Volume 13 Issue 8, August 2023

The narrative that certain areas will inevitably become uninhabitable owing to sea-level rise is powerful, yet may silence important debate about alternative climate adaptation futures. In particular, populations with low emissions and funding capacity should have their narratives centralized in adaptation.

A gap persists between the emissions reductions pledged by countries under the Paris Agreement and those resulting from their domestic policies. We argue that this gap in fact contains two parts: one in the policies that countries adopt, and the other in the outcomes that those policies achieve.

Companies rarely disclose underlying calculations for their science-based emission reduction targets and the targets themselves lack important details. Increased transparency is necessary to assess justice implications, evaluate the sufficiency of aggregate emission reductions and hold companies accountable for actions on their targets.

Studies on sea-level rise often claim to be useful for local decision-makers and adaptation planning. We asked researchers and practitioners to discuss the different ways in which science can inform local to global decision-making and what researchers can do to improve the utility of their findings.

Natural disasters can trigger conflictive behaviour among affected individuals. Now, research based on survey experiments with Syrian and Iraqi refugees shows how people behave altruistically after experiencing drought, but only towards ingroup members.

Climate change might alter mosquito-borne disease risk, but research now suggests that one emerging mosquito control approach might be largely resistant to warming temperatures.

An endangered turtle population translocated to a higher-latitude (cooler) location grew inadequately. This calls into question the future viability of the population and highlights the difficulties in carrying out climate change-related translocations.

We established a comprehensive assessment framework to explore the carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions reduction potential from coal–biomass co-firing power plants with retrofitted carbon capture and storage (CBECCS) in China. Optimal spatiotemporal deployment of the CBECCS transition could achieve CO₂ mitigation of 1.6 Gt yr⁻¹ in 2040 and 41.2 Gt cumulatively over the period 2025–2060.

Nature-based solutions, such as urban green spaces, are shown to contribute to carbon emissions reduction and carbon sequestration, and also to have valuable indirect effects and behavioural impacts. Implementing such solutions could achieve carbon neutrality within the decade in several major cities in Europe.

A net-zero change in tree cover is often considered to have no impact on the biophysical effects of forests. Satellite observations now reveal an asymmetric influence of gross tree-cover gain versus loss on land surface temperature. Neglecting this influence might lead to biases in quantifying the biophysical effects of forests.

Most models of global climate change impacts and policy do not consider adaptation or societies’ ability to adapt. Here the authors propose a way to better integrate adaptation in such models using the Shared Socioeconomic Pathway scenario framework to quantify adaptive capacity via a suite of socioeconomic indicators.

Climate and socioeconomic change are reshaping wildfire patterns and increasing risks globally, leading to potential new conflicts and equity issues. Incorporating justice considerations from different perspectives into integrated wildfire risk management is essential to address these new challenges.

Satellite radar altimetry enables the detection of sea-level changes by collecting data that have exceeded early expectations. This Perspective discusses potential advances that would enhance the data, allowing regional detection and attribution of sea-level change and improving ocean heat uptake estimates.

Climate-induced extreme events could disrupt the operation of ports globally, which could affect maritime transport, trade and supply chains. The authors estimate wider impact on the trade and economic activities across different sectors, finding that globally large economic cost is at-risk.

Coal–biomass co-firing power plants with retrofitted carbon capture and storage are seen as a promising decarbonization solution for coal-dominant energy systems. Framework with spatially explicit biomass sources, plants and geological storage sites demonstrate its effectiveness in China.

Climate models show large differences in simulating Atlantic Ocean circulation and associated carbon uptake. Here the authors use sea surface salinity as an emergent constraint of these processes to show that Northern Hemisphere surface temperatures warm more slowly than expected.

Changes in tree cover can change surface temperatures in multiple ways. Here, the authors show an asymmetric direct biophysical effect of tree cover change, as the cooling due to tree cover gain is greater in magnitude than the warming from tree cover loss in most forests.

Future Arctic methane emissions may be less dependent on soil hydrology. Here, this study indicates that if the high latitudes maintain wet conditions, the cooling effects could limit the increase in methane, resulting in emissions similar to a warmer dry scenario with a higher substrate availability.

The impacts of microclimate on future plant population dynamics are poorly understood. The authors use large-scale transplant climate change experiments to show the contribution of forest microclimates to population dynamics and project the distributions of 12 common understorey plants.

The biocontrol technology (wMel) used to mitigate mosquito-borne viruses is adversely affected by heat stress. The authors integrate empirical data on mosquito population dynamics and wMel thermal sensitivity to show that the technology is generally robust to near-term climate change.

Climate-induced extreme events could lead to drastic socioeconomic consequences, including altered cooperation behaviours. With survey experiments among Iraqi and Syrian refugees, this study finds drought experience could reduce altruism and group identity function as the key moderator.

Effective spatial allocation of the nature-based solutions is important for city mitigation through various pathways. This Analysis allocates prioritized urban nature-based solutions to major European cities and estimates their potential contribution to emission reductions, then the carbon neutrality targets.