Representative Concentration Pathways describe future trajectories of greenhouse gas concentrations, land use patterns, and emissions that help climate scientists project possible climate futures. They serve as standardized scenarios used in climate modelling to understand how different levels of human activity will influence radiative forcing, which is the change in energy balance in the Earth’s atmosphere due to greenhouse gases. These pathways were developed for the IPCC’s Fifth Assessment Report to provide a consistent set of assumptions for global climate models and to facilitate comparison of results across different research groups. Each pathway is identified by a number representing the level of radiative forcing, measured in watts per square metre, expected by the year 2100. Together, they capture a wide range of potential outcomes, from aggressive mitigation to high-emission futures, reflecting both human choices and technological advancements. RCP2.6 is the most ambitious mitigation scenario, assuming immediate and substantial reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, rapid adoption of clean energy, and large-scale carbon removal efforts. Under this pathway, radiative forcing peaks around mid-century and declines to 2.6 W/m² by 2100, keeping global warming likely below 2°C. This scenario requires coordinated global action, strict policy implementation, and transformative changes in energy, agriculture, and transportation sectors. Climate models project that if this pathway is achieved, sea-level rise will be significantly lower, extreme weather events will intensify more slowly, and ecosystems will face less severe stress compared to higher-emission pathways. However, achieving RCP2.6 is considered extremely challenging due to economic, political, and technological constraints. RCP4.5 represents a stabilization scenario in which emissions peak around 2040 and then decline, leading to radiative forcing of 4.5 W/m² by 2100. This pathway assumes moderate mitigation measures, expansion of renewable energy, and improvements in energy efficiency, but not the aggressive carbon removal envisioned in RCP2.6. Under RCP4.5, global temperatures are projected to rise between 2°C and 3°C by the end of the century. Impacts include more frequent heatwaves, moderate sea-level rise, altered