Nature Climate Change

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Nature Climate Change is a monthly journal dedicated to publishing high-quality research papers that describe the most significant and cutting-edge research on the causes, impacts and wider implications of global climate change. The journal publishes climate research across the physical, biological and social sciences and strives to integrate and communicate interdisciplinary research. The journal aims to play a leading role in: providing accessibility to a broad audience to research published both within and outside the journal; raising the visibility of climate change research in related research communities as well as the mainstream media; and offering a forum for discussion of the challenges faced by researchers and policy makers (and other interested parties) in understanding the complex mechanisms and impacts associated with the Earth’s changing climate.
Updated: 2 hours 45 min ago

Heatwave attribution in seconds

Wed, 12/24/2025 - 12:00am

Nature Climate Change, Published online: 24 December 2025; doi:10.1038/s41558-025-02532-6

Heatwave attribution in seconds

Foraging constrained by heat and dark

Wed, 12/24/2025 - 12:00am

Nature Climate Change, Published online: 24 December 2025; doi:10.1038/s41558-025-02530-8

Foraging constrained by heat and dark

Rising lake and reservoir emissions

Wed, 12/24/2025 - 12:00am

Nature Climate Change, Published online: 24 December 2025; doi:10.1038/s41558-025-02529-1

Rising lake and reservoir emissions

Inequalities in resilience and preparedness

Wed, 12/24/2025 - 12:00am

Nature Climate Change, Published online: 24 December 2025; doi:10.1038/s41558-025-02531-7

Inequalities in resilience and preparedness

Rivers accelerate and slow as temperatures rise

Wed, 12/24/2025 - 12:00am

Nature Climate Change, Published online: 24 December 2025; doi:10.1038/s41558-025-02508-6

Whether erosion is accelerating or decelerating along Arctic rivers has been unclear, but each trend has distinct implications for the vast amount of carbon stored in permanently frozen soils. Now, research demonstrates that warming air temperatures are driving divergent outcomes for Arctic rivers, causing some to erode their banks more rapidly while others slow down.

Overlooked toll of climate change on migrant children in the Americas

Wed, 12/24/2025 - 12:00am

Nature Climate Change, Published online: 24 December 2025; doi:10.1038/s41558-025-02525-5

Climate change drives displacement and migration across the Americas, particularly exposing Latin American and Caribbean children to compounded health risks. We explore these health impacts, identify gaps in related US healthcare and health policy, and propose recommendations for how they can respond.

Resolving the changing pace of Arctic rivers

Wed, 12/24/2025 - 12:00am

Nature Climate Change, Published online: 24 December 2025; doi:10.1038/s41558-025-02512-w

Whether rivers are speeding up or slowing down in a warming Arctic is unclear, but has implications for carbon cycling and infrastructure. This study finds divergent behaviour in migration rates for rivers in discontinuous versus continuous permafrost, driven by changes in permafrost thaw and river ice.

Deforestation-induced emissions from mining energy transition minerals

Wed, 12/24/2025 - 12:00am

Nature Climate Change, Published online: 24 December 2025; doi:10.1038/s41558-025-02520-w

Energy transition minerals (ETM) are essential for decarbonization, yet extractions often occur in carbon-rich forests and lands of Indigenous peoples and local communities. Here the authors provide global analysis showing how ETM mining causes sustained forest loss and GHG emissions.

Green industrial policy is not enough for net-zero decarbonization

Mon, 12/22/2025 - 12:00am

Nature Climate Change, Published online: 22 December 2025; doi:10.1038/s41558-025-02514-8

Both green industrial policy (‘carrots’) and carbon pricing (‘sticks’) are seen as important instruments for decarbonization, but the sequencing strategy matters. Researchers now demonstrate that carrots alone — without sticks — are unlikely to reach long-term net-zero targets in the USA.

Modelling the impacts of policy sequencing on energy decarbonization

Mon, 12/22/2025 - 12:00am

Nature Climate Change, Published online: 22 December 2025; doi:10.1038/s41558-025-02497-6

Green subsidies (carrots) are now becoming a more politically acceptable climate policy option compared with corrective regulations (sticks). However, researcher show that carrots without quick and appropriate sticks will not be sufficient to reach the deep decarbonization goal in the long run.

