Public support for climate action hinges on the integrity of information environments. In an online experiment, U.S. adults used ChatGPT to evaluate climate-related claims. We first conducted computational text analysis of GPT conversation logs, assessing valence, formality, bias, recency, authority cues, and semantic richness of ChatGPT’s responses using language-model based classifiers and link-level metadata. Concurrently, we measured credibility judgments for both the claims and ChatGPT’s responses through participant self-reports. Credibility perceptions were driven primarily by individual differences; greater acceptance of the scientific consensus, attention to climate change, prior familiarity with ChatGPT, and younger age predicted higher perceived credibility. Once these factors were accounted for, authority cues were associated with slightly less extreme climate attitudes, while positive valence and semantic richness correlated positively with perceived credibility. These results support transparent, unbiased, audience-tailored engagement as a pathway to strengthen responsible climate communication and help bridge the gap between scientific consensus and public understanding.
The Swat River Basin (SRB), a mountainous sub-catchment of the Indus Basin, has faced frequent floods in the past 25 years. Limited structural and non-structural measures, such as flood risk mapping, early warning systems, and land use planning, continue to expose the SRB. This study assessed and mapped riverine flood risk using the GIS-based Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) and simulated flood extent under current and future climate scenarios using hydrodynamic modelling. The GIS–AHP framework found that the most important factors for hazards and vulnerabilities were precipitation, elevation, and population density. The resulting flood risk map indicated that approximately 29% of the SRB falls within high-to-very-high risk zones, mainly concentrated in populated floodplains and agricultural lands. HEC-RAS 2D simulations projected that under a high-emission climate scenario of 21 st -Century, flood depths could reach up to ~31 m with velocities exceeding ~6 m/s, inundating ~26% of the Area of Interest (AOI), i.e., the high to very high risk zone in the Chakdara downstream part of SRB. The integrated methodology is novel in combining hazard, vulnerability, and hydrodynamic simulations and is transferable to other mountainous, snow- and glacier-fed basins, providing a robust tool for flood risk assessment and mitigation. These results show the significance of integrated strategies, climate-resilient planning, and better land use management to lower the flood risk and protect vulnerable communities.
Teleworking is increasingly popular, but its contribution to sustainability is still a matter of debate. A body of work highlights the need for an integrative view including commuting, housing space and ICT use. This paper develops such an integrative approach to analyze how the intensity of teleworking affects the carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) emissions of these three domains. A quantitative survey was carried out for Swiss teleworkers (n = 1033). The CO 2 equivalent emissions (CO 2 eq) were calculated for each domain and in total. The average annual CO 2 eq emissions per teleworker amount to a total of 1322 kg. Teleworkers’ commuting accounts for 532 kg, work-related housing space for 486 kg and ICT use for 286 kg. Our results show that more frequently teleworking reduces commuting and thereby lowers CO 2 eq emissions compared to low-frequency teleworkers. However, these savings are offset by additional CO 2 eq emissions from housing space and ICT use. The factors of teleworkers influencing total CO 2 eq emissions include the number of days working at a regular workplace and whether teleworkers have a home office room. The choice of residential location and of the mode of transport for commutes have significant effects in both the commuting and total models. Female gender, higher education and higher monthly household incomes show significant effects in the housing space and ICT models. The results are interpreted in light of the study’s methodological limitations, foremost the teleworker-only sample and the simplifying assumptions underlying the CO 2 eq emission calculations. However, the results suggest that the environmental benefits of teleworking depend on how it is implemented and practiced, as well as the layout and equipment of the workspaces at different workplaces. Thus, the paper provides an initial indication of teleworking arrangements and related CO 2 eq emissions in three domains and can serve as a starting point for future research on how teleworking arrangements should be organized in a more sustainable way.
