Are Hibernators Toast? Global Climate Change and Prolonged Seasonal Hibernation, Dausmann & Cooper, Global Change BiologyAre Hibernators Toast? Global Climate Change and Prolonged Seasonal Hibernation, Dausmann & Cooper, Global Change Biology
This review examines the multifaceted implications of global climate change on mammalian hibernators, emphasizing physiological, ecological and phenological impacts. While high-latitude habitats are experiencing faster overall warming, tropical and southern hemisphere regions face more unpredictable and variable climate alterations. Increasing temperature can directly affect hibernators by elevating hibernacula temperatures, shortening torpor bouts, increasing arousal frequency, and depleting energy reserves crucial for survival and reproductive success. Conversely, cold anomalies due to climate change may cause disruptive late-season cold snaps, affecting post-hibernation recovery and reproduction. The phenological timing of hibernation, emergence and reproduction is becoming increasingly decoupled from environmental cues, creating potential mismatches that threaten fitness and survival. Habitat modifications, including urbanisation, further modify microclimates, introducing new risks and opportunities influencing hibernation behaviour, resource availability and susceptibility to disturbances and diseases. Despite anticipated physiological resilience owing to broad thermal tolerances, many hibernating species already inhabit extreme environments and operate near their physiological limits, thus are even more at risk through ecological disruptions as climate variability intensifies. Ultimately, the capacity for adaptive phenotypic plasticity combined with ecological resilience will determine species' future persistence, with high-latitude species potentially more vulnerable to ecological disruptions like habitat loss, predation and disrupted food webs, while tropical species face greater physiological risk.
Major heat wave in the North Atlantic had widespread and lasting impacts on marine life, Werner et al., Science Advances
Marine heat waves (MHWs) are increasing in frequency and intensity, but wider effects are unexamined in the North Atlantic, and there are uncertainties regarding the spatial scale, magnitude, and persistence of MHWs’ impacts on ecosystems. We show that a sudden and strong increase in the frequency of MHWs in and after 2003 was linked to widespread and abrupt ecological changes. This upheaval spanned multiple trophic levels, from unicellular protists to whales. Every examined region showed a reorganization from species adapted to colder, ice-prone environments to those favoring warmer waters and the event’s impacts altered socioecological dynamics. This review provides evidence for large-scale connectivity across ocean basins. However, it reveals that the magnitude of ecological impacts seems to vary among events highlighting key knowledge gaps for predicting ecosystem responses to MHWs. Understanding the importance of the subpolar gyre and air-sea heat exchange will be crucial for forecasting MHWs and their cascading effects.
Extreme rainfall over land exacerbated by marine heatwaves, Wang et al., Nature Communications
Marine heatwaves (MHWs), characterized by multiple days of exceptionally elevated sea surface temperature (SST), have profound marine ecological impacts, but their effect on precipitation, particularly extreme rainfall over coastal regions, remains unknown. Using multi-platform observational data since 2000, here we show that SST gradients of MHW intensify surface wind speeds and drive downwind surface wind convergence and upward motions by enhancing vertical turbulent flux over the warm water. The induced anomalies lead to substantially increased local precipitation with spatial scale several hundreds of kilometers and temporally peaking one-day after the MHW. Furthermore, in global coastal regions, about 5%-25% of extreme rainfall over land (>99% wet-day) occurs in the downwind direction of nearby MHWs. Averaged land precipitation of the extreme rainfall events in the downwind direction of a strong MHW increases by 20%-30%, or 4-8 mm/day, from the amount without an influence from MHWs, exacerbating flood-related fatalities. Our finding identifies an impact of MHWs on coastal extreme events with important implications for affected communities, particularly given the projected increase in MHW intensity and frequency under greenhouse warming.
Know Your Stripes? An Assessment of Climate Warming Stripes as a Graphical Risk Communication Format, Dawson et al., Risk Analysis
Stripe graphs have emerged as a popular format for the visual communication of environmental risks. The apparent appeal of the format has been attributed to its capacity to summarize complex data in an eye-catching way that can be understood quickly and intuitively by diverse audiences. Despite the growing use of stripe graphs among academics and organizations (e.g., Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change [IPCC]) to communicate with both lay and expert audiences, there has been no reported empirical assessment of the format. Hence, it is not clear to what extent stripe graphs facilitate data comprehension and influence risk perceptions and the willingness to engage in mitigation actions. To address these knowledge gaps, we conducted two studies in which lay participants saw “climate warming” stripe graphs that varied in color and design. We found no evidence that traditional stripe graphs (i.e., unlabeled axes), irrespective of the stripe colors, improved the accuracy of estimates of past or predicted global temperature changes. Nor did the traditional stripe graph influence risk perceptions, affective reactions, or environmental decision-making. Contrary to expectations, we found that viewing (cf., not viewing) a traditional stripe graph led to a lower willingness to engage in mitigation behaviors. Notably, we found that a stripe graph with date and temperature labels (cf., without labels): (i) helped participants develop more accurate estimates of past and predicted temperature changes and (ii) was rated more likable and helpful. We discuss how these and other findings can be utilized to help improve the effectiveness of stripe graphs as a risk communication format.
