Research articles

National climate institutions could greatly impact the process of policy design and implementation. This analysis identifies four models of climate governance for major emitters, estimates their policy ambitions and performance, then shows how they are related to macro features.

The authors reveal complex drought recovery responses to phenology shifts, in that early spring can shorten or lengthen recovery, while delayed spring following drought events delays it. These effects suggest a need to incorporate phenology aspects into resilience models.

How the spatial structures of large storms will change is not well resolved in most climate models. Here the authors use high-resolution models to show that winter storms become sharper under warming because precipitation in the storm centre increases more strongly than the storm area.

The Hunga Tonga–Hunga Ha’apai eruption in January 2022 injected large amounts of water vapour into the atmosphere. Here, the authors show that this can cause additional warming over the next years, which increases the likelihood of exceeding 1.5 °C warming over a short time period.

Rapid growth of AI could lead to more inventions and innovations in climate actions, yet evidence of this connection is lacking. The use of large-scale patent data and automated techniques helps elucidate trends in climate-related artificial intelligence inventions for different technology areas.

Snow is an important component of the environment and climate of mountain regions, but providing a long-term historical context for recent changes is challenging. Here, the authors use ring-width data from shrubs to show that recent snow loss in the central Alps is unprecedented over the last 600 years.

Partisan polarization plays a key role in shaping climate action in the United States. By identifying positive and negative elements within party identities, the authors expand conceptualizations of Republican-Democrat to explore how partisanship relates to policy support and behavioural intentions.

The Nile River system is faced with challenges including increasing water demands, political tensions, and future climate and socio-economic uncertainties. Cooperative adaptive management can help increase synergies, balance trade-offs and bring various benefits to riparian countries.

Teleconnections between tipping elements in the Earth system are unclear. Here the authors use a climate network approach to link the Amazon Rainforest Area and the Tibetan Plateau, and show that current snow cover loss on the Tibetan Plateau is an early warning signal for an approaching tipping point.

Urgent and targeted financial investments are essential for reaching the net zero target in Europe, while a comprehensive mapping is still missing. This meta-analysis demonstrates the necessity of rapid increase in investments and displays the potential patterns across various sectors.