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  • NEWS FEATURE

Top climate scientists are sceptical that nations will rein in global warming

A Nature survey reveals that many authors of the latest IPCC climate-science report are anxious about the future and expect to see catastrophic changes in their lifetimes.
  1. Jeff Tollefson
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Trees consumed by the Dixie fire at night

The Dixie wildfire in California this year was the second-largest in state history, and was fuelled by high temperatures and drought. Credit: Eric Thayer/Bloomberg/Getty

As a leading climate scientist, Paola Arias doesn’t need to look far to see the world changing. Shifting rain patterns threaten water supplies in her home city of Medellín, Colombia, while rising sea levels endanger the country’s coastline. She isn’t confident that international leaders will slow global warming or that her own government can handle the expected fallout, such as mass migrations and civil unrest over rising inequality. With such an uncertain future, she thought hard several years ago about whether to have children.

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Nature 599, 22-24 (2021)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-021-02990-w

Survey conducted by Richard Monastersky. Additional reporting by Mackenzie White.

Supplementary Information

  1. Nature IPCC survey data tables

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