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.


The national greenhouse gas inventories are messy and this dataset makes them tidy. Figures are available here, as well as links to the data repository.
Tidy GHG Inventories
Since 2022 I have co-led the Global Emissions Trends chapter of the UNEP Emissions Gap Report. Here are figures from the 2024 version.
UNEP Emissions Gap Report 2024
This paper provides updates between IPCC reports of some the most important indicators of global climate change.
Indicators of global climate change 2023
This is a nice scientific report on carbon dioxide removal. We are currently planning a third version for 2026.
The State of Carbon Dioxide Removal
When a group of climate mitigation scientists dabbled in discourses and tried to characterise climate denial in the policy realm… Click here for a brief history.
Discourses of climate delay
I was a chapter scientist in the last WGIII assessment and ended up producing all kinds of emissions analysis and figures across the report.
IPCC 6th Assessment WGIII Report

Selected publications

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

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

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

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

2023

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

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

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

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

L.I. Brand-Correa, G. Mattioli, W.F. Lamb, J.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

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