{"title":"Maintaining crop yields limits mitigation potential of crop-land natural climate solutions","authors":"","doi":"10.1038/s41558-025-02349-3","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-025-02349-3","url":null,"abstract":"The adoption of natural climate solutions in crop-lands, such as cover crops, no tillage and residue retention, is widely assumed to provide both climate change mitigation and crop yield benefits. We find important spatially variable trade-offs between these outcomes and demonstrate that safeguarding crop yields will substantially lower the mitigation potential of natural climate solutions.","PeriodicalId":18974,"journal":{"name":"Nature Climate Change","volume":"149 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":30.7,"publicationDate":"2025-05-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144137031","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Laura K. Gruenburg, Janet Nye, Kamazima Lwiza, Lesley Thorne
{"title":"Vertical climate velocity adds a critical dimension to species shifts","authors":"Laura K. Gruenburg, Janet Nye, Kamazima Lwiza, Lesley Thorne","doi":"10.1038/s41558-025-02300-6","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-025-02300-6","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Climate responses of marine organisms differ from those on land as marine species have the flexibility to move vertically. While horizontal climate velocity has been used to predict poleward range shifts, many species are not moving as expected. Incorporating shifts in depth, which have received less attention, may better explain climate responses of marine organisms. Here we assess vertical and horizontal climate velocities across 63 global large marine ecosystems and find that 77% of vertical climate velocities are negative, reflecting isotherm deepening. Vertical climate velocity is 10,000 times smaller than horizontal climate velocity, allowing organisms to maintain constant temperatures by shifting metres in depth rather than kilometres horizontally. Within three key large marine ecosystems, we find more species shifts are explained by vertical than by horizontal climate velocity. Together, our findings have implications for understanding species adaptation to change and for future accessibility of marine resources.</p>","PeriodicalId":18974,"journal":{"name":"Nature Climate Change","volume":"56 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":30.7,"publicationDate":"2025-05-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144104057","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Shelby C. McClelland, Deborah Bossio, Doria R. Gordon, Johannes Lehmann, Matthew N. Hayek, Stephen M. Ogle, Jonathan Sanderman, Stephen A. Wood, Yi Yang, Dominic Woolf
{"title":"Managing for climate and production goals on crop-lands","authors":"Shelby C. McClelland, Deborah Bossio, Doria R. Gordon, Johannes Lehmann, Matthew N. Hayek, Stephen M. Ogle, Jonathan Sanderman, Stephen A. Wood, Yi Yang, Dominic Woolf","doi":"10.1038/s41558-025-02337-7","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-025-02337-7","url":null,"abstract":"<p>The assumption that crop-land natural climate solutions (NCS) have benefits for both climate change mitigation and crop production remains largely untested. Here we model GHG emissions and crop yields from crop-land NCS through the end of the century. We find that favourable (win–win) outcomes were the exception not the norm; grass cover crops with no tillage lead to cumulative global GHG mitigation of 32.6 Pg CO<sub>2</sub> equivalent, 95% confidence interval (29.5, 35.7), by 2050 but reduce cumulative crop yields by 4.8 Pg, 95% confidence interval (4.0, 5.7). Legume cover crops with no tillage result in favourable outcomes through 2050 but increase GHG emissions for some regions by 2100. Crop-lands with low soil nitrogen and high clay are more likely to have favourable outcomes. Avoiding crop losses, we find modest GHG mitigation benefits from crop-land NCS, 4.4 Pg CO<sub>2</sub> equivalent, 95% confidence interval (4.2, 4.6) by 2050, indicating crop-land soil will constitute a fraction of food system decarbonization.</p>","PeriodicalId":18974,"journal":{"name":"Nature Climate Change","volume":"30 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":30.7,"publicationDate":"2025-05-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144088201","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Glacier melt trough after overshoot","authors":"Arthur Lutz","doi":"10.1038/s41558-025-02312-2","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-025-02312-2","url":null,"abstract":"Glaciers are retreating under climate change and generating excessive meltwater. A modelling study shows that regrowing glaciers may lead to water scarcity in the centuries after overshooting the +1.5 °C temperature target.","PeriodicalId":18974,"journal":{"name":"Nature Climate Change","volume":"18 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":30.7,"publicationDate":"2025-05-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144088159","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Lilian Schuster, Fabien Maussion, David R. Rounce, Lizz Ultee, Patrick Schmitt, Fabrice Lacroix, Thomas L. Frölicher, Carl-Friedrich Schleussner
