News & Comment

Conversations about climate engineering are difficult to have in many spaces. While public debate deserves exploration, we focus on the difficulties scientific discussions around climate engineering face. For inspiration on how to improve this contested space we turn specifically to the history of controversial medical research. Some ways to move forward might consist of establishing an oversight mechanism, defining boundaries and introducing a specialised review system.

Carbon removal is a strongly debated component of societal efforts to address anthropogenic climate disruption, in part because efforts to scale carbon removal could delay or substitute for efforts aimed at mitigating anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions. Although there is no single solution to this problem, we argue here for radical transparency on the data behind carbon removal claims and the data required for evaluating the dollar-per-ton costs of various carbon removal pathways. Although this would represent a major shift from current practice, it has the potential to both minimize the deleterious impacts of carbon removal on near-term mitigation efforts and provide a foundation for ensuring that future carbon removal serves the public good.

Recognizing the ecological roles of microorganisms as drivers of marine biogeochemical cycles and how they are influenced by seawater pollution, warming, and acidification is essential to understanding climate change mechanisms and their global impacts. We call for updating current science teaching standards by linking microscale processes and macroscale dynamics in the context of marine ecosystems to promote ocean and climate literacy among the next generation.

Various geoengineering approaches have been proposed for carbon dioxide (CO₂) removal but their viability at scale remains unclear. Here, we consider the natural behaviour of driftwood, the warming-induced acceleration of sea-ice loss and tree growth, as well as the stability of cellulose in subfossil wood under cold-anoxic conditions, to introduce the concept of sinking timber from the boreal forest for durable CO₂ sequestration at the deep Arctic Ocean floor.

Climate-related extreme events are exerting significant pressure on food security in the Asia-Pacific Region, home to over half of the world’s population. China, Thailand, Vietnam, and many Southeast Asian countries are major producers and exporters of food globally. Recent climatic extremes associated with El Niño have caused significant crop losses, further compounded by war and trade embargoes that threaten food security. To address these challenges, four measures are essential: (i) Taking action on climate adaptation; (ii) Coordinated, rules-based regional food-aid mechanisms; (iii) Protecting domestic production and conserving soils, and (iv) Advancing zero-carbon farming practices. Together, these strategies are necessary to sustain future food security in the region.

Scope 3 emissions across the supply chain typically account for the largest share of a company’s carbon footprint. The EU Data Act can remove barriers to primary data sharing required for Scope 3 emission reporting by unlocking primary emission data currently stored in industrial assets. Such primary data sharing would increase transparency and accountability, and would be a step towards mandatory, more effective reporting regulations.

Behavioral economics plays a key role in explaining the lack of current climate action and in facilitating effective future interventions. For instance, it can help us evaluate the efficacy and efficiency of policy instruments and institutions, understand the effectiveness of “hard” and “soft” interventions, and estimate pro-environmental preferences. In this editorial, we provide examples for some of the contributions of behavioral economics to the study of climate action and review the eight studies published in this collection. These studies introduce “social tipping points”, study related aspects of international organizations, explore the relationship between pro-environmental behaviors and individual well-being, investigate the effect of “Veggie Days” on emissions in German university cafeterias, test whether an intervention can increase the adoption of certified solar devices for refugees in Uganda, conduct a systematic review and a meta-analysis of public support for carbon pricing policies, examine arguments for and against the use of pricing instruments to mitigate emissions, and analyze social media communications of three groups of stakeholders.

The intensification of extreme weather events induced by climate change is fueling policy discussion over the potential role of global climate intervention. Alongside planetary-scale interventions, technologies for local and regional weather modification are receiving renewed attention and funding. We argue that their social implementation will affect future human-weather relations and propose a weather commons approach as a conceptual framework for democratic, community-centric weather modification for a post 1.5 °C world.

As COP30 approaches, policymakers must ensure that the integration of climate and biodiversity action by non-state and subnational actors is anchored in spatial data. Otherwise, we cannot see where change is happening, how effective it is, or who bears costs and benefits. The UNFCCC Global Climate Action and CBD Action Agenda Portals should lead by requiring spatial details on implementation, enabling more credible and participatory monitoring, analysis, and collaboration.

