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Shale gas can be a powerful tool in combating climate change. However, its exploitation may also lead to undesired environmental effects that can conversely worsen climate change.

Brazil's hosting of the much anticipated Rio+20 United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development this month will put the country in the climate change spotlight.

Environmental social scientist Lindsay C. Stringer worked with ecologists, soil and climate scientists, economists, and livelihood and policy experts to examine carbon storage, livelihoods and ecosystem services in subSaharan Africa's drylands.

Ice-sheet loss is a likely effect of human interference with the climate system. Research shows that the disintegration of the Greenland ice sheet could occur close to, or even below, the target of limiting warming to 2 °C above pre-industrial levels.

Market-based mechanisms to tackle climate change have many advocates, but economic conditions are making emissions trading schemes hard to implement and sustain, explains Sonja van Renssen.

Warnings about torrents of forced migrations owing to climate change make headlines. Now research shows that this is an oversimplification.

Emissions from tropical hydropower are often underestimated and can exceed those of fossil fuel for decades.

Climate change is now occurring, but few people consider how long the effects may last. A study emphasizes the long-term climate effects of present-day emissions.

It is commonly assumed that fossil fuels can be replaced by alternative forms of energy. Now research challenges this assumption, and highlights the role of non-technological solutions to reduce fossil-fuel consumption.

Immobility rather than mobility should be the focus of concern for policymakers worried about the impact of climate-related natural hazards on the livelihoods of rural populations.

Industrial symbiosis — the sharing of by-product resources among diverse industries — can reduce costs and improve the environment. But despite its benefits, it is no panacea.

This Perspective describes techniques for quantifying uncertainties in climate projections in terms of a common framework, whereby models are used to explore relationships between past climate and climate change and future projections.

Lush meadows of the seagrass Posidonia oceanica represent an important coastal marine ecosystem in the Mediterranean Sea and a major carbon sink. However, an analysis predicts that, in the absence of mitigation, climate change will lead to the functional extinction of P. oceanica meadows by the middle of the twenty-first century.

By experimentally manipulating atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration, drought, air and soil temperature, and herbivory simultaneously, this study provides evidence that climate change affects interactions between above- and belowground organisms through changes in nutrient availability under field conditions.

The complexity and politicization of climate computer models can hinder communication of their science, uses and limitations. Evidence suggests that information on climate models in US newspapers is declining and that when it appears, it is often within sceptic discourses. Furthermore, model projections are frequently portrayed as probably being inaccurate, and political opinion outlets provide more explanation of model results than many news sources.

Agricultural expansion and deforestation contribute to approximately 17% of global greenhouse-gas emissions. The fate of cleared wood and subsequent carbon storage as wood products, however, has not been consistently estimated. Now research fills this gap and shows that 30 years after forest clearance the percentage of carbon stored in wood products and landfills ranges from about 0% to 62% globally.