Climate-change impacts articles within Nature Climate Change

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  • Article
    | Open Access

    The authors use a mechanistic microclimate model to model the below-canopy conditions for 300,000 tropical forest locations across 30 years. They show that small temperature increases have already resulted in novel temperature regimes across most sites, and highlight areas that may act as refugia.

    • Brittany T. Trew
    • , David P. Edwards
    •  & Ilya M. D. Maclean

  • Viewpoint |

    Climate change is a health emergency, impacting multiple facets of human well-being via direct and indirect pathways. Nature Climate Change asked experts from different health fields to share their thoughts on the urgent issues and possible paths forward.

    • Wenjia Cai
    • , Jessica Fanzo
    •  & Elizabeth Marks

  • Perspective |

    In this Perspective, the authors develop a risk assessment framework for forest microbiomes under climate change that unites microbial and forest ecology. They define processes that amplify or buffer microbial sensitivity and exposure risk and feedbacks that mediate impacts on microbial communities.

    • C. E. Willing
    • , P. T. Pellitier
    •  & K. G. Peay

  • Analysis |

    The authors perform a meta-analysis to assess current and future capacities of healthcare systems under climate change. They summarize the key focus points of current literature and highlight the need for effective policies, trained workforces and redesigned infrastructure to meet future burdens.

    • Jeffrey Braithwaite
    • , Elle Leask
    •  & Yvonne Zurynski

  • News & Views |

    Residents of informal settlements suffer from extreme weather due to their precarious living environment. Now, findings show that extreme weather event thresholds do not fully capture the negative impacts experienced by women in Nairobi, Kenya.

    • Lauren Broyles

  • Article |

    Defining thresholds for extreme weather events is important for adaptation but often ignores impacts on climate-vulnerable communities. This research finds current practices do not capture experiences of women in informal settlements and self-reported impact data could help to address the issue.

    • Samantha C. Winter
    • , Mark R. Winter
    •  & Susan S. Witte

  • News & Views |

    Global projections of the economic impacts of climate change have usually focused on rising average temperatures. Now, two studies depict more complex and gloomier scenarios by incorporating variability in temperature and precipitation.

    • Matteo Coronese

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Existing global economic damage assessments only focus on the impacts induced by annual temperature changes. Including variability and extremes of temperature and precipitation in climate damage projections raises global gross domestic product losses and exacerbates global disparities of economic damage.

    • Paul Waidelich
    • , Fulden Batibeniz
    •  & Sonia I. Seneviratne

  • Comment |

    Climate change can have profound impacts on mental health, yet few therapists receive training on how to talk to their clients about this issue. This Comment explores strategies for therapists to best support clients in climate distress.

    • Noa Heiman

  • Brief Communication
    | Open Access

    Most of the meteorites on the Earth’s surface are found in Antarctica. Here the authors show that ~5,000 meteorites become inaccessible per year as they melt into the ice due to climate change.

    • Veronica Tollenaar
    • , Harry Zekollari
    •  & Frank Pattyn

  • Article |

    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.

    • Ji Soo Kim
    •  & Seung Kyum Kim

  • News & Views |

    The ocean stores about 30% of the carbon emitted by human activities, regulating atmospheric CO2 levels and the Earth’s climate. Research suggests that this uptake of CO2 has strengthened much faster in coastal ocean waters than in the open ocean due to enhanced biological activity.

    • Laure Resplandy

  • Article
    | Open Access

    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.

    • Moritz Mathis
    • , Fabrice Lacroix
    •  & Corinna Schrum

  • Comment |

    Mitigation and adaptation strategies have historically been, and continue to be, developed separately. The climate is already changing and integration of adaptation and mitigation in policy and practice is now urgently needed.

    • Candice Howarth
    •  & Elizabeth J. Z. Robinson

  • Article |

    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.

    • Jia-Rui Shi
    • , Benjamin D. Santer
    •  & Susan E. Wijffels

  • Editorial |

    The impacts of climate change on food production will affect us all. It is important that research and funding are available to minimize these effects and support the most vulnerable.

  • Review Article |

    Children’s education outcomes are vulnerable to the effects of climate change. This Review examines the impact of various climate stressors on children’s educations, develops a framework to understand these risks, and discusses methodological challenges and directions for future research.

    • Caitlin M. Prentice
    • , Francis Vergunst
    •  & Helen L. Berry

  • Brief Communication |

    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.

    • Uzma Ashraf
    • , Toni Lyn Morelli
    •  & Rebecca R. Hernandez

  • Article
    | Open Access

    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.

    • Daniel Adshead
    • , Amelie Paszkowski
    •  & Jim W. Hall

  • News & Views |

    Local governments need extensive funding to realize transformative climate ambitions and this raises the spectre of privileging outside interests over just transitions. Now, research unearths how such private financial interests shape city climate actions in ways both broader, and potentially more brittle, than previously understood.

    • David J. Gordon

  • News & Views |

    Oceans, covering more than 70% of Earth’s surface, play a vital role in regulating the climate by absorbing heat and carbon dioxide. Now research shows oceans have warmed by more than 1.5 °C since the beginning of the industrial era, challenging previous estimates and emphasizing the urgency of global action.

    • Wenfeng Deng

  • Article
    | Open Access

    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.

