News & Comment

The impacts of climate change are becoming difficult to ignore with more frequent climate extreme events across the globe. Yet, whether these events may influence individuals and society to engage in climate discussion and action is currently unclear.

Inconsistent climate projections for much of the Global South from six generations of IPCC assessments have compounded the many challenges it faces in adapting to climate change. Here, we propose using emerging technologies and strengthening international collaborations to address these challenges.

There are contrasting views on how to produce the accurate predictions that are needed to guide climate change adaptation. Here, we argue for harnessing artificial intelligence, building on domain-specific knowledge and generating ensembles of moderately high-resolution (10–50 km) climate simulations as anchors for detailed hazard models.

Climate change research and assessments, including the most recent IPCC report, paint an increasingly dire picture of the future. However, the assumption that the future will be worse than the present may be wrong for many aspects of human well-being.

The release of the IPCC Synthesis Report concludes the sixth assessment cycle (AR6). Nature Climate Change speaks to outgoing IPCC Chair Hoesung Lee about the reports, and the lessons that may inform the seventh assessment cycle.

The IPCC has been successful at building its scientific authority, but it will require institutional reform for staying relevant to new and changing political contexts. Exploring a range of alternative future pathways for the IPCC can help guide crucial decisions about redefining its purpose.

Planning for climate change means accounting for melting ice and sea-level rise; exactly how much is shaped by many factors, each carrying its own uncertainties. Scientists are grappling with this uncertainty to better understand the fate of ice sheets and coastlines.

Climate change has been identified as a driver of instability and conflict around the world. However, how climate change and the transition to a net-zero world might alter the character of military operations is often overlooked.

With climate change impacts increasingly being felt by more of the world’s population, adaptation efforts are urgently needed. However, similar to the unequal distribution of climate change impacts, the ability of societies to adapt is also heterogeneous.

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.

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.

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.