The Rise of (Affective) Obstruction: Conceptualizing the Evolution of Far-Right Climate Change Communication (1986–2018), Forchtner, Environmental Communication
Research has illustrated that today’s far right in the Global North takes largely climate obstructionist stances, commonly featuring ageist/misogynistic/racist tropes. However, little is known about how this present became to be, how climate change was articulated in the 2000s and earlier. I therefore ask: how has far-right climate communication evolved between 1986 and 2018? Have there been notable changes at the level of both specific claims and their emotiveness – and if so, what might explain them? In response, I analyze 733 articles printed across four exemplary, continuously published (non-)party sources covering the Austrian and German far-right spectrum, in order to offer a novel conceptualization of three periods: benevolent silence (1986-1996), concerned acceptance (1997-2006), and antagonistic obstruction (2007-2018). Thus, I show that the far right became today’s (affective-)obstructionist force and link this shift to: the US climate countermovement; dynamics in the political field; and, interrelated, increasingly melodramatic (affective) climate communication, turning climate change into another site for the making of far-right subjectivity. By conceptualizing three periods, by considering the development over time of both specific claims and affect, and by suggesting reasons behind this evolution, I substantively contribute to understanding far-right climate obstruction and the anti-liberal/anti-democratic backlash it facilitates.
Climate Change in the American Mind: Beliefs & Attitudes, Fall 2025, Leiserowitz et al., Yale University and George Mason University
Americans who think global warming is happening outnumber those who think it is not by a ratio of more than 5 to 1 (72% versus 13%). 64% of Americans say they are at least “somewhat worried” about global warming. However, 85% of Americans either underestimate how many Americans are worried, or don’t know enough to say. Only 17% of Americans say they hear about global warming in the media “at least once a week,” which is the lowest percentage since the question was added to the survey in 2015.
Americans are more likely to think climate change will be harmful to the world than to them personally, Jamie Ballard, YouGov
A new YouGov survey on climate change and the environment finds that many Americans foresee dire consequences to climate change and experience anxiety or grief when they think about climate change, but few believe they personally will be harmed greatly by climate change. One-quarter of Americans believe it is very or somewhat likely climate change will cause the extinction of the human race. More than twice as many think it is likely to cause cities to be lost to rising sea levels (56%), and similar proportions expect mass displacement of people from some parts of the world to others (57%) and serious damage to the global economy (58%). Democrats are much more likely than Republicans to say these catastrophic events are likely. The largest gaps are on serious damage to the global economy (82% of Democrats and 29% of Republicans think this is a likely result of climate change) and mass displacement from some parts of the world to others (81% vs. 32%).
Physical science of climate change, effects
Atmospheric stability sets maximum moist heat and convection in the midlatitudes, Li & Tamarin-Brodsky, Science Advances Open Access 10.1126/sciadv.aea8453
Contrasting Trends in Cold-Season Daily Soil Temperature With Climate Warming in Snow-Affected Settings, Ghosh et al., Geophysical Research Letters Open Access 10.1029/2025gl118210
Impacts of Transition From Pack Ice Zone to Marginal Ice Zone in the Arctic Ocean on Heat Exchanges Within the Atmosphere-Sea Ice-Ocean System, Chen et al., Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans Open Access pdf 10.1029/2025jc022995
Remote and Regional Drivers of the Indonesian Throughflow Under Future Warming: Implications for Inter-Basin Freshwater Transport, Wang et al., Geophysical Research Letters Open Access 10.1029/2025gl119514
Understanding the Climate Response to Different Vertical Patterns of Radiative Forcing, Dai et al., Geophysical Research Letters Open Access pdf 10.1029/2025gl119138
Observations of climate change, effects
Detectable Human Influence on Reduced Day-to-Day Temperature Variability in the Cold Season Driven by Arctic Sea-Ice Loss, Siew et al., Atmospheric Science Letters Open Access pdf 10.1002/asl.70005
Emergence of the enhanced equatorial Atlantic warming as a fingerprint of global warming, Dong et al., Nature Communications Open Access pdf 10.1038/s41467-025-68015-6
Intensified melting in the Arctic lower troposphere from 1979 to 2023, ZHOU et al., Advances in Climate Change Research Open Access 10.1016/j.accre.2026.01.003
Observed trends in precipitation extreme indices as inferred from a homogenized daily precipitation dataset for Canada, Wang & Feng, Open Access 10.2139/ssrn.5304833
Potential Impact of Multiple Climate Factors on the High Temperatures Over Eurasian Continent in Summer 2022, Li et al., Atmosphere 10.1080/07055900.2026.2612687
Temperature Is Surpassing Precipitation as the Dominant Driver of Flash Drought Acceleration Under Climate Warming, Ma & Li, Geophysical Research Letters Open Access pdf 10.1029/2025gl118457
Unveiling the Deep Ocean warming: observed bottom ocean dataset across Mediterranean Sea, Lo Bue et al., Open Access pdf 10.5194/essd-2025-739
Warming Trend in the Western Indian Ocean Driven by Oceanic Transport, Joseph et al., Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans Open Access 10.1029/2025jc022762
Instrumentation & observational methods of climate change, effects
