Commentary in 2015

Using food prices to assess climate change impacts on food security is misleading. Differential impacts on income require a broader measure of household well-being, such as changes in absolute poverty.

Rapid growth in global CO₂ emissions from fossil fuels and industry ceased in the past two years, despite continued economic growth. Decreased coal use in China was largely responsible, coupled with slower global growth in petroleum and faster growth in renewables.

Policymakers have committed to tackling loss and damage as a result of climate change across three high-profile international processes. Framing post-2015 development as a means to address loss and damage can synergize these agendas.

Tropical forests could offset much of the carbon released from the declining use of fossil fuels, helping to stabilize and then reduce atmospheric CO₂ concentrations, thereby providing a bridge to a low-fossil-fuel future.

More effort should be put into standardization as a route to achieving international consensus and action on climate change. Cities are a good example of what is being achieved through this arguably unfashionable mechanism.

The European Commission needs to amend its new Scientific Advice Mechanism. Highly integrated, participatory assessments of policy alternatives are required for multidimensional, value-laden policy issues such as the European Union's climate and energy policies.

With the concept of climate services rapidly climbing research and research-funding agendas worldwide, the time is ripe for a debate about the objectives, scope and content of such services.

After Paris, policymakers will need new goals for protecting the climate. Science can help with a basket of measures because 'climate change' isn't just about temperature.

There is a significant 'action gap' between what scientists argue is necessary to prevent potentially dangerous climate change and what the government and public are doing. A coherent strategic narrative is key to making meaningful progress.

A post-2015 climate agreement will require systematic approaches for tracking adaptation progress across Parties to the UNFCC. A number of steps need to be taken to improve adaptation measurement and reporting.

Megaprojects such as oil sands mining require large-scale and long-term closure and reclamation plans. Yet these plans are created and approved without considering future climate and hydrological conditions, jeopardizing the sustainability of reclaimed landscapes.

The climate change encyclical represents a decisive democratic act. It calls on citizens to challenge dominant politics, power, and consumer culture in the name of tackling one of the world's great socio-environmental issues.

The IPCC's new leadership needs to promote reforms to make the panel more relevant to the actors that use the organization's information.

The Pope's encyclical challenges incremental approaches that have dominated climate change discourse, and brings a much needed moral vision to the environmental movement. Social scientists are required to join this effort.

The Pope's encyclical makes unprecedented progress in developing scientific dialogue with religion by drawing on research, and encouraging further discussion about the ethical challenge of governing the global commons.

The Pope has made a strong call for action on climate change, but it fails to address the complex linkages between sustainable development and demographic growth.

The Pope has articulated a need to change the way society thinks about economic growth, but it is implausible to rely primarily on moral conversion to solve our environmental and social ills.

Many sub-Saharan countries are failing to include climate information in long-term development planning. Ensuring climate-resilient development requires a step change in how medium- to long-term climate information is produced, communicated and utilized in sub-Saharan Africa and elsewhere.

A much-anticipated 'monster' El Niño failed to materialize in 2014, whereas an unforeseen strong El Niño is developing in 2015. El Niño continues to surprise us, despite decades of research into its causes. Natural variations most probably account for recent events, but climate change may also have played a role.

Expansion of the oil sands industry in Canada has caused land destruction and social friction. Canada could become a leader in climate governance by honouring treaty commitments made with indigenous peoples.