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Global corporate tax competition challenges climate change mitigation - Nature Climate Change  (Mar 27) |
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Mar 27 · Many countries have cut their corporate tax rates in the past decades to attract foreign investment. To prevent this, a global minimum tax policy was approved by OECD countries in 2021. Global changes in corporate tax rates could reshape production and investment networks while impacting welfare and global emission patterns. Here we develop a theoretical multi-country multi-industry general equilibrium model and show that global corporate tax competition during 2005–2016 would increase global carbon emissions and shift more emissions to developing economies. Implementing a global minimum tax rate of 15% would reduce global carbon emissions and effectively decrease the developing ... Read more ... |
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Expert review of the science underlying nature-based climate solutions - Nature Climate Change  (Mar 20) |
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Mar 20 · Viable nature-based climate solutions (NbCS) are needed to achieve climate goals expressed in international agreements like the Paris Accord. Many NbCS pathways have strong scientific foundations and can deliver meaningful climate benefits but effective mitigation is undermined by pathways with less scientific certainty. Here we couple an extensive literature review with an expert elicitation on 43 pathways and find that at present the most used pathways, such as tropical forest conservation, have a solid scientific basis for mitigation. However, the experts suggested that some pathways, many with carbon credit eligibility and market activity, remain uncertain in terms of their ... Read more ... |
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Global trend of methane abatement inventions and widening mismatch with methane emissions - Nature Climate Change  (Mar 18) |
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Mar 18 · Substantially reducing methane emissions is the fastest way to repress near-term warming and is an essential prerequisite for reaching the 1.5?°C target. However, knowledge about the global invention trend, sectoral and national distribution and international diffusion of methane-targeted abatement technologies (MTATs) remains limited. On the basis of patent data, we identify more than 175,000 MTAT inventions applied between 1990 and 2019 by 133 countries or dependent territories. Our results revealed that after sustained growth of more than fourfold, the number of global high-quality MTAT inventions declined by 3.5% annually from 2010 to 2019. The sectoral and national-level ... Read more ... |
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Historical impacts of grazing on carbon stocks and climate mitigation opportunities - Nature Climate Change  (Mar 14) |
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Mar 14 · Grazing has been associated with contrasting effects on soil carbon stocks at local scales, but accurate global assessments of its net impact are lacking. Here we conducted a meta-analysis of 1,473 soil carbon observations from grazing studies to quantify global changes in soil carbon stocks due to grazing practices. Our analysis shows that grazing has reduced soil carbon stocks at 1-m depth by 46?±?13 PgC over the past 60?years. The interplay between grazing intensity and environmental factors explains global variations in soil carbon changes. Maps of optimal grazing intensity indicate that implementing grazing management on 21 million km2 of grazing lands, mainly through ... Read more ... |
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The emerging human influence on the seasonal cycle of sea surface temperature - Nature Climate Change  (Mar 14) |
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Mar 14 · Gaining insight into anthropogenic influence on seasonality is of scientific, economic and societal importance. Here we show that a human-caused signal in the seasonal cycle of sea surface temperature (SST) has emerged from the noise of natural variability. Geographical patterns of changes in SST seasonal cycle amplitude (SSTAC) reveal two distinctive features: an increase at Northern Hemisphere mid-latitudes related to mixed-layer depth changes and a robust dipole pattern between 40°?S and 55°?S that is mainly driven by surface wind changes. The model-predicted pattern of SSTAC change is identifiable with high statistical confidence in four observed SST products and in 51 ... Read more ... |
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Groundwater recharge is sensitive to changing long-term aridity - Nature Climate Change  (Mar 11) |
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Mar 11 · Sustainable groundwater use relies on adequate rates of groundwater recharge, which are expected to change with climate change. However, climate impacts on recharge remain uncertain due to a paucity of measurements of recharge trends globally. Here we leverage the relationship between climatic aridity and long-term recharge measurements at 5,237 locations globally to identify regions where recharge is most sensitive to changes in climatic aridity. Recharge is most sensitive to climate changes in regions where potential evapotranspiration slightly exceeds precipitation, meaning even modest aridification can substantially decrease groundwater recharge. Future climate-induced recharge ... Read more ... |
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Aligning renewable energy expansion with climate-driven range shifts - Nature Climate Change  (Mar 7) |
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Mar 7 · Fossil fuel dependence can be reduced, in part, by renewable energy expansion. Increasingly, renewable energy siting seeks to avoid significant impacts on biodiversity but rarely considers how species ranges will shift under climate change. Here we undertake a systematic literature review on the topic and overlay future renewable energy siting maps with the ranges of two threatened species under future climate scenarios to highlight this potential conflict. This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution Access options Access Nature and 54 other Nature Portfolio journals Get Nature+, our best-value online-access ... Read more ... |
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Deforestation poses deleterious effects to tree-climbing species under climate change - Nature Climate Change  (Mar 4) |
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Mar 4 · Habitat loss poses a major threat to global biodiversity. Many studies have explored the potential damages of deforestation to animal populations but few have considered trees as thermoregulatory microhabitats or addressed how tree loss might impact the fate of species under climate change. Using a biophysical approach, we explore how tree loss might affect semi-arboreal diurnal ectotherms (lizards) under current and projected climates. We find that tree loss can reduce lizard population growth by curtailing activity time and length of the activity season. Although climate change can generally promote population growth for lizards, deforestation can reverse these positive effects ... Read more ... |
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Climate threats to coastal infrastructure and sustainable development outcomes - Nature Climate Change  (Feb 29) |
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Feb 29 · Climate hazards pose increasing threats to development outcomes across the world’s coastal regions by impacting infrastructure service delivery. Using a high-resolution dataset of 8.2 million households in Bangladesh’s coastal zone, we assess the extent to which infrastructure service disruptions induced by flood, cyclone and erosion hazards can thwart progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Results show that climate hazards potentially threaten infrastructure service access to all households, with the poorest being disproportionately threatened in 69% of coastal subdistricts. Targeting adaptation to these climatic threats in one-third (33%) of the most vulnerable ... Read more ... |
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Flexible foraging behaviour increases predator vulnerability to climate change - Nature Climate Change  (Feb 26) |
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Feb 26 · Higher temperatures are expected to reduce species coexistence by increasing energetic demands. However, flexible foraging behaviour could balance this effect by allowing predators to target specific prey species to maximize their energy intake, according to principles of optimal foraging theory. Here we test these assumptions using a large dataset comprising 2,487 stomach contents from six fish species with different feeding strategies, sampled across environments with varying prey availability over 12?years in Kiel Bay (Baltic Sea). Our results show that foraging shifts from trait- to density-dependent prey selectivity in warmer and more productive environments. This behavioural ... Read more ... |
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