Significant uncertainties from overlooking aerosol-cloud coexistence in surface solar radiation estimates using passive satellite observations, Lang et al., Remote Sensing of Environment 10.1016/j.rse.2025.115168
Modeling, simulation & projection of climate change, effects
Constraining climate model projections with observations amplifies future runoff declines, Kim et al., Open Access pdf 10.21203/rs.3.rs-5867679/v1
Intensified Western Boundary Currents in South China Sea Under Global Warming, Zeng et al., Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans Open Access pdf 10.1029/2025jc022920
Projected climate change in Fennoscandia – and its relation to ensemble spread and global trends, Strandberg et al., Weather and Climate Dynamics Open Access pdf 10.5194/wcd-7-185-2026
Temperature Is Surpassing Precipitation as the Dominant Driver of Flash Drought Acceleration Under Climate Warming, Ma & Li, Geophysical Research Letters Open Access pdf 10.1029/2025gl118457
The climate opportunities and risks of contrail avoidance, Smith et al., Open Access pdf 10.21203/rs.3.rs-6925120/v1
What are we missing? A systematic mapping of climate change projections in the Brahmaputra River Basin, Bhaduri et al., Climate and Development 10.1080/17565529.2026.2617373
When Winds Collide With Precipitation: Dominance of Anthropogenic Forcing in Escalating Compound Extremes Over Southeast Asia, Jiang et al., Geophysical Research Letters Open Access pdf 10.1029/2025gl119882
Advancement of climate & climate effects modeling, simulation & projection
Dynamically Downscaled European Water Budget Quantities in the Presence of Sea Surface Temperature Uncertainty, Lopes et al., Journal of Hydrometeorology 10.1175/jhm-d-25-0018.1
Redundancy-Resilient Multi-Criteria Multi-Model Ensemble Framework for Drought Assessment Under Climate Change, Abbas et al., International Journal of Climatology 10.1002/joc.70252
Toward exascale climate modelling: a python DSL approach to ICON's (icosahedral non-hydrostatic) dynamical core (icon-exclaim v0.2.0), Dipankar et al., Geoscientific Model Development Open Access pdf 10.5194/gmd-19-713-2026
Cryosphere & climate change
Anthropogenic Warming Amplifies the Impact of the Tibetan Plateau Snow Cover on Eastern Europe Heat Waves, Jia et al., Journal of Climate 10.1175/jcli-d-25-0447.1
Deglaciation of the Prudhoe Dome in northwestern Greenland in response to Holocene warming, Walcott-George et al., Nature Geoscience 10.1038/s41561-025-01889-9
High-resolution geomechanical modeling reveals accelerating infrastructure risks from permafrost degradation in Northern Alaska, Wang et al., Open Access pdf 10.21203/rs.3.rs-7055543/v1
Modeling the 21st-century response of Greenland's Zachariæ Isstrøm and Nioghalvfjerdsfjorden glaciers to atmosphere?ocean forcing and friction laws, Dong et al., Advances in Climate Change Research Open Access 10.1016/j.accre.2025.11.006
Simulation of the climatic conditions required for the existence of ice sheet on the Tibetan Plateau, Su & Sun, Global and Planetary Change 10.1016/j.gloplacha.2025.105202
Synergistic effects of warming and heavy snowfall accumulation on the increased risk of large-scale snow avalanches in the western Tianshan Mountains, Chen et al., Advances in Climate Change Research Open Access 10.1016/j.accre.2025.09.009
Trends in Sea Ice and Snow-Cover Extent: A Fractional Integration Analysis, Caporale et al., Open Access 10.2139/ssrn.5046240
Sea level & climate change
Long-term hydrodynamic changes in marginal estuarine seas: the role of sea level rise and freshwater fluxes, Stanev, Scientific Reports Open Access 10.1038/s41598-025-33172-7
Paleoclimate & paleogeochemistry
Deglaciation of the Prudhoe Dome in northwestern Greenland in response to Holocene warming, Walcott-George et al., Nature Geoscience 10.1038/s41561-025-01889-9
Biology & climate change, related geochemistry
Are Hibernators Toast? Global Climate Change and Prolonged Seasonal Hibernation, Dausmann & Cooper, Global Change Biology Open Access pdf 10.1111/gcb.70659
Biocrusts Are Highly Vulnerable to Multidimensional Global Change, Qiu et al., Global Change Biology 10.1111/gcb.70723
Climate Change Will Resize and Reshape Plant–Hummingbird Networks in the Atlantic Forest, Restrepo?González et al., Diversity and Distributions Open Access pdf 10.1111/ddi.70134
Demography Meets Climate Change: Life History Challenges for a Neotropical Viviparous Lizard, Santos et al., Ecology and Evolution Open Access pdf 10.1002/ece3.72829
Effects of Eutrophication and Warming on Lake Ecosystems, Jeppesen et al., Global Change Biology Open Access pdf 10.1111/gcb.70715
Five centuries of lake deoxygenation and microbial shifts revealed by sedimentary DNA, Vegas-Vilarrúbia et al., Anthropocene Open Access 10.1016/j.ancene.2025.100504
Global Responses of Phytoplankton Size Structure to Marine Heatwaves, Zhan et al., Global Biogeochemical Cycles Open Access 10.1029/2025gb008854
Global urban vegetation exhibits divergent thermal effects: From cooling to warming as aridity increases, Guo et al., Science Advances Open Access 10.1126/sciadv.aea9165
Habitat Quality Assessment Within Expanded Ranges of Dengue Vectors Using a Composite Index Scale, Naeem et al., Ecology and Evolution Open Access pdf 10.1002/ece3.72387
Linking Community-Climate Disequilibrium to Ecosystem Function, Stemkovski et al., Ecology Letters Open Access pdf 10.1111/ele.70314
Major heat wave in the North Atlantic had widespread and lasting impacts on marine life, Werner et al., Science Advances Open Access 10.1126/sciadv.adt7125
Phytoplankton Blooms in the Coastal Seas Around China Increase in Response to Warming, Yang et al., Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans 10.1029/2025jc022348
Resilience and Adaptation in Desert Ecosystems: Unveiling Microbial Legacies and Plant Functional Trait Coordination Under Climate Change, Islam et al., Global Change Biology 10.1111/gcb.70678