While recent studies have advanced our understanding of how heat affects mental health, the underlying mechanisms of this relationship remain fragmented. Previous reviews have emphasized broad and general physiological, psychological, behavioural, and social pathways, often neglecting the heterogeneity of mental disorders in terms of vulnerability and outcomes. We conducted a narrative review to tackle this gap and propose an outcome-oriented framework to better integrate evidence on heat-related mental health risks. We searched PubMed and Google Scholar from January 2023 to September 2025 and conducted backward citation tracking of relevant reviews and primary studies, with no restrictions on publication language, date, or article type. The review focuses on two distinct yet interrelated pathophysiological-related outcomes: (1) exacerbation of pre-existing mental health disorders, and (2) heat-related illnesses such as heat exhaustion and heat stroke. Moreover, we integrated these pathways to six psychiatric conditions most established as heat sensitive: organic disorders (International Classification of Diseases-10 th Edition F00-F09), substance misuse (F10-F19), schizophrenia (F20-F29), bipolar disorders (F31), neurotic disorders (F40-F49), and suicidal behaviour (X60-X84). First, our findings show that heat exposure can exacerbate symptoms in individuals with schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, anxiety disorders, and suicidal behaviour. Key mechanisms include (i) neurotransmitter imbalances, (ii) physiological stress, and (iii) sleep disruption. Second, heat exposure can contribute to heat-related illnesses, particularly among individuals with organic disorders, substance misuse, schizophrenia, and bipolar disorder due to (i) ineffective thermoregulatory behaviours, (ii) impaired neuropathways, and (iii) interactions with psychotropic medications or substances. By mapping outcome- and diagnosis-specific pathways, this review offers a more integrated understanding of how heat impacts mental health. This approach may help clinicians anticipate exacerbations and guide tailored interventions. It also provides a conceptual basis for future, precise, mechanism-driven research questions and for policymakers to design targeted adaptation strategies in public health.
Cocoa production in Ghana and Cote d'Ivoire is threatened by climate variability and extremes, particularly droughts and excessive rainfall. However, quantitative evidence on the impacts of climate change on cocoa yields remains limited, constraining the development of effective climate-smart adaptation strategies. This study assessed future climate impacts on cocoa production using regridded (similar to 5 km resolution) ensemble projections from 12 Global Climate Models under a low (SSP1-2.6) and a high (SSP5-8.5) SSP scenario. Precipitation and temperature data were bias-corrected using five approaches: Delta Change, CDFt, SDM, EQM, and LOCI. Among these, the Delta Change method best preserved intra-annual climate variability, while temperature corrections outperformed precipitation corrections. A Random Forest model, trained on bias-corrected climate data, simulated and projected cocoa yields with an accuracy exceeding 85%, although performance varied across regions. Future changes were assessed for the near future (2026-2055) and far future (2056-2085) relative to a historical baseline (1985-2014). Ensemble projections indicate a drying trend across cocoa-growing areas, with precipitation declining by 5-10% under SSP5-8.5 and increasing modestly (around 5%) under SSP1-2.6. At the same time, temperatures are projected to rise across all regions, exceeding 3.5 degrees C under SSP5-8.5 by the late century, particularly in central and northern zones. Projected yield responses vary spatially. Southern and coastal cocoa-growing areas are expected to experience yield declines of about 5%, with losses reaching up to 20% under severe drought conditions in highly vulnerable regions such as Dix-Huit Montagnes in Cote d'Ivoire under SSP5-8.5. In contrast, some northern and central regions may maintain or slightly increase yields under SSP1-2.6. Vulnerability is shaped by climatic, biophysical, and socio-economic factors, with regions such as Sud-Como & eacute; (Cote d'Ivoire) and Brong Ahafo (Ghana) identified as at risk. These findings highlight the need for targeted adaptation strategies to enhance the resilience of West Africa's cocoa sector.
City climate policy is one of the most powerful levers that can address environmental, health and equity challenges simultaneously. Yet large gaps exist in research and evaluation of city Climate Action Plans (CAPs) to guide and improve their impact, especially regarding public health and equity. We propose a conceptual framework and a global, interdisciplinary research agenda to ensure CAPs deliver on their full potential for climate, health, and justice.
Urban overheating, driven by global climate change, rapid urbanisation and entrenched socio-economic inequality, has emerged as a defining challenge for cities in the twenty-first century. More than 1,000 cities worldwide are already affected, exposing approximately 1.7 billion urban residents to thermal conditions that exceed comfort and health thresholds. Heat risks are unevenly distributed within cities, with low-income populations experiencing disproportionately higher exposure, constrained adaptive capacity and greater economic burdens, reinforcing a self-perpetuating cycle of heat stress and vulnerability. Quantitative evidence reveals stark disparities in access to cooling, health outcomes, economic losses and learning capacity between affluent and disadvantaged urban communities. Here we argue that addressing urban thermal inequity requires a thermal justice transition that places equity at the centre of urban climate adaptation. We outline pathways for such a transition, including the targeted deployment of advanced cooling technologies in high-vulnerability areas, the development of metrics to quantify intra-urban exposure and adaptive capacity, the establishment of urban thermal safety nets and the mobilization of innovative financial instruments. Embedding scientific insights within inclusive urban policy and financing frameworks is essential to reduce overheating risks, protect vulnerable populations and enable climate-resilient, socially just urban futures.
