Editorials

Research scientists and other concerned academics should be more willing to join the climate change debate.

Paucity of information on the potentially complex responses of individuals and societies to climate change policies is a barrier to effective action.

Australia — one of the largest per capita greenhouse-gas emitters — has committed to reduce emissions significantly over coming decades, but will its new carbon policy succeed?

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.

As the evidence for a tight link between greenhouse-gas emissions and climate change accrues, scientists — and editors — should moderate their use of international air travel.

Nature Climate Change is one year old. Here we reflect on the aims and scope of the journal, using articles from this issue as illustrative examples.

Soulless economics as well as corporate and personal greed constrain climate-friendly behaviour. But explaining climate change in cultural and artistic terms may soften hardened hearts.

The Durban conference on climate change made progress of sorts, but the hardest decisions have been deferred.

Regardless of what happened at the Durban climate summit, immediate action is required on climate change, and poor nations must be treated fairly.

The inspirational political leadership needed to tackle dangerous climate change may be lacking, but some business leaders are taking the initiative.

Avoiding dangerous climate change is an increasingly formidable challenge. Diplomats meeting next month in Durban must propose a persuasive alternative if they are to end the Kyoto Protocol.

The human population will soon reach seven billion. Scientists must detail demographic change and its interaction with the climate at a scale that enables policymakers to plan effectively.

The new United Nations panel can offer real hope of illuminating the threat to biodiversity, not least from climate change.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change must incorporate expertise outside of traditional academia in assessing knowledge on climate change, but it must be transparent in its approach.

Early warning of the Earth's tipping points will bring us closer to staving off abrupt climate change, but a societal tipping point is needed to achieve sustainability.

Those frustrated with political inertia on climate change are increasingly seeking an alternative route through the courts, but here too they are likely to see slow progress.

The Fukushima disaster sounds yet another warning call of the need for safe and clean energy sources, but the need to mitigate climate change will keep nuclear in the picture for some time yet.

Climate change presents a tremendous opportunity for discovery that will move us towards a better understanding of the physical workings of our planet and of our role as its exploiters and guardians.

Next spring will bring a much-awaited and exciting new addition to the family of Nature journals. The newest of Nature's research journals, Nature Climate Change will dedicate its coverage to one of the greatest challenges for science and society.