Rising Influence of Climate on the Distribution of Black-Necked Cranes (Grus nigricollis) on Tibetan Plateau, Yang et al., Ecology and Evolution Open Access pdf 10.1002/ece3.72756
Structural Climate Drivers of Global Coral Bleaching, Lu et al., Global Change Biology 10.1111/gcb.70661
Warm Edge Kelp Populations Show Elevated Volatility to Marine Heatwaves, Shi et al., Ecology Letters Open Access 10.1111/ele.70307
GHG sources & sinks, flux, related geochemistry
Anthropogenically Stimulated Carbonate Dissolution in the Global Shelf Seafloor Is Potentially an Important and Fast Climate Feedback, van de Velde et al., AGU Advances Open Access 10.1029/2025av001865
Atmospheric CO2 concentration prediction based on bidirectional long short-term memory, Qiao et al., Frontiers in Earth Science Open Access 10.3389/feart.2026.1736569
Atmospheric deposition enhances marine methane production and emissions from global oceans, Zhuang et al., Nature Communications Open Access pdf 10.1038/s41467-026-68527-9
Carbon cycling across coastal soft sediments: the contribution of macrofaunal communities to seafloor respiration, Rohlfer et al., Marine Environmental Research Open Access 10.1016/j.marenvres.2025.107812
Global trends in ocean fronts and impacts on the air–sea CO2 flux and chlorophyll concentrations, Yang et al., Nature Climate Change 10.1038/s41558-025-02538-0
Hidden Role of Trophic Cascade Effects for Soil Carbon Sequestration in Alpine Tundra, Kou et al., Global Change Biology Open Access pdf 10.1111/gcb.70663
Insights Into the Persistence and Vulnerability of Tropical Peat Carbon Stocks From a Long-Term Field Decomposition Experiment, Perryman et al., Global Biogeochemical Cycles Open Access 10.1029/2025gb008821
IPSL-Perm-LandN: improving the IPSL Earth System Model to represent permafrost carbon-nitrogen interactions, Gaillard et al., Open Access pdf 10.5194/egusphere-2025-3656
Methane fluxes from Arctic boreal North America: comparisons between process-based estimates and atmospheric observations, Liu et al., Open Access 10.5194/egusphere-2025-2150
Perennial redox potential dynamics in Alaskan degraded and non-degraded permafrost soils, Liebmann et al., Communications Earth & Environment Open Access pdf 10.1038/s43247-025-03143-x
Permafrost Thaw Dynamics Drive the Regime Shifts of Iron-Bound Organic Carbon Sequestration in the East Siberian Arctic Shelf, Du et al., Geophysical Research Letters Open Access pdf 10.1029/2025gl118350
Rethinking default ‘K’ values in landfill greenhouse gas emission modeling: A case study from Nepal using LandGEM, Dahal & Babel, Energy for Sustainable Development 10.1016/j.esd.2025.101918
RETRACTION: Temperature Optimum for Marsh Resilience and Carbon Accumulation Revealed in a Whole-Ecosystem Warming Experiment, , Global Change Biology Open Access pdf 10.1111/gcb.70656
Sea spray driven CO2 efflux: modeling the effect of sea spray evaporation on carbonate chemistry and air-sea gas exchange, Hendrickson et al., npj Climate and Atmospheric Science Open Access pdf 10.1038/s41612-025-01304-5
Tropicalization Enhances Mangrove Methane Emissions to the Atmosphere, Chen et al., Geophysical Research Letters Open Access pdf 10.1029/2025gl119663
CO2 capture, sequestration science & engineering
Arctic driftwood proposal for durable carbon removal, Büntgen et al., npj Climate Action Open Access pdf 10.1038/s44168-025-00327-1
Unvegetated Tidal Flats: A Critical Yet Vulnerable Coastal Blue Carbon Sink, Wang et al., Global Change Biology 10.1111/gcb.70695
Using Carbon Dioxide Removal for a Habitable Post-2050 Net-Zero Emission World: Contributions and Limitations, Cui et al., Journal of Ocean University of China 10.1007/s11802-026-6228-5
Decarbonization
Impact of extremely high temperature on future photovoltaic power potential over East Asia, Park et al., Open Access 10.2139/ssrn.5277327
Low-carbon value chain building strategies across industrial and political contexts: A comparative analysis of decarbonization efforts in Norwegian and Japanese aviation, Fantini et al., Energy Research & Social Science Open Access 10.1016/j.erss.2025.104472
Aerosols
Modeling the Impact of Alternative Fuels and Hydrogen Propulsion on Contrail-Cirrus: A Parameter Study, Lottermoser & Unterstrasser, Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres Open Access 10.1029/2025jd044604
Southern Ocean Clear-Sky Brightening From Sea Spray Aerosol Increase Drives Departure From Hemispheric Albedo Symmetry, Singer & Pincus, Geophysical Research Letters Open Access pdf 10.1029/2025gl119637
Climate change communications & cognition
Assessing Threat and Efficacy: Ideological Influences in Climate Change Reporting in US and German Newspapers (2006–2023), Lohkamp et al., Environmental Communication 10.1080/17524032.2026.2616456
Bringing marine microbiome research into the classroom is an essential step toward a climate literate society, Shemi et al., npj Climate Action Open Access pdf 10.1038/s44168-025-00325-3
Climate obstruction in the United States and Brazil: a comparative analysis of discourses by foreign policy authorities of the Trump and Bolsonaro administrations, De Quadros & Santos Lima, Climate and Development 10.1080/17565529.2025.2609769
Eye-tracking research on climate change communication: A systematic review, Stasiak et al., Journal of Environmental Psychology 10.1016/j.jenvp.2025.102886
Know Your Stripes? An Assessment of Climate Warming Stripes as a Graphical Risk Communication Format, Dawson et al., Risk Analysis Open Access pdf 10.1111/risa.70171
Manual and automatic paragraph-level analysis of climate change framing in academic journal editorials, Badullovich et al., Scientometrics Open Access pdf 10.1007/s11192-025-05494-w
Solastalgia and mental health in the climate era: a perspective on ecological suffering, Marques, Climate and Development 10.1080/17565529.2025.2610701
