Research articles

The social cost of carbon (SCC) is usually calculated by an approach that gives less importance to future generations and does not consider well-being distribution. This study presents an alternative that takes these aspects into account.

It is difficult to objectively evaluate climate negotiation outcomes. This study shows that climate negotiation participants are pessimistic about the specific approach of voluntary pledges, but are optimistic about the general usefulness of negotiations, particularly if they are more involved.

Using carbonyl sulfide as a tracer, gross primary production in the Midwest USA is shown to significantly exceed that of any other region of North America. This approach provides a valuable means of assessing the regional accuracy of ecosystem land models.

The long-term efficacy of biochar as a means of increasing soil organic carbon (SOC) remains underexplored. Research now shows that 8.5 years after biochar was added to a subtropical soil the formation of microaggregates stabilized and increased SOC.

The financial system will be impacted by climate policies. Network analysis of the exposures of financial actors to climate-relevant sectors in the Euro Area shows early implementation of climate policy is needed to avoid adverse systemic consequences.

Remote sensing and in situ observations show that non-radiative mechanisms dominate the local climatic response to land cover and land management changes in most regions of the globe for 8 of 9 common land cover and management perturbations.

Managed retreat is a potentially important climate change adaptation option. In this article the drivers and outcomes of, and barriers to, 27 recent cases of managed retreat—involving the resettlement of approximately 1.3 million people—are evaluated.

The Arctic is warming and sea ice is declining, but how the two link is unclear. This study shows changes in summertime atmospheric circulation and internal variability may have caused up to 60% of September sea-ice decline since 1979.

Observations from western North America and model simulations are used to understand how climate change will affect snowmelt. Snowmelt is found to be slower under climate change as earlier melt means there is less energy for high melt rates.

Forests are a key component of the Paris Agreement, providing about a quarter of planned emission reductions. Realizing this ambition, however, requires greater confidence in forest estimates, presenting a challenge and an opportunity for science.

Satellite and atmospheric observations show that the rate of net biome productivity has accelerated over the warming ‘hiatus’ period (1998–2012). This net gain results from reduced respiration, rather than increased primary productivity.