Impacts of global warming on subnational poverty and inequality

Mon, 12/22/2025 - 12:00am

Nature Climate Change, Published online: 22 December 2025; doi:10.1038/s41558-025-02516-6

In addition to affecting general economic indicators, climate change could worsen poverty and inequality across and within countries. With a global subnational dataset, researchers confirm that temperature rise leads to increases in headcount poverty and the Gini index, with poorer countries being particularly vulnerable.

The political psychology of climate denial

Tue, 12/16/2025 - 12:00am

Nature Climate Change, Published online: 16 December 2025; doi:10.1038/s41558-025-02523-7

Climate denial in political discourse is fuelled by psychological factors such as psychological distance, cognitive dissonance, confirmation bias, loss aversion, existential anxiety and social identity. Effective communication strategies addressing deniers’ motivations are crucial as denial undermines urgent climate action.

Peak glacier extinction in the mid-twenty-first century

Mon, 12/15/2025 - 12:00am

Nature Climate Change, Published online: 15 December 2025; doi:10.1038/s41558-025-02513-9

Many mountain glaciers will disappear with warming. Here the authors assess how many glaciers will disappear per year under different warming scenarios, finding that a peak in glacier loss will happen during the mid-twenty-first century.

Reducing the large short-lived impact of methane emissions with temporary carbon removals

Fri, 12/05/2025 - 12:00am

Nature Climate Change, Published online: 05 December 2025; doi:10.1038/s41558-025-02511-x

We consider potential non-permanence of carbon removal not as an obstacle but as a feature to focus on the compensation for the short-term warming of methane emissions. This could re-open climate finance for nature-based solutions and provide an immediate reduction in temperature stress.

Structural lock-ins in tourism decarbonization and the alternative

Fri, 12/05/2025 - 12:00am

Nature Climate Change, Published online: 05 December 2025; doi:10.1038/s41558-025-02502-y

Decarbonization of the tourism sector faces challenges of structural lock-ins. This Comment challenges the conventional narratives of green tourism and emphasizes to practice more transformative eco-friendly solutions rather than to consume less, with ecotourism as a promising alternative to encourage more low-carbon behaviour in daily life.

UNFCCC carbon trading could undermine global climate action

Fri, 12/05/2025 - 12:00am

Nature Climate Change, Published online: 05 December 2025; doi:10.1038/s41558-025-02517-5

Recent United Nations policymaking on international emissions trading fails to reconcile longstanding flaws that could jeopardize the integrity of these programmes. We call for urgent action by policymakers to safeguard the future of the Paris Agreement.

Temporary carbon dioxide removals to offset methane emissions

Fri, 12/05/2025 - 12:00am

Nature Climate Change, Published online: 05 December 2025; doi:10.1038/s41558-025-02487-8

Methane emissions have a large short-term impact on temperature, which can be potentially offset by nature-based solutions that provide temporary carbon storage. This research demonstrates such matching could minimize intertemporal welfare trade-offs and avoid various risks for permanent removal.

Author Correction: Increasing risk of mass human heat mortality if historical weather patterns recur

Thu, 11/27/2025 - 12:00am

Nature Climate Change, Published online: 27 November 2025; doi:10.1038/s41558-025-02524-6

Author Correction: Increasing risk of mass human heat mortality if historical weather patterns recur

Microclimates slow and alter the direction of climate velocities in tropical forests

Thu, 11/27/2025 - 12:00am

Nature Climate Change, Published online: 27 November 2025; doi:10.1038/s41558-025-02496-7

The authors model near-ground and within-canopy microclimates in a tropical montane rainforest. They show that short-distance shifts towards dense vegetation or vertically downwards in canopies reduce velocities, highlighting that structurally complex ecosystems may provide short-term climate refuges.

Widespread revisions of self-reported emissions by major US corporations

Wed, 11/26/2025 - 12:00am

Nature Climate Change, Published online: 26 November 2025; doi:10.1038/s41558-025-02494-9

Self-reported emissions data are widely used to evaluate corporations’ climate performance, yet concerns exist regarding their credibility. By examining major US companies, researchers find that more than half of them revise, and mainly understate, their emissions data after first report.

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