Testing the impact of fallacies and contrarian claims in climate change misinformation, Lieu et al,, British Journal of Psychology, 10.1111/bjop.70049
The Rise of (Affective) Obstruction: Conceptualizing the Evolution of Far-Right Climate Change Communication (1986–2018), Forchtner, Environmental Communication Open Access 10.1080/17524032.2025.2596620
Youth climate activism in shrinking spaces: how Uganda’s activists navigate red lines, Sändig et al., Environmental Politics Open Access 10.1080/09644016.2025.2605809
Agronomy, animal husbundry, food production & climate change
Adopting coffee to climate change: arabica rootstocks enhance physiological performance of robusta under water deficit, Patil et al., Frontiers in Climate Open Access pdf 10.3389/fclim.2025.1748714
Agri-photovoltaics in India: Geospatial suitability for sustainable water–energy–food nexus solutions, Mehta & Betz, Energy for Sustainable Development 10.1016/j.esd.2025.101915
Assessing the Climate Impacts of Large-Scale Global Adoption of Cover Crops and Agroforestry, Zhang et al., Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences 10.1029/2025jg009268
Climate vulnerability assessment of Meghalaya’s agricultural sector at the district level, Lynrah et al., Discover Sustainability Open Access 10.1007/s43621-025-02408-x
Climate-smart agriculture: analysis of the determinants of adoption intensity of sustainable agronomic practices among mango farmers in the Yilo Krobo Municipality of Eastern Region of Ghana, Adu et al., Climate and Development 10.1080/17565529.2025.2609782
Heat waves associated with higher methane emissions from dairy manure: A 6-year study, VanderZaag et al., Agricultural and Forest Meteorology 10.1016/j.agrformet.2025.110980
Livestock farmers’ perception on effect of climate change on smallholder dairy farming in Fiji, Igbal et al., Frontiers in Climate Open Access pdf 10.3389/fclim.2025.1654274
Projecting shifts in drought-induced thresholds for wheat yield loss under climate change in southeastern Australia, Xiang et al., Agricultural and Forest Meteorology 10.1016/j.agrformet.2025.111003
Hydrology, hydrometeorology & climate change
Assessing Climate Change Impacts on Runoff Variability and Extremes in China Using High-Resolution Simulations, Gao et al., International Journal of Climatology Open Access pdf 10.1002/joc.70270
Constraining climate model projections with observations amplifies future runoff declines, Kim et al., Open Access pdf 10.21203/rs.3.rs-5867679/v1
Contrasting trends in very large hail events and related economic losses across the globe, Battaglioli et al., Nature Geoscience Open Access pdf 10.1038/s41561-025-01868-0
Extreme rainfall over land exacerbated by marine heatwaves, Wang et al., Nature Communications Open Access pdf 10.1038/s41467-026-68431-2
From drought to deluge: Understanding the atmospheric and climatic forces behind the United Arab Emirates' recent flood event, Fazel-Rastgar et al., Journal of Atmospheric and Solar 10.1016/j.jastp.2025.106712
From Past to Future: Risk Assessment and Identification of Susceptible Areas to Extreme Precipitation Under Changing Climate Across the Middle East, Fakour et al., International Journal of Climatology 10.1002/joc.70250
Identifying Recurring Patterns of Extreme Daily Precipitation Using K-means algorithm: Uncovering Spatial Shift driven by Climate Change over the Italian Peninsula, Manco et al., Weather and Climate Extremes Open Access 10.1016/j.wace.2025.100849
Increased interannual variability of Sahel rainfall under greenhouse warming, Yang et al., Nature Communications Open Access pdf 10.1038/s41467-025-67885-0
Observed trends in precipitation extreme indices as inferred from a homogenized daily precipitation dataset for Canada, Wang & Feng, Open Access 10.2139/ssrn.5304833
Climate change mitigation public policy research
A multi-faceted analysis of the influence of state energy policies on spatial clustering of wind and solar farms in the U.S., Rozhkov & Das, Energy Policy 10.1016/j.enpol.2026.115073
Building material stock drives embodied carbon emissions and risks future climate goals in China, Zhang et al., Nature Climate Change 10.1038/s41558-025-02527-3
Climate policy portfolios that accelerate emission reductions, Wilson et al., Open Access pdf 10.21203/rs.3.rs-4742975/v1
Divergent paths: A machine learning analysis of post-pandemic decarbonization trajectories and the global climate policy imperative, Evro et al., Energy Policy 10.1016/j.enpol.2025.115049
Do climate mitigation policies reduce within-country carbon inequality? Evidence from cross-national panel data, Chen et al., Energy Policy 10.1016/j.enpol.2025.115056
Energy transition in the global south: Donor bargains and the future of the aid machine, Maduekwe, Energy Research & Social Science 10.1016/j.erss.2025.104525
European forest carbon and biodiversity policies have a limited win-win potential, Balducci et al., Nature Communications Open Access pdf 10.1038/s41467-026-68668-x
The contested political economy of Norway's oil and gas industry, Rahman et al., Energy Research & Social Science 10.1016/j.erss.2025.104510
Valuing the wider benefits of net zero: Conceptual foundations of new assessment frameworks in the United Kingdom, Lait et al., Energy Research & Social Science Open Access 10.1016/j.erss.2025.104516
Climate change adaptation & adaptation public policy research
Adaptation pathways identify effective strategies for mitigating damage on a developed barrier island as sea levels rise, Patch et al., Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution Open Access 10.3389/fevo.2025.1616495
Beyond projects: Relational durability and the measurement of climate adaptation success in practice, Robinson et al., Global Environmental Change 10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2025.103110
