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Last December saw the inaugural Health Day at a Climate Conference of the Parties (COP) and the announcement of the COP28 UAE Declaration on Climate and Health, marking a substantial step in global recognition of the intersecting crises of climate change and health. Nature Climate Change speaks to Maria Neira, director of the Department of Environment, Climate Change and Health at the World Health Organization, about successes and next steps.

Scientists and health professionals acknowledge that climate change is also a health emergency, but responses have been slow. Now, citizens and experts are turning to the courts as a path towards accountability, action and adaptation.

The climate crisis is also an urgent and ongoing health crisis with diverse human impacts leading to physical, mental and cultural losses. Translating knowledge into action involves broad collaboration, which relies heavily on careful communication of a personal and politicized issue.

Climate change is a health emergency, impacting multiple facets of human well-being via direct and indirect pathways. Nature Climate Change asked experts from different health fields to share their thoughts on the urgent issues and possible paths forward.

Projections of Arctic warming have large uncertainties. Here the authors consider ocean heat transport and its contribution to Arctic warming; high-resolution model results show increased Bering Strait transport compared with lower-resolution results, with implications for projected warming rates.

Meeting the Paris Agreement targets requires deep emissions reductions supported by a scale-up in carbon dioxide removal. However, current country-reported mitigation pledges are off track to meet carbon dioxide removal needs, unless countries dramatically reduce emissions consistent with low-energy-demand scenarios.

Carbon dioxide removals (CDR) have been integrated into country-submitted reports under the Paris Agreement. However, this Analysis finds a gap between levels of CDR in these national proposals and the scenarios limiting global warming to the 1.5 °C target.

In this Perspective, the authors develop a risk assessment framework for forest microbiomes under climate change that unites microbial and forest ecology. They define processes that amplify or buffer microbial sensitivity and exposure risk and feedbacks that mediate impacts on microbial communities.

The authors perform a meta-analysis to assess current and future capacities of healthcare systems under climate change. They summarize the key focus points of current literature and highlight the need for effective policies, trained workforces and redesigned infrastructure to meet future burdens.

Methane emissions from abandoned mines have been underestimated in emissions inventories even though they may become a dominant source of emissions as coal is phased out. Using a detailed bottom-up dataset, the authors find that a strategy targeting the closure of gas-rich mines could have a large mitigation potential

In this Perspective, the authors develop an integrated framework to understand and predict the joint impacts of climate change and urbanization on biodiversity and ecosystems. They review examples of interacting impacts and present opportunities for future research.

Residents of informal settlements suffer from extreme weather due to their precarious living environment. Now, findings show that extreme weather event thresholds do not fully capture the negative impacts experienced by women in Nairobi, Kenya.

Recent policy progress in the United States shows how populism can help advance climate goals, but at a steep cost. Avoiding setbacks will require curbing protectionist reflexes and harnessing opportunities for global cooperation.

Defining thresholds for extreme weather events is important for adaptation but often ignores impacts on climate-vulnerable communities. This research finds current practices do not capture experiences of women in informal settlements and self-reported impact data could help to address the issue.

Climate change will affect the adoption of residential rooftop solar photovoltaics by changing the patterns of both electricity generation and demand. This research projects that climate change will increase the future value and optimal capacity of household rooftop solar across the United States.