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Microorganisms, climate change, and the Sustainable Development Goals: progress and challenges

Nature Reviews Microbiology volume 21, pages 622–623 (2023)Cite this article

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The forthcoming UN summit marks the halfway point to 2030 and presents an important milestone in global efforts to address various challenges, including those related to climate change and environmental preservation. The UN SDGs include several related to microorganisms and climate change. Microbiology research is key to understanding and mitigating climate change, and in maintaining the health of terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems (SDGs 13, 14 and 15).

Microorganisms are the gears that run Earth’s biogeochemical cycles. The metabolic capacity of microbial life on our planet is quite astounding, encompassing a vast range of energy-generating pathways. This metabolic versatility can potentially be harnessed to help mitigate negative impacts of climate change, pollutants and other environmental insults to marine and terrestrial ecosystems included in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Traditional microbial-based practices including biofertilizers, plant growth stimulants and pollutant degraders are already being deployed. However, these only scratch the tip of the iceberg with respect to the uncharacterized biochemical potential of Earth’s microorganisms. The biological mechanisms underpinning microbial responses to climate change are also largely unknown. Tipping points towards new microbial functional trajectories may have deleterious environmental consequences if key ecosystem services can no longer be maintained — such as nutrient cycling and the support of plant growth.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Biological Sciences Division, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, WA, USA

    Janet K. Jansson

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  1. Janet K. Jansson
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Correspondence to Janet K. Jansson.

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The author declares no competing interests.

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The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals: https://sdgs.un.org/goals

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Jansson, J.K. Microorganisms, climate change, and the Sustainable Development Goals: progress and challenges. Nat Rev Microbiol 21, 622–623 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41579-023-00953-8

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