From public attention to action: How risk perception and experience drive support for climate adaptation policies in heat-vulnerable cities, Kim & Kim, Open Access 10.2139/ssrn.5098749
Unlocking the benefits of transparent and reusable science for climate risk management, Pollack et al., Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Open Access 10.1073/pnas.2422157123
Climate change impacts on human health
Choice of Downscaled Climate Product Matters: Projections of Valley Fever Seasonality in a Warming Climate, Schollaert et al., GeoHealth Open Access pdf 10.1029/2025gh001624
Habitat Quality Assessment Within Expanded Ranges of Dengue Vectors Using a Composite Index Scale, Naeem et al., Ecology and Evolution Open Access pdf 10.1002/ece3.72387
Projected impacts of climate change on malaria in Africa, Yamana & Eltahir, Environmental Health Perspectives Open Access 10.1289/ehp.1206174
Informed opinion, nudges & major initiatives
Climate Responsibilities of Business Corporations, Ngosso, WIREs Climate Change Open Access 10.1002/wcc.70040
Permafrost and wildfire carbon emissions indicate need for additional action to keep Paris Agreement temperature goals within reach, Schädel et al., Communications Earth & Environment Open Access pdf 10.1038/s43247-026-03189-5
Book reviews
Narratives of conflict in a warming Arctic, Spence, Science 10.1126/science.aed7095
Demonstrating the Full Value of Managed Electric Vehicle Charging, Ramakrishnan et al., ENergyHub
The purpose of this study is to demonstrate with real electric vehicle (EV) drivers the value of various strategies for managing EV charging, with a focus on deferring distribution system upgrades and reducing wholesale costs. The authors present the results of a trial a managed charging solution with EV drivers in the state of Washington. Data from the trial was used to estimate the value of managed charging in avoiding electric system costs and to assess the differences in value between active and
Carbon Majors: 2024 Data Update, InfluenceMap
The Carbon Majors database traces 34.7 GtCO2e of greenhouse gas emissions in 2024 to the 166 oil, gas, coal, and cement producers, a 0.8% increase from these entities’ total emissions in 2023. Just 32 companies were linked to over half of global fossil fuel and cement CO2 emissions in 2024. As shown in Figure 1, the top 10 companies by emissions, cumulatively responsible for 27.6% of global fossil CO2 emissions in 2024, were all fully or majority state-owned companies. This analysis highlights the concentrated responsibility for global carbon emissions and underscores the critical role of corporate accountability in combating climate change. Historically, 70% of global fossil fuel and cement CO? emissions from 1854 through 2024 can be traced to 178 producing entities, with over a third attributable to just 22 companies. This demonstrates a clear concentration of responsibility among a relatively small number of producers. In recent years, the importance of corporate accountability has grown, particularly as international climate commitments have been unevenly implemented and, in some regions, partially rolled back. Carbon Majors provides a critical foundation for scientific attribution and climate liability, linking emissions directly to individual companies and supporting efforts to hold them responsible for environmental and social harms.
Demonstrating the Full Value of Managed Electric Vehicle Charging II, Ramakrishnan, EnergyHub
The authors demonstrate with real electric vehicle (EV) drivers the value of various strategies for managing EV charging, with a focus on deferring distribution system upgrades and reducing wholesale costs. The authors present a summary of the results of a trial of a managed charging solution with EV drivers in the Washington state. Data from the trial were used to estimate the value of managed charging in avoiding electric system costs and to assess the differences in value between active and passive managed charging strategies.
Navigating State Law in Local Climate Action, Nolette et al., Sabin Center for Climate Change Law, Columbia University
Local governments are well-positioned to lead the fight against climate change by reducing community-wide greenhouse gas emissions, promoting renewable energy resources, and otherwise advancing climate mitigation and adaptation goals. Many local governments have already taken actions, and there is more they can do. In mitigating and adapting to the climate crisis, local governments must be aware of and act consistently with preemptive state laws that limit their authority. The authors provide state-by-state information, resources, and analysis for 19 states on key state-local preemption issues.
Building Corporate Climate Resilience:, Verena Radulovic and Theo Bachrach, Center for Climate and Energy Solutions and Resilience First
Physical climate impacts are fundamentally reshaping the risk landscape for global businesses. Through six dialogues conducted in 2025, the Climate Resilience Foresight Series brought together leaders from two dozen companies to explore how organizations can build comprehensive resilience to climate change. The authors present a strategic framework for corporate climate resilience, drawing on insights from participants across manufacturing, energy, technology, financial services, and other critical secto substantially, translating this awareness into sustained action remains challenging. Companies face genuine barriers including competing priorities, data limitations, and governance structures not designed for long-term, systemic threats. Yet leading organizations are developing innovative approaches that frame resilience as a sou center. As climate effects accelerate, the companies that systematically build adaptive capacity will be best positioned to protect value, seize opportunities, and contribute to broader societal resilience.
