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.

Urban areas are an important focus for effective climate action in the coming decade. This Perspective proposes transformational strategies to accelerate and upscale the impact of the planned Special Report on Climate Change and Cities in the IPCC seventh assessment cycle.

Urban development policies, designed to improve city resilience, could unintentionally increase the exposure to climate risk. This Comment discusses the impact of misaligned incentives, miscalculated benefits and costs, and overlooked behavioural responses on policy outcomes, as well as future directions.

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.

The response of the phosphorus (P) cycle to permafrost thaw is unknown, but has implications for carbon dynamics. This study assesses changes in the P cycle upon abrupt thaw and shows accelerated soil P cycling and increased plant uptake, which may boost primary production and partially offset soil carbon loss.

The Southern Ocean carbon sink is predicted to decline under climate change. This study explores why this is yet to be seen in observations, finding that recent surface freshening increases stratification and traps the CO₂-rich water in the subsurface layer, which prevents atmospheric outgassing.

Damages such as crevasses or cracks can be early indicators of ice shelf weakening. Here, the authors quantify changes in damage structures in Antarctic ice sheets, which show sensitivity to warming

Impacts from a climate event can cascade through natural, anthropogenic and socio-economic systems. Here the authors assess cascading climate impacts on the EU and identify intervention points for adaptation related to water, livelihoods, agriculture, infrastructure and economy, and violent conflict.

Climate sceptics tend to avoid climate information, making it even harder to reduce scepticism. This study shows that generative AI can enhance sceptics’ engagement with climate news by tailoring headlines to their existing perspective and shift their beliefs towards the scientific consensus.

Climate risk increasingly threatens World Heritage sites, yet its integration into conservation planning remains underexplored. By analysing 1,868 World Heritage documents, this study reveals regional disparities of climate awareness and highlights the gap between awareness and action.

Causal approaches employed at the scale of commercial agriculture are required to build high-quality evidence that climate-smart agricultural interventions result in real emissions reductions and removals. Such project-scale empirical data are additionally required to demonstrate and advance the viability of process-based models and digital measurement, reporting and verification as tools to scale soil carbon accounting.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.