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Current pledges for emissions cuts are insufficient to meet the Paris Agreement temperature goal. The wave of net zero targets being discussed and adopted could make the Paris goal possible if further countries follow suit.
Prediction of current and future species distributions using thermal limits often relies on lethal temperatures, yet many organisms lose fertility at sublethal temperatures. The authors show that distributions of 43 Drosophila species better match male-sterilizing, than lethal, temperatures.
Evaluation of climate adaptation policies typically compares differences between scenarios with different levels of, or without, climate change. Many policies, however, address development simultaneously, and focusing only on climate change impacts may not identify the best outcome.
Growth in CO2 emissions has slowed since the Paris Agreement 5 years ago. The COVID-19 pandemic has caused a drop in emissions of about 7% in 2020 relative to 2019, but strong policy is needed to address underlying drivers and to sustain a decline in global emissions beyond the current crisis.
The societal response to the pandemic has reduced global power demand, disproportionally affecting coal power generation and thus leading to a strong CO2 emissions decline. Policy should apply 2020’s lessons to ensure that power sector emissions have peaked in 2018 and go into structural decline.