India’s electrotech fast-track: where China built on coal, India is building on su, Kingsmill Bond and Sumant Sinha, Ember
This analysis compares India and China’s energy paths at equivalent levels of economic development, using data from the World Bank for GDP, Ember for electricity and the IEA for energy balances. India is forging a better path to the electrotech future of energy. Cheap solar and batteries are enabling India to develop without the long fossil detour taken by the West and China.
Europe’s Selective Blindness on Gas: US LNG and the Limits of Supply Diversification, Piria et al., The Clingendael Institute, the Ecologic Institute, and the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs
U.S. gas imports into the European Economic Area (EEA) (including Norway) surged in 2025, now accounting for almost 40% of the EEA's total gas imports and nearly 60% of its LNG imports, creating exposure to geopolitical and price risks. While phasing out Russian fossil fuels is strategically sound, new European Union (EU) legislation narrows diversification to merely eliminating Russian imports. Treating Norway as an external supplier is at odds with economic realities and obscures Europe’s growing dependence on the U.S., an energy security risk that policymakers must acknowledge. The EU should monitor all suppliers' import shares, accelerate the energy transition and resist long-term fossil lock-ins misaligned with Europe’s falling gas demand.
Sunlight and Storage into Savings, Sharaf et al., Coalition for Community Solar Access
New York is on track to meet its goal of 10 gigawatts (GW) of distributed solar by 2030, but it can aim higher. In light of federal barriers and uncertainty with respect to large-scale renewables and offshore wind, New York needs to take new action to reduce carbon pollution and meet the statutory mandates in its climate law. Ramping up distributed solar and storage can solve that need, and, at the same time, produce large savings for all consumers. The authors modeled the effects of distributed solar and storage growth in New York under two scenarios: a “Business-as-Usual” (BAU) case that extrapolation of the state’s existing target of 10 GW by 2030), and a “Policy” case based on a new proposed target of 20 GW of distributed solar by 2035. In both scenarios, energy storage complements solar deployment by extending the benefits of midday solar generation into the evenings when electricity demand is high. The BAU case assumes distributed storage levels consistent with those modeled in the New York Energy Plan Pathways “No Action” scenario, producing 0.9 GW of distributed storage by 2035. In the Policy case, the authors modelled 3.7 GW of distributed storage by 2035 (extrapolating the state’s target of 1.7 GW of additional distributed storage by 2030).
Data Center Power Play in Wisconsin, Chavez et al., Union of Concerned Scientists
With forward-looking policies that reduce harm and protect ratepayers, Wisconsin can avoid the risks of unmitigated growth of electricity demand from data centers. Clean energy policies can prevent overreliance on fossil fuels by meeting new load with continued growth in the long term. This reinforces the need for flexible and sustainable resource planning. Wisconsin can meet the challenge of increased electricity demand with renewables and energy storage. By adopting a Clean Energy Standard and implementing a carbon dioxide (CO2) reduction policy, Wisconsin can generate 83 percent of its electricity with clean energy technologies, such as wind and solar by 2050. Clean energy policies reduce heat-trapping emissions and help avoid the negativ in the power sector by 2050, substantially reducing climate and health damages caused by pollution.
Climate change eclipses La Niña cooling in Australia to drive extreme heatwave and heightened fire risk, Clarke et al., World Weather Attribution
From 5–10 January, 2026, south-eastern Australia experienced its most severe heatwave since 2019–20. Temperatures exceeded 40°C in major cities including Melbourne and Sydney, with even hotter conditions across regional Victoria and New South Wales. Extreme heat affected large parts of Australia, including Western Australia, South Australia and Tasmania before moving east to New Zealand. Researchers from Australia, New Zealand, Sweden, Denmark, the United States, the Netherlands, Ireland and the United Kingdom collaborated to assess to what extent human-induced climate change altered the likelihood and intensity of the extreme heat in the region. The analysis focuses on the 3 hottest days over the most affected area in South Eastern Australia, and additional analysis of weather station data in highly populated areas. When combining the observation-based analysis with climate models to quantify the role of climate change in the 3-day heat event, the authors conclude that climate change made the extreme heat about 1.6°C hotter.
2025 Global Change Outlook. Assessing risks to human well-being and pathways to a more sustainable future, Paltsev et al., MIT Center for Sustainability Science and Strategy
n the 2025 Outlook we focus on two scenarios. Current Trends: Current measures for reducing greenhouse gas emissions, projected indefinitely. This scenario generally fails to stabilize climate, allowing global average temperatures to continue to rise. Accelerated Actions: What may happen if regions impose more aggressive greenhouse gas emissions reduction targets aligned with the Paris Agreement’s long-term goals. By contrasting outcomes under Current Trends and Accelerated Actions, we can quantify the risks of remaining on the world’s current emissions trajectory and the benefits of pursuing a much more aggressive strategy. We hope that our risk-benefit analysis will help inform decision-makers in government, industry, academia and civil society as they confront sustainability-relevant challenges.