{"title":"Irreversible glacier change and trough water for centuries after overshooting 1.5 °C","authors":"Lilian Schuster, Fabien Maussion, David R. Rounce, Lizz Ultee, Patrick Schmitt, Fabrice Lacroix, Thomas L. Frölicher, Carl-Friedrich Schleussner","doi":"10.1038/s41558-025-02318-w","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-025-02318-w","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Exceeding 1.5 °C of global warming above pre-industrial levels has become a distinct possibility, yet the consequences of such an overshoot for mountain glaciers and their contribution to raising sea levels and impacting water availability are not well understood. Here we show that exceeding and then returning to below 1.5 °C will have irreversible consequences for glacier mass and runoff over centuries. Global climate and glacier simulations project that a 3.0 °C peak-and-decline scenario will lead to 11% more global glacier mass loss by 2500 compared with limiting warming to 1.5 °C without overshooting. In basins where glaciers regrow after peak temperature, glacier runoff reduces further than if the glaciers stabilize, a phenomenon we call ‘trough water’. Half the studied glaciated basins show reduced glacier runoff with overshoot compared with without for decades to centuries after peak warming. These findings underscore the urgency of near-term emissions reductions and limiting temperature overshoot.</p>","PeriodicalId":18974,"journal":{"name":"Nature Climate Change","volume":"14 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":30.7,"publicationDate":"2025-05-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144088200","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Anna H. Andreassen, Jeff C. Clements, Rachael Morgan, Davide Spatafora, Moa Metz, Eirik R. Åsheim, Christophe Pélabon, Fredrik Jutfelt
{"title":"Evolution of warming tolerance alters physiology and life history traits in zebrafish","authors":"Anna H. Andreassen, Jeff C. Clements, Rachael Morgan, Davide Spatafora, Moa Metz, Eirik R. Åsheim, Christophe Pélabon, Fredrik Jutfelt","doi":"10.1038/s41558-025-02332-y","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-025-02332-y","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Evolution of warming tolerance may help species resist the impacts of climate change but can also lead to negative fitness outcomes. Identifying correlated responses to warming tolerance evolution could identify such negative consequences and help uncover the underlying mechanisms. By assessing the correlated responses of life history and physiological traits to seven generations of artificial selection to increase or decrease the acute upper thermal tolerance limit (CT<sub>max</sub>) in zebrafish (<i>Danio rerio</i>), we show that warming-adapted lines have improved cooling tolerance. Furthermore, the absence of difference between selected lines in aerobic metabolic scope, brain heat shock protein levels, fecundity, growth or swimming speed contradicts several hypotheses concerning the mechanisms controlling acute warming tolerance. These results suggest that selection due to acute heating events does not target variation in metabolic rates but can benefit tolerance to cold, making individuals more resilient to extreme temperature events.</p>","PeriodicalId":18974,"journal":{"name":"Nature Climate Change","volume":"116 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":30.7,"publicationDate":"2025-05-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143945686","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Steven R. Smith, Manjana Milkoreit, Frank W. Geels, Timothy M. Lenton
{"title":"Advancing science, policy and action in tipping points research","authors":"Steven R. Smith, Manjana Milkoreit, Frank W. Geels, Timothy M. Lenton","doi":"10.1038/s41558-025-02335-9","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-025-02335-9","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Understanding tipping points is essential for governing systemic risks in the Earth system and accelerating the transition to a low-carbon future. Kopp and colleagues<sup>1</sup> raise important questions about the conceptual clarity and practical utility of tipping points research. While we welcome these questions and share their commitment to precise language and careful scientific communication, we worry that the negative orientation of their paper may lead some scholars to discard tipping points research before fully appreciating its value. We therefore highlight more positive conceptual and empirical insights relating to four topics raised by Kopp and colleagues.