Research articles

Rapid population ageing is challenging for climate adaptation. Considering ageing demographics and green infrastructure development in 26,885 Southeast Asian communities, the authors find a reduction in green space in ageing communities, especially in socio-economically disadvantaged areas, with implications for vulnerability.

Countries use corporate tax cuts to attract foreign investment, which reshapes patterns of global production. This research shows that such competition will lead to higher carbon emissions and shift them to developing countries, while a global minimum tax could help alleviate these problems.

The coastal ocean is a dynamic environment, and CO₂ uptake is increasing faster than in the open ocean. Incorporating coastal processes into a global model shows that biological responses to climate-induced circulation changes and riverine nutrient inputs are key to the enhanced uptake.

How the climate system changes under negative emissions is not well known. Here the authors show that the mid-latitude storm tracks change in an asymmetric way, leading to stronger Northern Hemisphere and weaker Southern Hemisphere storm tracks after recovery to present-day CO₂ concentrations.

Nature-based climate solutions are widely incorporated into climate change mitigation plans and need firm scientific foundations. Through literature review and expert elicitation, this analysis shows that for some major pathways there is strong support, while for others their efficacy remains uncertain.

Innovations in methane-targeted abatement technologies (MTAT) are needed to curb climate change in the short term. This Analysis reveals the trend, distributions and diffusion of MTAT-related patents for the past few decades, highlighting the mismatch between emissions sources and technical capacity.

Grazing has been shown to have diverse effects on soil carbon, with local variation. This study assesses carbon changes related to grazing globally and finds that, although grazing has reduced soil carbon stocks, managing intensity could increase carbon uptake in both soils and vegetation.

It is important to detect human influence on the climate, but natural variability can hide signals of change. Here the authors show the anthropogenic signal has emerged for sea surface temperature seasonality, primarily driven by greenhouse gas increases, and with geographical differences in change.

How groundwater recharge changes with global warming is not well constrained. Here, the authors use an empirical relationship to show that groundwater recharge is more sensitive to aridity changes than expected, implying a strong response of water resources to climate change.

The authors conduct a systematic literature review on renewable energy expansion and biodiversity. Comparing renewable energy siting maps with the ranges of two threatened species under future climates, they highlight the potential conflict and need for consideration of climate-change-driven range shifts.

The authors develop a biophysical model to understand the impacts of tree loss and climate change on the activity patterns and population trends of a diurnal ectotherm (lizard). They show that deforestation can reverse the positive effects of climate change and even accelerate population declines.

Increasing exposure to climate hazards under climate change will disproportionately impact poor communities. This study shows that disruptions to infrastructure service threaten progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals in coastal Bangladesh, but impacts can be mediated through adaptation.

The authors use stomach contents from six fish species sampled for 12 years to show that warming shifts foraging behaviour to favour consumption of less energetically rewarding prey. Using food web models, they show that this flexible foraging could lead to reduced community biodiversity.

International trade of used vehicles lacks regulation on emissions standards. This study shows that vehicles exported from Great Britain generate substantially higher carbon and pollution emissions than scrapped or on-road vehicles.

City fiscal and budgetary decisions play an essential role in the success of urban climate action. Using US cities as a case study, this Article reveals the interrelationship between urban climate finance, action and justice, as well as promising pathways to transform municipal finance practices.

Building additional water infrastructure such as wells is a key strategy to mitigate the impacts of severe droughts, particularly in drylands. This study shows, however, that this infrastructure can lead to loss of resilience under climate change due to erosion of traditional practices.

Whether methane emissions from the Boreal–Arctic region are increasing under climate change is unclear, but critical for determining climate feedbacks. This study uses observations and machine learning to show an increase in wetland methane emissions over the past two decades, with inter-annual variation.

Global support and cooperation are necessary for successful climate action. Large-scale representative survey results show that most of the population around the world is willing to support climate action, while a perception gap exists regarding other citizens’ intention to act.

Carbon sequestration in mangroves has been proposed as a mitigation strategy for climate change, yet the benefits of carbon burial may be offset by methane emissions. This study shows that methane offsets are small in saline and tropical mangroves, leading to greater net carbon sequestration.

Understanding temperature change since the pre-industrial period is essential for climate action. This study uses an ocean proxy to better quantify when anthropogenic warming began and estimates that global temperatures have already increased by 1.7 °C.