    • Malcolm T. McCulloch
    • , Amos Winter
    •  & Julie A. Trotter

  • Comment |

    Ongoing climate change has the potential to reduce people’s direct experiences with nature, leading to or further exacerbating the ‘extinction of experience’. We argue that understanding these impacts is crucial, as the extinction of experience can have adverse consequences for both humans and the natural environment.

    • Masashi Soga
    •  & Kevin J. Gaston

  • Editorial |

    Soaring temperatures hit the headlines throughout 2023; only time will tell if the annual climate talks have pivoted from discussion and debate to meaningful progress for climate action.

  • Perspective |

    This Perspective evaluates efforts using machine learning to track global progress on adaptation, focusing on recent efforts in text analysis. It discusses practical and theoretical challenges, lessons learned and ways forward. It urges the adaptation community to prepare for a paradigm shift.

    • Anne J. Sietsma
    • , James D. Ford
    •  & Jan C. Minx

  • Article |

    The Madden–Julian Oscillation (MJO) is a key feature of tropical weather on a multi-weekly timescale. Here, the authors show that the MJO becomes more predictable with climate change, potentially allowing better subseasonal-to-seasonal forecasting.

    • Danni Du
    • , Aneesh C. Subramanian
    •  & Elizabeth Bradley

  • Comment |

    Recent criticisms have suggested that future emissions are unlikely to lead to the warmest climate scenario available (SSP5–8.5), which has resulted in the second highest scenario (SSP3–7.0) receiving increased attention. The distinctiveness of SSP3–7.0 has not been well recognized, but it is relevant for the proper interpretation of studies that use this scenario.

    • Hideo Shiogama
    • , Shinichiro Fujimori
    •  & Toshihiko Takemura

  • Brief Communication
    | Open Access

    .Observations of glacier response to climate changes prior to the satellite era are sparse. Here the authors use historical aerial photographs to document change in peripheral glaciers in Greenland since 1890, providing enhanced confidence that recent changes are unprecedented on a century timescale.

    • L. J. Larocca
    • , M. Twining–Ward
    •  & A. A. Bjørk

  • Editorial |

    Societal transition to address climate change will require many changes. As society adapts and transforms, the labour market will be altered as some established areas of employment will disappear and new areas will emerge that will need workers.

  • News & Views |

    The global loss and damage fund is essential to provide support for climate-impacted groups and help their local initiatives for adaptation. Now, research focusing on the Vanuatu population highlights the necessity to put human rights as a central consideration for loss and damage fund agendas.

    • Meg Parsons

  • Article |

    Climate change is a major human rights challenge. This research shows how climate change is impeding the human rights of Ni-Vanuatu, outlines what can be done in response, and discusses how the future loss and damage fund should consider human rights restoration and compensation packages.

    • Karen E. McNamara
    • , Rachel Clissold
    •  & Christopher Y. Bartlett

  • Article |

    Non-tornadic thunderstorm winds are associated with particularly strong damages. Here, the author assesses changes in these winds in the central USA and shows that they have intensified stronger than other extreme winds over the past decades, while the affected area increased 4.8-fold.

    • Andreas F. Prein

  • News & Views |

    The collapse of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet is a worrying climate tipping point, with the potential to raise global sea level by up to 5.3 metres. Now, an assessment of future climate scenarios suggests that accelerated melting of ice shelves in West Antarctica is locked in, even for the most ambitious emissions reduction scenarios.

    • Taimoor Sohail

  • Analysis
    | Open Access

    For global adaptation effort, it is essential to understand which actors are participating and what their roles are. This Analysis, based on comparative case studies, displays the dominant actors in adaptation, and how the actor–role patterns vary across regions.

    • Jan Petzold
    • , Tom Hawxwell
    •  & Matthias Garschagen

  • Article |

    Autonomous sampling enables increased data collection in the ocean to understand circulation and water property changes. This study uses data from underwater gliders and profiling floats to show a shoreward lateral shift in Gulf Stream waters, which have warmed and become lighter since 2001.

    • Robert E. Todd
    •  & Alice S. Ren

  • Editorial |

    COP28 will see the conclusion of the first global stocktake, which assesses efforts towards long-term climate targets. In addition to the assessment process, the stocktake could also address current problems within climate governance and interact with other policy instruments.

  • Review Article |

    Establishment of the loss and damage fund is a major step in climate negotiations for Global South countries, yet resource allocation remains unsettled. This Review shows how vulnerability-based approaches are variable and complex, with the adoption of quantitative measures likely to bring division.

    • Stacy-ann Robinson
    • , J. Timmons Roberts
    •  & Danielle Falzon

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Changes in air temperature are usually considered for quantifying changes in temperature extremes such as heatwaves. This study shows that the incidence of heat extremes in soils is increasing faster than air temperature in some regions, with implications for hydrological and biogeochemical processes.

    • Almudena García-García
    • , Francisco José Cuesta-Valero
    •  & Jian Peng

  • Article |

    The decarbonization of the global iron and steel industry is important for energy systems mitigation. Using a facility-level database, this Article presents cost-effective, region-specific strategies targeting plants with a large age-to-capacity ratio and/or high emissions intensity.

    • Ruochong Xu
    • , Dan Tong
    •  & Qiang Zhang

  • Comment |

    The global stocktake seeks to enhance climate ambition through assessment and review of collective efforts every five years. A recent breakthrough in finance for addressing loss and damage is an opportunity to strengthen the finance agenda and rebuild much needed trust in the multilateral system.

    • C. Watson
    •  & L. Gonzalez

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