Nature Climate Change

Nature Climate Change, Published online: 21 May 2026; doi:10.1038/s41558-026-02635-8 New steel capacity expansion is critical for the feasibility of climate targets, as plants operate for decades. Researchers estimate that while existing and planned plants could commit large emissions, strategic investments using climate finance can largely avert this.

Nature Climate Change, Published online: 21 May 2026; doi:10.1038/s41558-026-02634-9 Coal-based steel plants risk locking in 60 billion tonnes of CO2 by 2070, but most of these emissions can still be avoided at moderate cost. Steel need not be hard to decarbonize: policymakers must seize the narrow window to redirect investments towards cleaner alternatives this decade.

Nature Climate Change, Published online: 22 May 2026; doi:10.1038/s41558-026-02667-0 Author Correction: Atmospheric warming contributions from airborne microplastics and nanoplastics

Nature Climate Change, Published online: 28 May 2026; doi:10.1038/s41558-026-02653-6 Climate change worsens air pollution, posing major health risks, yet current social cost of carbon (SCC) models exclude these damages. This Review outlines a framework for including air quality impacts in the SCC and reviews existing evidence to inform near-term modelling efforts.

Nature Climate Change, Published online: 27 May 2026; doi:10.1038/s41558-026-02644-7 Climate debates often frame individual behaviour and systems change as distinct pathways to action. We suggest that social change arises from individuals’ agency within their roles in societal systems, and that this agency should be actively leveraged to achieve meaningful climate change mitigation.

Nature Climate Change, Published online: 22 May 2026; doi:10.1038/s41558-026-02661-6 International collaboration has facilitated a global ocean observing system, providing data to measure ocean heat content at a resolution that enables the tracking of climate change. This study looks at the contributing nations and the risks to the network under the current political and economic climate.

Nature Climate Change, Published online: 19 May 2026; doi:10.1038/s41558-026-02655-4 The authors reconstruct historical seabird dispersal routes, showing that birds responded to temperature shifts by changes in range size rather than body mass. These trends are projected to persist, with higher rates of warming causing greater range contractions and longer dispersal distances.

Nature Climate Change, Published online: 19 May 2026; doi:10.1038/s41558-026-02640-x Climate change impacts are no longer distant but have entered people’s everyday experiences. Here we look back on a 2011 paper that showed how direct personal experience shapes people’s climate change perceptions, their beliefs about the efficacy of their action and willingness to act, and how the field of resear…

Nature Climate Change, Published online: 12 May 2026; doi:10.1038/s41558-026-02638-5 The authors use 34 years of seed harvest data from Poland, covering over 40,000 observations and five common species, to understand the impacts of climate change on tree fecundity. They show reduced fecundity across all species, with hotter summers as the dominant driver.

Nature Climate Change, Published online: 13 May 2026; doi:10.1038/s41558-026-02631-y Assessments of coastal ecosystem resilience typically consider the impacts of annual mean sea-level rise, while increases in the seasonal sea-level cycle could also affect intertidal ecosystems. The authors show how such increases can threaten intertidal zones through altering the frequency and duration of inunda…

Nature Climate Change, Published online: 13 May 2026; doi:10.1038/s41558-026-02630-z Climate-friendly intentions do not always translate into action. This Review synthesizes evidence on the intrapersonal, social and structural mechanisms underlying this gap and outlines interventions that offer actionable strategies to close it.

Nature Climate Change, Published online: 11 May 2026; doi:10.1038/s41558-026-02646-5 City type specifies carbon cycle

Nature Climate Change, Published online: 12 May 2026; doi:10.1038/s41558-026-02582-4 Multinational investment is vital for African growth, yet it drives higher rates of forest loss than local industry. Researchers now suggest that home-country laws should hold global firms accountable for their environmental footprint abroad.

Nature Climate Change, Published online: 12 May 2026; doi:10.1038/s41558-026-02637-6 Developing countries are faced with trade-offs where multinational corporations could help local economic growth, but also cause more environmental damage than domestic counterparts. This research confirms such negative effects and discusses how better governance could reduce detrimental outcomes.

Nature Climate Change, Published online: 13 May 2026; doi:10.1038/s41558-026-02639-4 The carbon sink of tropical forests is in part constrained by biomass turnover. This study assesses aboveground biomass turnover in the Amazon and finds that convective storms are the main driver of spatial variation in turnover and future climate impacts will lead to accelerated biomass turnover.

Nature Climate Change, Published online: 11 May 2026; doi:10.1038/s41558-026-02647-4 Largest increase of carbon dioxide in 2024

Nature Climate Change, Published online: 17 April 2026; doi:10.1038/s41558-026-02618-9 The sea–land breeze acts to counter urban heat in many coastal cities. Here the authors simulate how this circulation changes with warming ocean water, showing that it decreases in most of them, adding heat stress to urban areas.

Nature Climate Change, Published online: 15 April 2026; doi:10.1038/s41558-026-02617-w Optimal climate change mitigation pathways have historically focused on achieving emissions reductions while ensuring cost efficiency. However, the broader impacts of climate action are also important for policymakers and stakeholders. We developed a method that enables mitigation pathways to be defined based o…

Nature Climate Change, Published online: 13 April 2026; doi:10.1038/s41558-026-02632-x Author Correction: Biodiversity implications of land-intensive carbon dioxide removal

Nature Climate Change, Published online: 22 April 2026; doi:10.1038/s41558-026-02615-y It is important to assess the gap between national climate ambitions and the goal of limiting global temperature increase. This multi-model analysis shows that if net-zero pledges are implemented, meeting the 2 °C target is feasible, while increasing ambition and international cooperation is crucial.