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International cooperation is essential to mitigate climate change, yet it comes with challenges that often hinder countries from achieving their climate targets. Now, a study shows that timely monitoring and review of national climate mitigation efforts are essential for the Paris Agreement to accomplish its targets.

The 15th Conference of the Parties (COP15) in Copenhagen marked an important step in global climate action with parties submitting 2020 mitigation targets. However, this retrospective study shows that many countries either have failed to meet their targets or have reduced their emissions through carbon leakage.

As climate change redirects migration patterns of marine species towards the extremes of their geographic range, sharks find themselves stunned by rising cold upwelling currents.

The authors link intensification of cold upwelling in two western boundary currents to the observed death of marine organisms, and upwelling avoidance behaviour in bull sharks. They raise concerns of increased risk of cold-mortality events for climate migrants at their poleward distribution limits.

The authors use individual-based models to assess the contribution of frugivore-mediated seed dispersal to forest restoration. They show that the movement of large birds—which disperse seeds with higher carbon storage potential—is limited in landscapes with low forest cover (<40%).

Climate change can have profound impacts on mental health, yet few therapists receive training on how to talk to their clients about this issue. This Comment explores strategies for therapists to best support clients in climate distress.

The degree to which changes in marine organisms due to warming can influence tropical cyclones is not well known. Here the authors show that changing chlorophyll patterns can lead to more landfalling tropical cyclones in East Asia.

Policies and subsidies can help, and have helped, to establish the electric vehicle market. As subsidies are withdrawn and policies shift, the public will play a role in the future market infiltration.

Hydrological sensitivity describes how much precipitation changes for a given warming. Here, the authors show that the hydrological sensitivity differs between the three tropical ocean basins, which influences land rainfall changes across the tropical and mid-latitude regions.

Meteorites recovered from Antarctica provide a bounty of materials from asteroids and planets and revolutionized the field of meteoritics. Warming temperatures in Antarctica may lead to the loss of a significant fraction of meteorites exposed at the surface and thus threaten the impact Antarctic meteorites have on planetary science.

Most of the meteorites on the Earth’s surface are found in Antarctica. Here the authors show that ~5,000 meteorites become inaccessible per year as they melt into the ice due to climate change.

Following a groundswell of voluntary net-zero targets by companies, regulators are increasingly introducing mandatory rules. If governments can overcome the barriers to rigour, coherence and fairness, such mandatory ‘ground rules’ have the potential to overcome the obstructionism that holds back a just climate transition.

The authors use resurrected strains of a diatom species to compare temperature optima, cell size and gene expression across 60 years. Modern samples have a 1 °C higher temperature optima and probably support increased nutrient uptake, highlighting the adaptation potential of diatoms to global change.

Many cities are developing plans and strategies to achieve net-zero emissions and combat climate change. However, the operational value of residual emissions remains unknown, thus challenging the integrity, transparency and impact of such pledges.

Current model-based financial regulations favour carbon-intensive investments. This is likely to disincentivize banks from investing in new low-carbon assets, impairing the transition to net zero. Financial regulators and policymakers should consider how this bias may impact financial system stability and broader societal objectives.