Comment

Causal approaches employed at the scale of commercial agriculture are required to build high-quality evidence that climate-smart agricultural interventions result in real emissions reductions and removals. Such project-scale empirical data are additionally required to demonstrate and advance the viability of process-based models and digital measurement, reporting and verification as tools to scale soil carbon accounting.

Nearly one-third of the global shoreline is in the Arctic, a region undergoing some of the most rapid warming and substantial environmental transitions due to climate change. While Arctic research has largely focused on terrestrial and open-ocean systems, there is now an urgent need to focus on the unique challenges associated with changing coastal ecosystems.

The role of climate science is changing — fast. Once positioned to inform policy, scientific assessments are increasingly being used in courtrooms to substantiate claims of harm, causation and state responsibility. Climate knowledge has now become legal evidence in the fight for climate justice.

Africa’s future climate could be shaped by solar radiation management (SRM) decisions made elsewhere. To ensure these technologies, if ever pursued, reflect principles of justice and local priorities, Africa must move from passive recipient to active leader in SRM research, governance and public engagement.

Scientists increasingly assess interventions against misinformation mainly via truth discernment. However, pursuing truth discernment may not be sufficiently beneficial to society if interventions do not improve behaviour and other outcomes.

Projects are not delivering the transformative change needed for climate change adaptation. This failure is due in part to the delivery of adaptation as projects, but there are viable alternatives that can better address the underlying and structural causes of vulnerability.

IPCC assessments are of limited use to the UNFCCC policy process due to misalignment and lack of relevance, with the situation further exacerbated by the UNFCCC’s weak scientific uptake mechanisms. The interface between the IPCC and the UNFCCC urgently needs to be reformed to facilitate a more effective science–policy connection.

Ecologists often leverage patterns observed across spatial climate gradients to predict the impacts of climate change (space-for-time substitution). We highlight evidence that this can be misleading not just in the magnitude but in the direction of effects, explain why, and make suggestions for improving the reliability of ecological forecasts.

Urban development policies, designed to improve city resilience, could unintentionally increase the exposure to climate risk. This Comment discusses the impact of misaligned incentives, miscalculated benefits and costs, and overlooked behavioural responses on policy outcomes, as well as future directions.

Deltas are complex and are among the most vulnerable landforms under climate change. Studying them collectively highlights common stressors that drive their most significant challenges. A holistic conceptual framing of a delta and its feeding river basin is fundamental to effective adaptation planning.

Extreme heat poses a growing threat to vulnerable urban populations, and the existing heat early warning system usually operates at population level. Pairing emerging individualized and population early warning systems could directly and meaningfully extend protection to those most in need.

Video games are a popular method for climate change communication, but current efforts undervalue the potential role of gaming communities. To empower gaming communities to take climate action, we suggest social strategies including fostering climate change conversations through games and in gaming social spaces, and organizing real-world gaming community events.

Emerging agroforestry initiatives focus on planting trees rather than managing existing forestland. The result is a missed opportunity to support forest ecosystems, rural livelihoods and climate mitigation.

As an important policy instrument for building sector decarbonization, bans on fossil fuel-based heating face fierce opposition with doubts over their economic viability. With a unified perspective that incorporates the views of proponents and opponents, we discuss the importance of targeted policies to break the deadlock.

The Hague in the Netherlands was the first city in the world to enact a law prohibiting advertisements for fossil fuel products and services. Although the ban is restricted to The Hague’s jurisdiction, the decision to implement the ban challenges norms and conventions that drive fossil-fuel consumption worldwide and sets an example for other governments to follow.

Urban climate actions have resulted in some progress towards reducing greenhouse gas emissions and adapting human settlements to a warmer planet. However, the long-term implications of climate gentrification threaten the continued efficacy of these actions.

Energy-economic models are increasingly being used to inform climate mitigation policies. This Comment describes three situations where models misinform policymakers and calls for more iterative, policy-orientated modelling exercises that maximize learning in the pursuit of long-term emissions reductions goals.

In 2023–2024, widespread marine heatwaves associated with record ocean temperatures impacted ocean processes, marine species, ecosystems and coastal communities, with economic consequences. Despite warnings, interventions were limited. Proactive strategies are needed for inevitable future events.

Critical methodological choices in marine heatwave detection can yield dramatically different results. We call for context-specific methods that account for regional variability to advance marine heatwave research and socio-ecological outcomes.

Governance of domestic cross-border carbon capture and storage faces great challenges, which varies across political systems, economic structures and socio-cultural backgrounds, yet is often overlooked. Overcoming these challenges requires a comprehensive and coordinated approach built on synergistic cluster governance.