Zdenka Sokolickova, University of Groningen; Christy Hehir, University of Surrey, and Elizabeth Cooper, University of Groningen “You’d see massive glacier calvings, and you’d just want to cry. But all the guests would be cheering. And you’d be like … ‘can you not put two and two together?’” Those are the words of a
Ph. People try to stay cool on the sweltering streets of Manhattan during a heat wave in July 2025. Spencer Platt/Getty Images Kevin T. Smiley, Louisiana State University ; Deepti Singh, Washington State University; Jennifer Marlon, Yale University, and Jim Hurrell, Colorado State University When a devastating heat wave, hurricane, flood or wildfire
Jan Hugo, University of Pretoria; Chrisna du Plessis, University of Pretoria, and Karina Landman Climate change is affecting cities more and more. This creates major challenges, but it also gives fast-growing cities, especially in sub-Saharan Africa, the chance to adapt to global warming in new and better ways. Cities rely on roads, pipes
Adrino Mazenda, University of Pretoriaù Climate change discussions in southern Africa often focus on farming, where the effects of environmental shocks are most visible. The debate frequently centres on droughts, floods, declining crop productivity and heat stress affecting livestock systems. This is largely because agriculture is a sector that’s directly exposed to extreme
Ph. Stanley Dullea/Shutterstock Alexis Cloquell Lozano, Universidad Católica de Valencia; Beatriz Felipe Pérez, Universitat Rovira i Virgili; Joan Lacomba Vazquez, Universitat de València, and María Isolda Perelló Carrascosa, Universitat de València Images of families displaced by floods, prolonged droughts or extreme storms have become a distressingly regular feature of the daily news. As
Ph. Severe flooding hit the town of Czechowice-Dziedzice, Southern Poland, in September 2024. Ela73/Shutterstock Clotilde Cerdan Amiard, IE University As climate change makes extreme weather events more intense and frequent, “uninsurable areas” are becoming increasingly common. They are a clear demonstration that insurance – the mechanism through which modern societies deal with all
Many people expect a raging wildfire to leave a blackened, lifeless landscape in its wake. But after a blaze swept through Las Hurdes in Extremadura, Spain, in 2009, the scene was quite different. In the midst of the scorched earth were patches of green where healthy trees remained standing and unscathed. From a
Giovanni Strona, Joint Research Centre (JRC) More than 295 million people globally experienced hunger and starvation in 2025 because of conflict, displacement, climate change and economic disasters. The bad news is that things are going to get a lot worse. My latest research has found that by 2100, climate change could drive more
Daniel Scott, University of Waterloo; Madeleine Orr, University of Toronto, and Robert Steiger, University of Innsbruck The 25th Winter Olympic Games are upon us, with Italy set to host the Games for the fourth time. The schedule at the 2026 Milano Cortina Winter Olympics is set to look similar to previous iterations of
The world’s oceans do far more than support vital marine ecosystems and provide food and recreation. They help regulate the Earth’s climate, absorbing vast amounts of heat and CO2, acting as one of the planet’s most important buffers against climate change. Yet despite this vital role, scientists still struggle to track exactly how