Americans are more likely to think climate change will be harmful to the world than to them personally, Jamie Ballard, YouGov
A new YouGov survey on climate change and the environment finds that many Americans foresee dire consequences to climate change and experience anxiety or grief when they think about climate change, but few believe they personally will be harmed greatly by climate change. One-quarter of Americans believe it is very or somewhat likely climate change will cause the extinction of the human race. More than twice as many think it is likely to cause cities to be lost to rising sea levels (56%), and similar proportions expect mass displacement of people from some parts of the world to others (57%) and serious damage to the global economy (58%). Democrats are much more likely than Republicans to say these catastrophic events are likely. The largest gaps are on serious damage to the global economy (82% of Democrats and 29% of Republicans think this is a likely result of climate change) and mass displacement from some parts of the world to others (81% vs. 32%).
Vineyard Wind 1: Impact on Jobs and Economic Output, Annual Report 4, David Borges, Vineyard Wind
Vineyard Wind 1 has created thousands of jobs. More than 3,700 U.S.-based workers have been directly employed on the project to date, including both union and nonunion workers across development, construction, and O&M. Most are Massachusetts residents. Construction is the most labor-intensive phase of the project. Over 3,300 workers have been employed during the construction phase, with peak activity in Year 2, when work was underway simultaneously in Barnstable, Martha’s Vineyard, offshore, and New Bedford. Full-time equivalents (FTEs) capture the total volume of labor delivered on the project. The project has generated 2,469 FTEs since 2017, reflecting the intensity and duration of work, including offshore rotations and high-hour schedules that go beyond simple worker counts. Union labor participation exceeded local hiring goals. Seventy-one percent of union workers resided in Southeastern Massachusetts (SEMass), surpassing the project’s 51% goal, demonstrating strong local engagement. Offshore roles require highly specialized, high-wage labor. Many offshore technicians, marine crews, and commissioning staff work 84 hours per week during rotations, earning premium wages and overtime that significantly boost economic impacts.
Thirsty Data and the Lone Star State: The Impact of Data Center Growth on Texas’ Water Supply, Cook et al., HARC
In the last year, the projected spike in data center electricity demand has received significant attention. Their water demand has only recently entered the mainstream discussion. Because water and electricity are inextricably linked, the authors discuss both and provides estimates of how this new industry could impact Texas’ water supply, local communities, other businesses, and the 30 million Texans who already face significant water supply challenges. The authors also present some broad recommendations that state and local leaders should consider as more and more technology companies seek to connect to the Texas grid and water systems.
Assessment of EU and Member States Adaptation and Investment Needs, Directorate General for Climate Action, European Commission
The authors provide a robust, evidence-based estimate of the investment needs – as represented by the cost of implementation of adaptation actions – required to adapt to climate risks in Europe. As climate impacts intensify, understanding the scale and distribution of adaptation investment needs becomes increasingly important for policy planning, budget allocation, and strategic prioritization. This analysis supports the European Commission’s overall work on adaptation and resilience, on guiding Member States in developing coherent and cost-effective responses to climate risks and in its efforts to mainstream adaptation into fiscal frameworks.
The author finds that New York State Comptroller DiNapoli’s investments in fossil fuel companies have destroyed actual value for active and retired public employees and taxpayers alike. Over the last 18 years, New York’s State & Local Common Retirement Fund (“CRF”) would have performed 5.4% better without fossil fuel investments than the CRF actually performed in real life, and would have earned an additional $15.1 billion. Because the CRF has to be fully funded by law, that 5.4% loss in value forced New York taxpayers to contribute an extra $8.3 billion in local property and state income taxes. Instead of fully mitigating this risk through divestment, the Comptroller has taken half measures, backed by complex, opaque and subjective methods that lack conviction, efficacy, objectivity, and run counter to the Comptroller’s fiduciary duty as the CRF’s “sole trustee.”
Climate Change in the American Mind: Beliefs & Attitudes, Fall 2025, Leiserowitz et al., Yale University and George Mason University
Americans who think global warming is happening outnumber those who think it is not by a ratio of more than 5 to 1 (72% versus 13%). 64% of Americans say they are at least “somewhat worried” about global warming. However, 85% of Americans either underestimate how many Americans are worried, or don’t know enough to say. Only 17% of Americans say they hear about global warming in the media “at least once a week,” which is the lowest percentage since the question was added to the survey in 2015.
Power Outages Cost More Than We Account For. Better Data Could Help. What insurers, utilities, and communities need to better assess power outage risk and boost resilience, Harnett et al., RMI
Energy systems in the United States are under increasing stress. Challenges tied to aging infrastructure and rising energy demand are being compounded by increasingly frequent and severe storms, floods, and wildfires. Yet despite growing exposure to climate-driven outages, utilities, insurers, investors, local governments, and communities still lack clear, consistent data on the economic and social impacts of power disruptions. This gap makes it harder to evaluate and justify investments in resilient solutions and technologies that could reduce energy waste, protect households and businesses, and avoid future losses. The authors review the methods and tools currently used to estimate outage costs — focusing on extreme weather-related losses — and highlights opportunities to strengthen the methods needed to support smarter planning and capital allocation toward more resilient power systems.
Click here for the why and how of Skeptical Science New Research.
Please let us know if you're aware of an article you think may be of interest for Skeptical Science research news, or if we've missed something that may be important. Send your input to Skeptical Science via our contact form.
The previous edition of Skeptical Science New Research may be found here.
Posted by Doug Bostrom on Thursday, 29 January, 2026
 |
The Skeptical Science website by Skeptical Science is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License. |