Nature Climate Change
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.
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Policy interactions make achieving carbon neutrality in China more challenging
Nature Climate Change, Published online: 31 January 2025; doi:10.1038/s41558-024-02240-7
The interactions between mitigation policies could hinder China’s progress toward carbon neutrality by limiting the space for effective policy implementation. Policymakers should emphasize optimizing the combination of these policies to ensure efficient decarbonization.Mitigation policies interactions delay the achievement of carbon neutrality in China
Nature Climate Change, Published online: 31 January 2025; doi:10.1038/s41558-024-02237-2
Various policy instruments are proposed to meet mitigation targets, yet the synergistic and trade-off effects of interactions are less understood. With rich scenarios of policy mixes, the authors demonstrate that in most cases these interactions will delay the achievement of carbon targets in China.Climate injustice through unequal news
Nature Climate Change, Published online: 28 January 2025; doi:10.1038/s41558-024-02241-6
High-quality coverage of climate change requires trained reporters, editorial support and financial assistance, but news media in the global south often lack access to such resources. Now, a study points to further disparities across language and regional communities.Empty promises for emissions targets
Nature Climate Change, Published online: 21 January 2025; doi:10.1038/s41558-024-02239-0
Accountability serves as an adhesive that binds commitment to results. Now, a study on corporate carbon emissions targets reveals that firms hold limited accountability to their targets, with little public backlash against missed targets.Limited accountability and awareness of corporate emissions target outcomes
Nature Climate Change, Published online: 21 January 2025; doi:10.1038/s41558-024-02236-3
Companies have set emissions reduction targets globally, yet whether they are held accountable for the outcomes remains uncertain. By examining the emissions targets that ended in 2020, researchers find low awareness of the failed targets and limited negative reactions from different stakeholders.Wildfires offset the increasing but spatially heterogeneous Arctic–boreal CO<sub>2</sub> uptake
Nature Climate Change, Published online: 21 January 2025; doi:10.1038/s41558-024-02234-5
How the carbon stocks of the Arctic–Boreal Zone change with warming is not well understood. Here the authors show that wildfires and large regional differences in net carbon fluxes offset the overall increasing CO2 uptake.Carbon burial in sediments below seaweed farms matches that of Blue Carbon habitats
Nature Climate Change, Published online: 17 January 2025; doi:10.1038/s41558-024-02238-1
To understand the potential for seaweed as a Blue Carbon strategy, the authors quantify carbon burial under 20 globally distributed seaweed farms. They attribute an average of 1.06 ± 0.74 tCO2e ha−1 yr−1 to seaweed farms, and show increased accumulation of carbon with farm age.Trailing edge contractions common in interior western US trees under varying disturbances
Nature Climate Change, Published online: 07 January 2025; doi:10.1038/s41558-024-02235-4
Climate change and disturbances are changing forest tree composition, but it is not clear if disturbances assist trees in tracking their climate ranges. This study shows that the impact of disturbance on range shifts is dependent on the tree species and type of disturbance.Publisher Correction: Brazil’s coastline under attack
Nature Climate Change, Published online: 06 January 2025; doi:10.1038/s41558-025-02243-y
Publisher Correction: Brazil’s coastline under attackClimate change is projected to drive renewed spongy moth attacks on North American forests
Nature Climate Change, Published online: 06 January 2025; doi:10.1038/s41558-024-02206-9
For almost 30 years, an insect fungal disease has repressed defoliation caused by the spongy moth in North American hardwood forests. The fungus needs cool, moist weather, but computer models project that the effects of climate change will prevent the fungus from killing spongy moths, which could lead to a resurgence of this devastating forest pest.Smoother sailing for Arctic ice
Nature Climate Change, Published online: 06 January 2025; doi:10.1038/s41558-024-02225-6
As Arctic sea ice thinned, it was thought that a weaker, more dynamic ice cover might become more heavily deformed and ridged. Now, analysis of three decades of airborne observations shows instead that the Arctic ice cover has smoothed.Climate change drives reduced biocontrol of the invasive spongy moth
Nature Climate Change, Published online: 06 January 2025; doi:10.1038/s41558-024-02204-x
The authors constructed an eco-climate model to project climate change impacts on populations of the spongy moth (Lymantria dispar) and its pathogen Entomophaga maimaiga. They show that climate change will sharply reduce E. maimaiga infection rates and subsequently increase spongy moth defoliation.Perceived climate change impacts and adaptation responses in ten African mountain regions
Nature Climate Change, Published online: 06 January 2025; doi:10.1038/s41558-024-02221-w
Climate change is impacting mountain regions and the agricultural livelihood of residents, and will continue to do so. In this study, the authors survey farmers in ten African mountain regions to understand their perceptions of climate change impacts and identify adaptation opportunities and constraints.Climate change and terrigenous inputs decrease the efficiency of the future Arctic Ocean’s biological carbon pump
Nature Climate Change, Published online: 06 January 2025; doi:10.1038/s41558-024-02233-6
Changes in the Arctic could impact the oceanic carbon sequestration of the region. Here the authors consider regional biogeochemistry, including coastal erosion and river inputs, to show a 40% reduction in the biological carbon pump to 2100 under climate change.Late spring frost delays tree spring phenology by reducing photosynthetic productivity
Nature Climate Change, Published online: 06 January 2025; doi:10.1038/s41558-024-02205-w
The authors use ground-based records and remote-sensing data to show that late spring frost delays the timing of spring leaf-out in the subsequent year by reducing photosynthetic productivity. Integrating late spring frost into models can increase the accuracy of predictions of spring timings and carbon cycling.The changing nature of future Arctic marine heatwaves and its potential impacts on the ecosystem
Nature Climate Change, Published online: 06 January 2025; doi:10.1038/s41558-024-02224-7
Arctic warming will decrease sea ice cover and increase the possibility of intensified marine heatwaves. Using a high-resolution model, the authors show that this intensification, combined with strengthened short-term temperature variability and enhanced stratification, could threaten the ecosystem.Smoother sea ice with fewer pressure ridges in a more dynamic Arctic
Nature Climate Change, Published online: 06 January 2025; doi:10.1038/s41558-024-02199-5
Pressure ridges, a characteristic feature of Arctic sea ice, play an important role in the ecosystem but pose challenges to shipping. Here the authors use aircraft measurements to document a decline in both the frequency and height of these pressure ridges in recent decades.Keeping emissions scenarios current
Nature Climate Change, Published online: 03 January 2025; doi:10.1038/s41558-024-02200-1
Climate change research and policy rely on emissions scenarios to project future warming and its impacts. Now, a study highlights both progress and challenges to keeping key socioeconomic scenario assumptions up to date for the IPCC.Energy and socioeconomic system transformation through a decade of IPCC-assessed scenarios
Nature Climate Change, Published online: 03 January 2025; doi:10.1038/s41558-024-02198-6
Scenarios for mitigation pathways lay the foundation for IPCC reporting and provide guidelines for future climate actions. This Analysis compares all the scenarios included since the Fifth Assessment Report and discusses how the portfolio has evolved over the past decade and the driving factors behind these changes.Tropical cyclone risk for global ecosystems in a changing climate
Nature Climate Change, Published online: 03 January 2025; doi:10.1038/s41558-024-02194-w
The authors model the impact of changing tropical cyclone activity on coastal ecosystems. Under SSP5-8.5, by 2050 nearly 10% of terrestrial ecosystems will be at risk from changing tropical cyclone frequency, threatening the recovery potential of even the most resilient ecoregions.