Perspectives in 2016

Changes in the ocean affect the biogeochemical cycle of iron, which in turn impacts phytoplankton growth. This Perspective discusses what research is needed to predict the future marine iron cycle.

It has been predicted, by theory and models, that heavy precipitation will increase with climate change and this is now being seen in observations. Emergence of signals such as this will enable testing of predictions, which should increase confidence in them.

Understanding the influence of the changing Arctic on mid-latitude weather is complex, and a challenge for researchers. This Perspective considers current approaches and proposes a way forward based on accepting the chaotic nature of the atmospheric circulation.

The imbalance of observations and knowledge of impacts between developed and developing countries leads to a procedural injustice in the attribution of responsibility for climate change.

The use of long-term ecological proxies in conservation planning is currently very limited. Recent advances offer exciting prospects for enhanced use of retrospective knowledge to forecast and manage ecological outcomes under global change.

Science-based role-play simulation exercises involving face-to-face mock decision-making have potential as education and engagement tools for enhancing readiness to adapt to climate change, as results from two research projects show.

There are discernible differences in climate impacts between 1.5 °C and 2 °C of warming. The extent of countries' near-term mitigation ambition will determine the success of the Paris Agreement's temperature goal.

A long-term goal for climate policy can only be agreed through political processes, but science can inform these through mapping policy choices and the risks they create. Recommendations for the practical use of the IPCC's Fifth Assessment Report are provided.

Reducing energy usage is important for climatechange mitigation. This Perspective focuses on the use and promise of agent-based modelling to understand the complexities of energy demand, including consumer behaviour.

This Perspective describes a decision science approach to applying sociological and behavioural research to the design of effective climate- and energy-related policies.

Deep international cooperation will be needed to tackle climate change. This Perspective looks at how decentralized policy coordination involving partial efforts to build confidence and reduce emissions could foster such cooperation.

Building bridges between three analytical approaches with quite different foundational bases should lead to a more comprehensive understanding of low-carbon transitions, in turn leading to more informed and effective policy decisions.

This Perspective introduces a special Collection titled Energy, Climate and Society—jointly produced by Nature Energy and Nature Climate Change—that focuseson the social science insights into the linked problems of energy sustainability and climate change.

Expert judgement is often used to assess uncertainties in model-based climate change projections. This Perspective describes a statistical approach to formalizing the role of expert judgement, using Antarctic ice loss as an illustrative example.

Indigenous knowledge and experience have historically been under-represented in the IPCC's reports. New guidelines, policies and more nuanced content are needed to develop culturally relevant and appropriate adaptation policies.

This Perspective links climate change and the distribution of wealth. Using an 'inclusive wealth' framework, it is shown that climate change could dramatically reallocate wealth, with important implications for sustainable development.

In this Perspective it is argued that coastal marsh vulnerability is often overstated because assessments generally neglect feedback processes known to accelerate soil building with sea level rise, as well as the potential for marshes to migrate inland.