in pathways of human development and carbon emissions. Environmental Research Letters, 9(1): 1–9. https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/9/1/014011