Global land-use allocation model linked to an integrated assessment model

We developed a global land-use allocation model that can be linked to integrated assessment models (IAMs) with a coarser spatial resolution. Using the model, we performed a downscaling of the IAMs' regional aggregated land-use projections to obtain a spatial land-use distribution, which could subsequently be used by Earth system models for global environmental assessments of ecosystem services, food security, and climate policies. Here we describe the land-use allocation model, discuss the verification of the downscaling technique, and explain the influences of the downscaling on estimates of land-use carbon emissions. A comparison of the emissions estimated with and without downscaling suggested that the land-use downscaling would help capture the spatial distribution of carbon stock density and regional heterogeneity of carbon emissions caused by cropland and pasture land expansion. [Display omitted] •Development of a global land-use allocation model to be linked to integrated assessment models (IAMs).•Description of the developed model and model evaluation for the estimated land-use allocation.•Downscaling of the IAMs’ regional land-use projections into a spatial land-use distribution.•Illustration of influences of land-use downscaling on estimates of CO2 emissions from land-use changes.