Essential research findings to support decision-making in a critical decade
Each year, we invite leading scientists from around the world to review the most pressing findings in climate change-related research. Summarized into 10 concise insights, the result has always been a rich and valuable synthesis for policy and society at large.
The 10 New Insights in Climate Science responds to clear calls for policy guidance during this climate-critical decade.
Insights at a Glance
- Methane levels are surging. Enforceable policies for emission reductions are essential. Methane levels have surged since 2006, driven primarily by human activities. We have enough information about our methane emissions to take action, but more enforceable policies to drive reductions are vital. While reductions in the fossil fuel and waste sectors are most feasible, addressing agricultural emissions is also critical. Climate warming is increasing natural methane emissions, making rapid cuts to human-caused emissions more urgent.
- Reductions in air pollution have implications for mitigation and adaptation given complex aerosol-climate interactions. Reductions in air pollution have greatly improved public health, but simultaneously have revealed the full extent of warming caused by historical greenhouse gas emissions, and have additional regional implications on rainfall and extreme events. Mitigation and adaptation strategies cannot afford to ignore aerosol climate interactions.
- Increasing heat is making more of the planet uninhabitable. Rising heat and humidity are pushing more people outside of habitable climatic conditions, with over 600 million already affected and many more at risk as warming continues. Heat action plans, early warning systems, and targeted measures for vulnerable groups are a priority for adaptation in the most affected regions.
- Climate extremes are harming maternal and reproductive well-being. Climate change is increasing risks for pregnant women, unborn children and infants, threatening decades of progress in maternal and reproductive health (MRH). These impacts are exacerbated in contexts with high levels of poverty and entrenched gender norms. Effective interventions should be integrated with broader efforts to advance gender equity and climate justice.
- Concerns about El Niño-Southern Oscillation and the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation with an increasingly warm ocean. Unprecedented ocean warming since 2023 has heightened concerns about large-scale ocean and atmosphere interactions. New research highlights the risk of more extreme and costly El Niño events under climate change, and even the threat to the stability of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation, with far-reaching implications for climate and societies.
- Biocultural diversity can bolster the Amazon’s resilience against climate change. The Amazon faces growing threats from climate change and deforestation, pushing the rainforest closer to critical thresholds and increasing the risk of large-scale collapse. Regional and local actions to safeguard ecological and biocultural diversity can strengthen the forest’s resilience to climate change. However, these efforts will be insufficient to safeguard the Amazon unless global emissions rapidly decline.
- Critical infrastructure is increasingly exposed to climate hazards, with risk of cascading disruption across interconnected networks. Critical infrastructure underpinning the functioning of all societies is increasingly vulnerable to more frequent and intense climate hazards, with interconnected systems posing a risk of cascade effects. Artificial intelligence (AI) tools can enhance the resilience of critical infrastructure to climate change.
- New frameworks for climate-resilient development in cities provide decision-makers with ideas for unlocking co-benefits. Few cities have effectively integrated mitigation and adaptation strategies in their climate action plans. A social-ecological-technological systems (SETS) approach can help guide climate-resilient development by maximising co-benefits and minimising trade-offs through strategies tailored to the unique contexts of each city.
- Closing governance gaps in the energy transition minerals global value chain is crucial for a just and equitable energy transition. As demand for energy transition minerals (ETMs) grows, supply chain risks, geopolitical tensions, and socio-environmental impacts concentrated in the Global South are expected to intensify. A just transition that avoids greater burdens and fewer benefits for Global South countries is a major governance challenge.
- Public’s acceptance of (or resistance to) climate policies crucially depends on perceptions of fairness. Perceived fairness is a key determinant for public acceptance of climate policies. Ignoring citizens’ concerns undermines the effectiveness of climate action and fuels resistance. Participatory decision-making and clearly communicated revenue-use plans can help navigate the structural socio-economic factors that generate resistance to climate policies.
“This report confirms that the world faces planetary scale challenges...yet it also provides clear pathways and solutions, demonstrating that with urgent, decisive action, we still can avoid unmanageable outcomes.”
- Johan Rockstrom
