diff --git a/RELEASE_NOTES.md b/RELEASE_NOTES.md
index 14884f3d6..c70167082 100644
--- a/RELEASE_NOTES.md
+++ b/RELEASE_NOTES.md
@@ -1,4 +1,6 @@
 # Next Release
+
+- [#548](https://github.com/IAMconsortium/pyam/pull/548) Add a `unit_mapping` attribute to show a variable-unit dictionary 
 - [#546](https://github.com/IAMconsortium/pyam/pull/546) Fixed logging for recursive aggregation
 
 # Release v0.12.0
diff --git a/pyam/core.py b/pyam/core.py
index 0775b7aa4..6b03d6314 100755
--- a/pyam/core.py
+++ b/pyam/core.py
@@ -366,6 +366,27 @@ def unit(self):
         """Return the list of (unique) units"""
         return get_index_levels(self._data, "unit")
 
+    @property
+    def unit_mapping(self):
+        """Return a dictionary of variables to (list of) correspoding units"""
+
+        def list_or_str(x):
+            x = list(x.drop_duplicates())
+            return x if len(x) > 1 else x[0]
+
+        return (
+            pd.DataFrame(
+                zip(
+                    self._data.index.get_level_values("variable"),
+                    self._data.index.get_level_values("unit"),
+                ),
+                columns=["variable", "unit"],
+            )
+            .groupby("variable")
+            .apply(lambda u: list_or_str(u.unit))
+            .to_dict()
+        )
+
     @property
     def data(self):
         """Return the timeseries data as a long :class:`pandas.DataFrame`"""
@@ -456,6 +477,7 @@ def variables(self, include_units=False):
             return pd.Series(get_index_levels(self._data, _var), name=_var)
 
         # else construct dataframe from variable and unit levels
+        deprecation_warning("Use the attribute `unit_mapping` instead.")
         return (
             pd.DataFrame(
                 zip(
diff --git a/tests/test_core.py b/tests/test_core.py
index 9ee6106ca..38b4ab2ad 100644
--- a/tests/test_core.py
+++ b/tests/test_core.py
@@ -316,6 +316,14 @@ def test_index_attributes_extra_col(test_pd_df):
     assert df.subannual == ["summer", "winter"]
 
 
+def test_unit_mapping(test_pd_df):
+    """assert that the `unit_mapping` returns the expected dictionary"""
+    test_pd_df.loc[2, "unit"] = "foo"  # replace unit of one row of Primary Energy data
+    obs = IamDataFrame(test_pd_df).unit_mapping
+
+    assert obs == {"Primary Energy": ["EJ/yr", "foo"], "Primary Energy|Coal": "EJ/yr"}
+
+
 def test_model(test_df):
     exp = pd.Series(data=["model_a"], name="model")
     pd.testing.assert_series_equal(test_df.models(), exp)
diff --git a/tests/test_unfccc.py b/tests/test_unfccc.py
index 7b8ef5754..6f7b82ab2 100644
--- a/tests/test_unfccc.py
+++ b/tests/test_unfccc.py
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@
 
 
 UNFCCC_DF = pd.DataFrame(
-    [[1990, 1738.137558], [1991, 1537.282312], [1992, 1499.067572]],
+    [[1990, 1609.25345], [1991, 1434.21149], [1992, 1398.38269]],
     columns=["year", "value"],
 )