</p><p>First, tipping points theory has developed scientifically rigorous foundations since first being applied to climate science in 2008. Essential features — including system reorganization, thresholds, self-propelling feedbacks and nonlinear change — are now well established in the scientific literature<sup>2</sup>. Like other complex concepts in sustainability science, the term’s use can diversify across various disciplines, and it can be misunderstood and misrepresented. This presents opportunities to study and improve how tipping points science is communicated, rather than grounds for dismissal. The concept has also been usefully applied across diverse disciplines and topics — including the acceleration of species’ extinction, groundwater resource depletion, the rise of asset uninsurability and the growing amount of space debris<sup>3</sup>. This ability of the tipping points approach to be tailored to suit different research topics can be viewed positively and can contribute to a broader and richer understanding of the concept.</p>","PeriodicalId":18974,"journal":{"name":"Nature Climate Change","volume":"31 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":30.7,"publicationDate":"2025-05-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143940296","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Diana Reckien, Attila Buzasi, Marta Olazabal, Paris Fokaides, Filomena Pietrapertosa, Peter Eckersley, Monica Salvia
{"title":"Explaining the adaptation gap through consistency in adaptation planning","authors":"Diana Reckien, Attila Buzasi, Marta Olazabal, Paris Fokaides, Filomena Pietrapertosa, Peter Eckersley, Monica Salvia","doi":"10.1038/s41558-025-02334-w","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-025-02334-w","url":null,"abstract":"<p>An adaptation gap exists when adaptation efforts fail to meet adaptation needs. While conceptualizing and operationalizing this gap is challenging, we argue that it should begin with aligning climate risks with policy goals, measures and monitoring and evaluation—what we refer to as ‘consistency’ within adaptation policy. Through a comprehensive European study, we demonstrate how assessing consistency in adaptation plans can enhance understanding and help reduce the adaptation gap.</p>","PeriodicalId":18974,"journal":{"name":"Nature Climate Change","volume":"26 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":30.7,"publicationDate":"2025-05-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143933214","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Gregory Munday, Chris D. Jones, Norman J. Steinert, Camilla Mathison, Eleanor J. Burke, Chris Smith, Chris Huntingford, Rebecca M. Varney, Andy J. Wiltshire
{"title":"Risks of unavoidable impacts on forests at 1.5 °C with and without overshoot","authors":"Gregory Munday, Chris D. Jones, Norman J. Steinert, Camilla Mathison, Eleanor J. Burke, Chris Smith, Chris Huntingford, Rebecca M. Varney, Andy J. Wiltshire","doi":"10.1038/s41558-025-02327-9","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-025-02327-9","url":null,"abstract":"<p>With global warming heading for 1.5 °C, understanding the risks of exceeding this threshold is increasingly urgent. Impacts on human and natural systems are expected to increase with further warming and some may be irreversible. Yet impacts under policy-relevant stabilization or overshoot pathways have not been well quantified. Here we report the risks of irreversible impacts on forest ecosystems, such as Amazon forest loss and high-latitude woody encroachment, under three scenarios that explore low levels of exceedance and overshoot beyond 1.5 °C. Long-term forest loss is mitigated by reducing global temperatures below 1.5 °C. The proximity of dieback risk thresholds to the bounds of the Paris Agreement global warming levels underscores the need for urgent action to mitigate climate change—and the risks of irreversible loss of an important ecosystem.</p>","PeriodicalId":18974,"journal":{"name":"Nature Climate Change","volume":"124 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":30.7,"publicationDate":"2025-05-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143933228","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Public R&D investment","authors":"Lingxiao Yan","doi":"10.1038/s41558-025-02339-5","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-025-02339-5","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Ariel Ortiz-Bobea of Cornell University, USA, and colleagues quantified the public R&D growth needed to compensate for the future climate change impacts on US agricultural productivity. First, based on historical data, they used econometric models to quantify the effect of R&D spending and weather fluctuations on national agricultural total factor productivity (TFP). Then they estimated that, to offset climate damage by 2050, R&D spending should grow by 5.2% to 7.8% per year under a fixed spending growth scenario or by an additional US$2.2 billion to US$3.8 billion per year under a fixed supplement spending scenario, compared with the US$5 billion per year baseline in 2020. The needed investment scale is large because of the imminent climate-induced slowdown in TFP growth and long research lags.</p><p><b>Original reference:</b> <i>Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA</i> <b>122</b>, e2411010122 (2025)</p>","PeriodicalId":18974,"journal":{"name":"Nature Climate Change","volume":"73 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":30.7,"publicationDate":"2025-05-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143930790","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}