Reviews & Analysis

Global warming is expected to have beneficial impacts on overwintering crops in cool and temperate regions of the world. Now, statistical analysis that combines different sources of historical yield and meteorological data reveals that decreases in snowpack insulation partly reduce yield benefits of winter wheat.

Estimating future economic and domestic water use is difficult due to uncertain changes in climate and socioeconomic conditions. Now, research estimates future water use in the United States could decrease or more than double by 2070 under plausible socioeconomic and climate scenarios.

This novel, three-dimensional approach to marine conservation identifies vertically coherent locations for global marine protected areas in the high seas. Taking a climate-smart approach, this work prioritized the protection of regions with increased biodiversity and reduced climate exposure across different depth domains, to identify sites that deserve protection now and into the future.

Increasing carbon storage through soils could help mitigate climate change and is an important part of many countries’ strategies. The authors review current soil carbon monitoring in the European Union for greenhouse-gas inventories and find that current practices are not accurate enough to measure climate benefits.

Controversy remains as to whether nuclear power should be part of a sustainable future energy mix. Phasing out nuclear too rapidly could lead to substantial health damages from air pollution.

As the ozone hole begins to heal, concentrations of harmful ground-level ozone are also increasing. Work now shows the impacts that both changes are having on the Southern Ocean and our wider climate system.

Vast areas of carbon-dense, permafrost peatlands are known to be at risk from warming climates, but models indicate that they are closer to widespread climatic degradation than previously believed. All but the most aggressive climate mitigation scenarios will render these carbon hotspots climatically unsustainable across Europe and Western Siberia within decades.

The glaciers in the Arctic are affected greatly by the amplified warming of this region. Work now documents a link between variations in the annual mass balance of Arctic glaciers and changes in tropospheric circulation patterns.

Developed countries are about to experience unprecedented demographic changes. The increasing population, wealth and carbon-intensive lifestyles of senior citizens raise concerns that should be addressed.

A meta-analytic approach based on 89 datasets across 33 countries was used to assess the relative strength of 15 determinants of public opinion about climate change taxes and laws. The results showed that fairness was the most important determinant of public opinion, whereas knowledge about climate change, self-enhancement values and demographic factors showed weak effects.

Human cooperation, which is essential for climate action, is shaped by the social cognition of individuals. This Review examines three mechanisms that play an important role in discouraging pro-environmental behaviours, but which can also provide effective solutions for collective action.

Increasing Arctic temperatures accelerate coastal erosion, threatening coastal communities and infrastructure, and adding carbon to the atmosphere. Research now predicts that Arctic coastal erosion on the pan-Arctic scale will exceed its historical range of variability and increase two to three times by the end of the century.

Climate mitigation policies are enacted in the interconnected climate, land, energy and water sectors. Now, a study shows regionally different land-use change emission pricing policies can increase competition for water in African river basins.

Carbon labelling may affect changes in both organizational and retail consumer behaviour. This Review examines the effectiveness of label programmes on the behaviour of actors throughout product supply chains, discussing current challenges, future pathways and implications for label design.

We find limited evidence that individual or household rebates (also called dividends) have increased public support for carbon taxes in Canada and Switzerland. In the presence of partisan and interest group conflict over climate policy, policymakers should not assume that voter support for carbon pricing will automatically increase with the inclusion of rebates.

Children and adolescents may be the age cohort most vulnerable to climate anxiety. This Review uses a social–ecological theoretical framework to outline how they are uniquely susceptible to climate anxiety and identify potential protective factors.

Climate change is threatening coral-reef-associated ecosystem services and people’s well-being. Addressing direct and indirect coral reef stressors while developing pathways towards recovery and adaptations could mitigate negative impacts, especially in coastal developing countries.

Border carbon adjustments are appraised as a measure to address carbon leakage and competitiveness concerns. This Review Article discusses the possible impacts, as well as practical challenges for implementation.