Nature climate change

Evidence synthesis is increasingly valuable for a rapidly growing body of literature. We encourage authors to embrace available guidance and reporting standards to maximize the scientific value and broader utility of their work.

Literature reviews can help to inform decision-making, yet they may be subject to fatal bias if not conducted rigorously as ‘systematic reviews’. Reporting standards help authors to provide sufficient methodological detail to allow verification and replication, clarifying when key steps, such as critical appraisal, have been omitted.

Current and future climate change poses a substantial threat to the African continent. Young scientists are needed to advance Earth systems science on the continent, but they face significant challenges.

Until recently, national bans on fossil fuel-related activities were a taboo subject, but they are now becoming increasingly common. The logic of appropriateness that underpins such bans is key to understanding their normative appeal, and to explaining and predicting their proliferation.

New international governance arrangements that manage environmental risk and potential conflicts of interests are needed to facilitate negative emissions research that is essential to achieving the large-scale CO₂ removal implied by the Paris Agreement targets.

Credit ratings agencies are now accounting for climate change risks in their ratings of credit worthiness. This could incentivize climate risk reduction efforts if it allows organizations access to cheaper credit. Karl Mathiesen investigates the extent to which this is happening in practice.

Those who distrust climate scientists are more likely to be skeptical of climate change and reluctant to support mitigation policies. Now research shows that scientific interest in early adolescence is associated with increased trust in climate scientists in adulthood irrespective of political ideology.

Editorials provide an opportunity for international science journals to exert influence on professional scientists and wider public discourse. Now research shows how editorials on climate change in Nature and Science respond to societal events and reflect the national contexts in which these journals are situated.

Antibiotic resistance is a growing global health crisis. Research now suggests that higher local temperatures are associated with a greater incidence of resistant infections.

Climate change poses a financial risk but it is unclear what management role there is for central banks and financial regulators. This Perspective outlines research and policy directions needed for financial sector engagement.

Compound events, events of significant impact that are caused by a combination of processes, are difficult to predict. This Perspective discusses the need for a systematic approach to improve risk assessment of these events.

Climate memory is anticipated to increase in the future, a process known as reddening. This Perspective examines how a change in the temporal autocorrelation of climate variables may impact the likelihood of critical transitions, using examples from forests, coral reefs, poverty traps and ice sheets.

Analysis of longitudinal survey data shows that interest in science at age 12–14 years is associated with increased trust in climate scientists in adulthood (mid thirties) in the United States, irrespective of political ideology.

Meeting emissions targets requires limiting use of fossil fuel reserves. For the largest investor- and state-owned producers allowable extraction varies dependent on the approach to calculate burnable fossil fuel allowance.

Simulation of observed Pacific wind trends is hampered by model limitations in representing variability or the forced response. Improved mean-state climatologies, including the recent Atlantic warming trend, should improve capture of Pacific trends.

Marine protected areas aim to conserve biodiversity and habitat. However continued high emissions causing changes in sea-surface temperatures and oxygen levels are likely to disrupt many ecosystems protected by MPAs.

Transgenerational acclimation to warmer oceans has been seen for some marine species. This study shows that the coral reef fish has 193 genes correlated to such acclimation traits, suggesting an epigenetic basis of acclimation.

Based on an analysis of the distribution of antibiotic resistance across the United States, research shows that increasing local temperatures as well as population density across regions are associated with increasing antibiotic resistance in common bacterial pathogens.

Editorials in multi-disciplinary journals can influence professional scientists and wider public discourse. This study compares how editorials on climate change in Nature and Science have changed over time and in response to wider political events

Tourism is a significant contributor to the global economy, with potentially large environmental impacts. Origin and destination accounting perspectives are used to provide a comprehensive assessment of global tourism’s carbon footprint.

The effects of projected ocean acidification on primary productivity of the Arctic and subarctic shelf seas are found to be minimal, with the phytoplankton communities showing a high capacity to compensate for environmental change.

A global model that incorporates information about coastal environmental settings indicates that mangrove soil organic carbon stocks have been significantly underestimated in carbonate settings, and overestimated in deltaic coastlines.

Tree transpiration in the Amazon enhances downwind rainfall. Research now shows that approximately one-third of Amazon rainfall originates within its own basin, with the southern half of the basin contributing most to this effect.