One of the most important applications of the System Dynamics methodology are the set of world models that were developed primarily by the M.I.T. group around Profs. Jay Forrester and Dennis Meadows.

Beside from the (meanwhile classical) world models, this view point would include models of climate dynamics, such as models of the emission of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere; models of the melting of our glaciers accompanied by a rise of the waters of our seas; models of the spreading of pollutants through the atmosphere; models of the salination of our soil; and finally, models of the depletion of resources, such as sweet water for drinking and irrigation.

This work, which started in the early 1970s, has recently gained renewed importance with the highly publicized discussion of Peak Oil and Global Warming.