This policy brief unpacks how and why the scenarios and models of the Sixth Assessment Report of the IPCC project climate action pathways that lead to unacceptable futures. These pathways restrict well-being for the majority of the world’s population and lead to a world with perpetual global inequalities in income, consumption, and energy use, while increasing the number of people exposed to the risk of hunger and endangering food security. The paper also demonstrates the possibility of alternate perspectives and outlines what must change in the preparation of the Seventh Assessment Report of the IPCC in order to foreground equitable futures that ensure climate justice and the well-being of all.