Yes — some studies, risk assessments and adaptation planning used RCP8.5-based projections, but it is hard to say that major climate policies were adopted “because of RCP8.5 alone.” Climate measures were usually based on multiple scenarios, observed warming, risk management, legal targets and broader IPCC assessments.
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RCP8.5 was widely used in climate-impact literature and assessment reports as a high-emissions pathway, especially to examine severe impacts and high-end risks [
3][
8].
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Some organisations interpreted RCP8.5 differently: sometimes as “business as usual,” sometimes as a “worst case” scenario; the UK Met Office notes that RCP8.5 has often been mistakenly treated as representing a likely outcome [
1].
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Adaptation planning can legitimately use RCP8.5 as a stress test: for example, infrastructure, flood risk, heat risk, sea-level rise and coastal planning often examine high-end scenarios to avoid underpreparing for low-probability but high-damage outcomes [
1].