Climate misinformation represents one of the most significant barriers to effective climate action in the 21st century. Building upon Yotam Ophir’s comprehensive framework in Misinformation & Society , this essay examines the evolving landscape of climate misinformation and projects its future trajectory. Ophir’s interdisciplinary approach, which integrates historical, psychological, and technological perspectives, provides crucial insights into how climate misinformation operates within broader systems of information disorder. This paper extends Ophir’s arguments by examining critical dimensions of his work, including the shift from outright denial to more sophisticated delay and deflection tactics, the role of emerging technologies including artificial intelligence in amplifying misinformation spread, and the political economy of climate misinformation characterized by asymmetric epistemic relationships. Drawing on recent research, I project that climate misinformation will increasingly manifest through narratives of technological futurism and transformation, the pretense of economic crisis through environmental catastrophe, and the social implications of international weaponized uncertainty inflamed by misinformation. The essay concludes by proposing an integrated intervention framework that reviews proposed solutions including psychological inoculation, systemic media literacy, and structural reforms to digital and online platform governance. Understanding these trajectories is essential for developing resilient communication strategies that can withstand the evolving tactics of climate action obstruction.
Urban forests are not merely green amenities; they support critical ecosystem functioning and services vital for healthy, resilient cities. Recognising urban forests as core infrastructure is essential to reversing the loss of mature trees, preserving biodiversity, and maintaining liveability amid increasing climate and environmental pressures. Although the benefits of urban forests for climate resilience, biodiversity, and public health are broadly acknowledged, policies to protect and enhance these vital ecosystems are often limited, underfunded, and inadequately enforced. As mature canopy loss today takes decades to be replaced (if ever), immediate and sustained investment is crucial to safeguard urban forests. This urgency reveals four interconnected gaps in current urban forest management and stewardship. First, urban forests require recognition, investment, and maintenance as essential infrastructure contributing to urban resilience, including biodiversity support, and to maximise the delivery of key ecosystem services such as cooling and carbon sequestration. Second, equitable access to greenspaces across all communities must be ensured to redress long-standing social and environmental injustices. Third, integrating urban forests into broader climate and biodiversity governance frameworks is critical to mainstreaming their management and protection. Lastly, resilience must be strengthened through evidence-based management practices responsive to evolving environmental changes and social contexts. These priorities must be complemented with strong legal protections, rigorous enforcement of legislation against illegal tree removal, and robust community engagement supported by integrated urban planning and improved monitoring. Without these, the ecological, social, and economic benefits provided by urban forests will remain threatened. By reframing urban forests as essential living infrastructure embedded in legal, financial, and planning frameworks, cities can become cooler, healthier, more biodiverse, and socially just. This framework offers timely guidance for policymakers to prioritise urban forests within climate resilience and sustainability strategies, securing benefits for current and future generations.
Cholera remains a persistent public health challenge in developing countries, driven by poor Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) infrastructure and weak healthcare systems. Growing evidence highlights the significant role of climatic factors such as temperature, rainfall variability (floods and droughts), Sea Surface Temperatures (SSTs), tropical cyclones and large-scale climate drivers like the El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) on cholera dynamics. High temperatures, moderate salinity, and nutrient enrichment promote Vibrio cholerae proliferation, while extreme rainfall and flooding contaminate water sources, exacerbating transmission. Conversely, drought intensifies exposure to unsafe water, increasing infection risk. Vibrio cholerae thrive in moderate salinity, experiences optimal growth in temperatures between (25–30) °C and reduced survival beyond 30°C and extreme salinity. Despite this growing body of knowledge, current evidence is fragmented across regions and disciplines, with few reviews systematically integrating climatic and socio-environmental determinants of cholera. Existing studies often emphasize individual climatic drivers without addressing their spatial variability, compounding and cascading interactions with non-climatic factors. The narrative review addresses these gaps by synthesizing peer reviewed literature (2000–2024) from Google Scholar and PubMed to examine the multi-scalar influences of climate on cholera in developing regions. Findings reveal that cholera is not driven by the same climatic mechanism everywhere. It is a spatially heterogeneous climate sensitive disease, with spatial heterogeneity extending to seasonality, lag times not just drivers both regions. Temperature dominates mostly inland systems with delayed risk and rainfall drives rapid outbreaks in flood prone settings. Compound climate extremes interacting with socio-economic vulnerability amplify non-linear, region-specific transmission pathways. Most African coastal outbreaks are imported rather than locally amplified distinguishing Africa from South Asia. By consolidating and comparing evidence across regions, this review provides a holistic assessment of the climate-cholera nexus, highlighting pathways to strengthen early warning, preparedness, and resilience strategies in vulnerable developing regions.