In this Commentary, we advocate the use of emergy (spelled with “m”) analysis to address and quantify – alongside with the scientific ones – the legal and social aspects that take part in the planning of climate policies and actions. Emergy analysis is suitable to approach the complexity of both local and global climate-related issues, offering a peculiar epistemology that overcomes the anthropocentric nature of current measures. At the same time, it allows the assessment of both nature and human-based flows of resources within a thermodynamic quantitative framework.

This brief comment reveals a salient and growing policy problem: the current U.S. housing policy regime creates tradeoffs between promoting equity and addressing climate risk. Drawing on the example of the recent Los Angeles fires, we point to two major problems. First, issues of affordability are pushing households to more climate-vulnerable areas, where risk is not properly priced. Second, local zoning and building codes can increase resilience, but at a higher cost. Such policies are often unpopular, especially in post-disaster recovery. We conclude by suggesting potential reforms to build more housing in lower-risk communities and to lower risks in more climate-vulnerable areas.

China’s academic achievements are often considered reproductions by occidental scholars. Conversely, the country’s first dendrochronological studies began almost as early as those in Europe and America. Here, we place the century-long history of Chinese dendrochronology in the context of socio-political, economic and personal circumstances, describe past developments, and outline future challenges. Like all scholars, China’s next generation of dendrochronologists must balance national standards and global norms towards innovation and collaboration.

Teens are experiencing an increase in the incidence of anxiety and depression. Climate change adds uncertainty. Dire predictions and unknown impacts contribute to teens' worldview, increasing concerns that add to their normal stressors and anxiety; and for some, this becomes overwhelming. Here, we present a new perspective on teen mental health education and the impact of learning about climate change. We conclude that a comprehensive education can integrate the facts of global climate change, along with the progress in climate mitigation together with mental health education.

Recent advances in climate change risk assessment and management and their application across cities, coastal zones, and finance highlight promising opportunities for near-term action to better govern complex climate change risk and advance adaptation implementation. Positioning applications of participatory modeling, climate risk assessment, adaptation pathways planning, and systemic fiscal disaster risk modeling across variations in time, space, and sector, examples point towards more actionable insights and governance conditions to accelerate equitable adaptation and address inaction caused by uncertainty and complexity.

Scientists have much to contribute to the growing social movements pushing for urgent and transformative change to address the climate and biodiversity crises. Depending on their skills, interests and circumstances, scientists can actively participate in social movements as members (whether on the streets or behind-the-scenes), endorse and facilitate these movements in their professional capacity and within their institutions, and build social movement effectiveness through research and teaching.

Transformational adaptation to climate risks is an emerging topic in international climate negotiations. However, political views diverge on the desirability and feasibility of introducing transformational adaptation as a new concept. While scientific efforts to clarify its meaning are necessary, only by critically reflecting on the political nature of the concept can the negotiations move forward.

Earth observation (EO) data are critical for transparent EUDR monitoring and reporting, serving as a key tool for compliance verification and climate change mitigation. We discuss how current and upcoming EO missions serve different stakeholder needs for independent, verifiable, global and long-term evidence of land use and commodities following deforestation and propose mandating EO data and tools for efficiently assessing environmental impacts.

The new submission round of Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) under the Paris Agreement presents a critical opportunity to enhance the credibility and feasibility of national decarbonisation pathways. By better aligning mid- and long-term targets, countries can reduce inconsistencies in emissions trajectories and strengthen the foundation for achieving long-term goals. Drawing on the experience of the European Union’s 2030 and 2040 intermediate emission targets, we highlight key considerations for setting milestones towards mid-century net-zero goals.

U.S. climate policy rollbacks under President Trump threaten to reverse international climate progress but also may catalyze renewed global urgency. The environmental, economic, and geopolitical consequences of these policies are examined, and five strategic responses are proposed—from new international climate alliances to accelerating renewable energy development and empowering subnational efforts. The article urges a global response to maintain momentum toward the Paris Agreement goals amid increasing challenges.