Volume 12 Issue 8, August 2022

Climate and freedom are interconnected in various ways. The recent German verdict on climate protection realigned the fundamental rights in liberal democratic societies and marks an important step in climate litigation around the world.

Northern expansion is often seen as a solution to climate-driven agricultural challenges in lower latitudes, yet little is known about cultivation–permafrost interactions. We outline four science-based adaptations, informed by farmer knowledge, that reduce risk and inform decisions to sustainably manage and develop permafrost-agroecosystems.

US homes are large by any international standards. Full grid decarbonization and electrification of residential energy uses — along with extensive house renovation — are all required, but smaller homes could make this much easier to deliver.

How global warming affects the ability of northern peatlands to store carbon is uncertain. Now, researchers show that early summer warming increases carbon uptake, whereas warmer late summer decreases it.

Tiny phytoplankton are the base of ocean production and thus critical to carbon storage, carbon fluxes and living marine resources. Now, research suggests that the vertical migration of these organisms provides a previously under-recognized resiliency to climate warming.

Hydropower will have an essential role in meeting the growing energy needs in Africa. Fully interconnecting the African power pools could reduce climate-induced changes in usable hydropower capacity and decrease variability in the electricity supply. Integrating renewables could further increase the adaptability of the power pools to climate change.

Residential sector decarbonization is an essential part of mitigation, especially in the United States where per capita energy use is high by global standards. This article shows the emission reduction potential from individual and combined strategies applied to existing and new homes and to electricity supply.

Hydropower will be an important source to meet the increasing energy needs in Africa, yet it is also faced with growing climate-induced risks. Regional interconnections among power pools and variable renewable energy could both help to reduce capacity loss and variability.

Ocean changes could affect the East Antarctic Ice Sheet and its contribution to sea level rise. Oceanographic observations off East Antarctica show substantial warming of mid-depth Circumpolar Deep Water, linked to poleward wind shifts, with implications for glacial melt and ice sheet stability.

Changes in the spatial pattern of aerosol could influence climate through effects on radiative forcing. Model experiments show that while aerosol absorption in the midlatitudes and regions of tropical descent can warm the planet, aerosol absorption in regions of tropical ascent can cool the planet.

Peatlands have historically acted as a carbon sink, but it is unclear how climate warming will affect this. The response of peatland carbon uptake to warming depends on the timing of summer warming; early warming leads to increased CO₂ uptake and later warming to decreased uptake.

Phytoplankton vertical migration has a role in nutrient pumping and primary productivity in the oceans. Here the authors quantify the total amount of oceanic net primary productivity facilitated by this bio-pumping, under present and future warming conditions.

The author investigates reproductive tradeoffs and contemporary selection of ocean acidification for a common coastal fish. Larvae are highly sensitive to acidification, with lower mortality for larger larvae, but effects are partially offset by tradeoffs between offspring size and number.

Non-CO₂ effects must be addressed for climate-neutral aviation but are currently ignored in international climate policies. The authors provide a framework with different definitions of climate neutrality, then show how technological and demand-side mitigation efforts can help to achieve these targets.