Climate education is vital for developing climate solutions that address the Paris Accord and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. However, climate education amongst scientists from the Global South is generally lower than their Global North counterparts. Training, capacity development, and access to similar opportunities are necessary but currently insufficient to level the playing field for skills and participation in the advancement of climate science. This study presents the results of two global stocktake surveys conducted by the World Climate Research Programme Academy (WCRP Academy) and examines the availability and accessibility of climate training opportunities. Global North respondents felt that training in their region was adequate to allow researchers to work effectively on climate science problems. In contrast, respondents from the Global South felt opportunities in their region were lacking and sought additional training regardless of career stage. Globally, early-career researchers and women were most interested in available climate training but have the least access to opportunities. To address these issues, the WCRP Academy aims to increase the visibility of climate science training opportunities via a web-based platform and provide insights to the global scientific community on the climate training needs of scientists based on specific demographic characteristics and preferences. Our findings identify inequities in opportunities and access to development and training required by the global scientific community to meet global climate challenges.
In an increasingly aggressive international political environment, solar geoengineering needs to be reconceptualized – not only as a response to climate change, but as an instrument of power. This conceptualization means going beyond focusing on cooperative scenarios in which the technology is used to effectively reduce temperature rise while minimizing potential side effects. As scholars of international relations, we see a need for more interdisciplinary engagement with solar geoengineering scenarios that explicitly feature political conflict and competition. By anticipating and exploring these, we can better contribute to informing governance arrangements that might be able to prevent situations that undermine international political stability and efforts to address climate change .
Tobacco and fossil fuels are both leading commercial determinants of health and both industries actively obstruct health and environmental policy, yet academic collaboration with these industries is treated differently. While the WHO and many academics recognise an “ irreconcilable conflict ” between the tobacco industry and public health interests, many universities justify fossil fuel collaborations if linked to the energy transition. This essay draws lessons from the history of tobacco industry collaborations in the Netherlands to inform current debates on fossil fuel ties in academia. We examine the evolving policies and attitudes toward tobacco in the Netherlands, the industry’s historical and ongoing influence on academia, and parallels with fossil fuel strategies such as casting doubt on health risks, leveraging industry-funded research, shifting blame, and emphasising consumer responsibility and economic importance. Finally, we discuss how the academic world—universities, research funders, journals, and medical professionals—should critically assess their engagement with tobacco and fossil fuel industries.
Glaciers are rapidly retreating worldwide due to anthropogenic climate change, with severe implications not only for ecosystems and water security but also for cultural memory, emotional wellbeing, and environmental justice. In the Andes, glaciers are more than reservoirs of ice—they are living beings within Indigenous cosmologies, ancestral knowledge systems, and everyday life. This essay explores the cultural, emotional, and symbolic dimensions of glacial loss, focusing on Andean communities who view glaciers as sacred entities. The sacred dimension of glaciers in many Andean communities also involves legal implications to claim just presents and futures especially for young generations. Building on interdisciplinary perspectives and Rights of Nature frameworks, it argues that glaciers should be recognized not only for their ecological functions but also as more-than-human beings with rights to exist, regenerate, and be protected. The essay critically examines historical and structural responsibilities for glacial retreat—from colonial legacies to the inaction of both Global North and South governments, as well as extractive industries—while advocating for accountability mechanisms such as the proposed international crime of ecocide. At the same time, it highlights local and youth-led initiatives, such as URKUWAMBRA in Ecuador, that foster intergenerational and intercultural knowledge transmission, helping to reimagine responsibility and climate action. Ultimately, the essay calls for an ethical and political shift: to honor glaciers while they are still alive, and to reshape human relations with nature through humility, reciprocity, and caring practices.
Climate change is increasing the frequency and severity of emergencies such as floods and fires, worldwide. These events disproportionally affect equity deserving groups and are becoming a growing driver of social inequity. Emergency management (EM) governance shapes how these groups experience emergencies and their aftermath. In this perspective paper, we examine the relationship between social inequity and EM governance in Canada with the objective of outlining how the devolution of EM governance can impact local resilience and social equity. We show how the devolution of EM responsibilities has created a system where local governments have little decision-making authority despite being responsible for implementing EM policy and programs. We argue that providing reliable funding and greater local autonomy can improve EM outcomes for equity deserving groups and strengthen community resilience overall. Findings and recommendations are intended to help decision makers navigate complexities associated with devolution and the design of EM governance structures.
