News & Comment

The world may be largely indifferent to the presence of humanity, yet we have magnified our influence to global scales - above all, through the recent increase in atmospheric greenhouse gases.

While the US and EU plan major investments in bioethanol and biodiesel, critics argue that biofuels carry too high a cost. Kurt Kleiner reports.

The drivers and impacts of climate change extend beyond greenhouse gas emissions and rising temperature, especially when deforestation enters the picture. In deciding how best to mitigate, we may need to favour direct calculations of cost over current means of measuring climate change.

Now that the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has spoken more clearly than ever — and policymakers are listening — it may be time to take a new direction. Amanda Leigh Haag reports on suggested ways forward.

Rising temperatures are changing mountain ecosystems as the heat forces some species upwards — until there is nowhere left to go. Emma Marris reports on the 'escalator effect', which is threatening species worldwide.

International climate policy needs to induce a socioeconomic tipping to a low or no-carbon economy if we are to avoid climate change tipping points.