According to the article, "The A1FI storyline describes a future world of very rapid economic growth, global population that peaks mid-century and declines thereafter" The UN prediction is "According to the 2006 Revision, the world population will likely increase by 2.5 billion over the next 43 years, passing from the current 6.7 billion to 9.2 billion in 2050. This increase is equivalent to the overall number of people in the world in 1950 and it will be absorbed mostly by the less developed regions, whose population is projected to rise from 5.4 billion in 2007 to 7.9 billion in 2050." http://www.un.org/esa/population/publications/wpp2006/WPP2006_Highlights_rev.pdf This includes the prediction of China peaking in 2030 http://esa.un.org/unpp/ Of course, if AGW results in the rapid collapse of society/economics/civilization in the industrialized world, that will slow the further increase of atmospheric carbon severely, however I don't think that would count as "not as bad as predicted".