Nature Climate Change
Twenty years of city climate collaboration
Nature Climate Change, Published online: 22 September 2025; doi:10.1038/s41558-025-02447-2
C40 is a global network of mayors united in a commitment to climate change action. Since its inception in 2005, C40 has grown to include nearly 100 of the world’s cities, maintaining high standards that focus on inclusivity, collaboration and science-based approaches to combat climate change. We interviewed members of the C40 organization, including mayors of its member cities, to ask about the history, success and challenges of C40, and their plans for future action.Private sector investments in climate change adaptation
Nature Climate Change, Published online: 22 September 2025; doi:10.1038/s41558-025-02423-w
Private sectors play an important role in global adaptation efforts, yet we have a limited understanding of their investment patterns. With firm adaptation expenditure data across five coastal urban areas, this research shows how adaptation investment differs across regions and sectors.Global coastal human settlement retreat driven by vulnerability to coastal climate hazards
Nature Climate Change, Published online: 22 September 2025; doi:10.1038/s41558-025-02435-6
Coastal settlement retreat reflects human behavioural adaptation to increasing coastal climate hazards. Using night-time light data over 1992–2019, this study finds that over half of global coastal settlements have retreated, driven by insufficient infrastructure protection and adaptive capacity.Emerging risks along Arctic coastlines
Nature Climate Change, Published online: 19 September 2025; doi:10.1038/s41558-025-02441-8
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.Progress and future directions in constraining uncertainties in sea-level projections using observations
Nature Climate Change, Published online: 19 September 2025; doi:10.1038/s41558-025-02437-4
Sea-level rise poses a substantial risk to coastal communities and economies, thus accurate predictions are needed to enable planning and adaptation. This Perspective provides an overview of uncertainties in model projections of sea-level rise, and how observations can be used to reduce these.The promise and limitations of using GenAI to reduce climate scepticism
Nature Climate Change, Published online: 19 September 2025; doi:10.1038/s41558-025-02425-8
ChatGPT provides a way of teaching people about climate change. This research reveals that conversations between climate sceptics and ChatGPT reduced climate scepticism, but these effects are modest, inconsistent across studies and prone to decay over time.Future of climate–city research
Nature Climate Change, Published online: 18 September 2025; doi:10.1038/s41558-025-02451-6
Cities will face increasing risk along with intensified climate shocks but can also act as key agents for mitigation and adaptation. We hope to see more research that could lead to enhanced climate action by providing comprehensive, equitable and practical solutions.Rising cost of disturbances for forestry in Europe under climate change
Nature Climate Change, Published online: 18 September 2025; doi:10.1038/s41558-025-02408-9
Climate change will raise the severity and frequency of forest disturbance, damaging the economic value of timber. Researchers show Europe’s timber-based forestry could lose up to €247 billion, yet in some regions the increase in forest productivity could offset these shocks.Health losses attributed to anthropogenic climate change
Nature Climate Change, Published online: 17 September 2025; doi:10.1038/s41558-025-02399-7
The authors assess the growing field of climate change health impact attribution. They show literature bias towards direct heat effects and extreme weather in high-income countries, highlighting the lack of global representation in current efforts.The expanding role of climate assessments as legal evidence
Nature Climate Change, Published online: 11 September 2025; doi:10.1038/s41558-025-02434-7
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.Neglecting land–atmosphere feedbacks overestimates climate-driven increases in evapotranspiration
Nature Climate Change, Published online: 11 September 2025; doi:10.1038/s41558-025-02428-5
How evapotranspiration changes with warming is not well understood. Here the authors show that when often-neglected land–atmosphere feedbacks are considered, evapotranspiration increases less than currently projected by offline models.Showy dragonflies are being driven extinct by warming and wildfire
Nature Climate Change, Published online: 10 September 2025; doi:10.1038/s41558-025-02417-8
The authors use 1,603 estimates of local extinctions from 1980 to 2021 to show that dragonfly species with wing ornamentation have disproportionately gone extinct and lost habitat because of climate change and wildfire. This highlights the important role of mating traits in species survival under change.Africa must lead the governance of solar radiation management
Nature Climate Change, Published online: 09 September 2025; doi:10.1038/s41558-025-02420-z
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.Scope for waterfowl to speed up migration to a warming Arctic
Nature Climate Change, Published online: 09 September 2025; doi:10.1038/s41558-025-02419-6
The authors combine tracking and body mass data from five migratory waterfowl species to understand their capacity to accelerate migration in response to earlier spring. They show considerable scope for faster migration by reducing the fuelling time before departure and subsequently on stopoversElection and policy inaction
Nature Climate Change, Published online: 08 September 2025; doi:10.1038/s41558-025-02433-8
Election and policy inactionActivity changes during heatwaves
Nature Climate Change, Published online: 08 September 2025; doi:10.1038/s41558-025-02431-w
Activity changes during heatwavesUnpredictable impacts of previous stress
Nature Climate Change, Published online: 08 September 2025; doi:10.1038/s41558-025-02432-9
Unpredictable impacts of previous stressUnderstanding unexpected slowdown
Nature Climate Change, Published online: 08 September 2025; doi:10.1038/s41558-025-02430-x
Understanding unexpected slowdownSinking carbon sinks
Nature Climate Change, Published online: 08 September 2025; doi:10.1038/s41558-025-02440-9
Terrestrial ecosystems take up approximately a third of anthropogenically emitted carbon and are a key component of climate mitigation strategies. However, recent evidence indicates constraints on land-based carbon uptake and mitigation potential.Rising temperatures increase added sugar intake disproportionately in disadvantaged groups in the USA
Nature Climate Change, Published online: 08 September 2025; doi:10.1038/s41558-025-02398-8
Few studies have evaluated how climate change may affect dietary habits and nutritional health. Here, using transaction data in the USA, the authors show that added sugar consumption increases with temperature, especially between 12 °C and 30 °C, with stronger effects among lower-income and lower-education groups.