Climate change communication shapes how societies perceive risks and respond to them. In this issue of Nature Climate Change we examine the evolving content and methods of climate communication, the challenges of urgency and injustice, and the strategies for building effective and inclusive communication channels.

Climate change communication differs across regions, shaped by unique political, economic, social and environmental conditions. These influence how climate messages are framed, received and acted upon by the local public. To explore this diversity, Nature Climate Change spoke to globally distributed scholars for their perspectives on the communication patterns, challenges and priorities in their regions.

Individuals and groups shape others’ attitudes and actions through social influence. This Perspective articulates a research agenda of social influence for climate action, synthesizes existing evidence and highlights its practical relevance for designing effective behavioural interventions.

Social media have become an important arena for climate change communication. This Review synthesizes climate-related content on social media, its effects on climate attitudes, knowledge and behaviour, and its role in reshaping the broader communication landscape.

The authors integrate dendrochronological records with range shifts to show that shifts in montane tree species are tightly linked to tree hydraulic properties. While climate-sensitive species track warming to higher elevations, stress-resistant species expand downslope.

Changes in the Earth system may persist long after atmospheric CO₂ levels decline. This study examines ocean acidification and how it will persist in ocean regions globally, with the Arctic identified as the area that experiences relief from acidification the latest under negative emissions.

The authors integrate tree species richness with satellite-derived photosynthesis proxies to show that richness correlates with greater current levels of photosynthesis and greater increases over time. Projected biodiversity loss by 2050 could lead to cumulative forest photosynthesis loss of 4.4–35.7 PgC.

Soil carbon stocks are greater than biomass carbon in boreal forests. This study shows that tree canopies thermally protect more carbon in permafrost from thaw than is stored in biomass, highlighting the need to consider carbon impacts of forest disturbance and conservation on an ecosystem scale.

How global temperatures change after net-zero emissions are reached is highly uncertain. Here the authors constrain this response and find that net-zero GHG emissions lead to multi-century cooling of at least 0.6 °C.

The magnitude and distribution of CO₂ emissions from river transport are poorly constrained. This study finds that global CO₂ emissions from inland vessels were about one-quarter of total vessel emissions, and that emissions were concentrated in the Northern Hemisphere, related to economic activity.

Climate change communication shapes how societies perceive risks and respond to them. In this issue of Nature Climate Change we examine the evolving content and methods of climate communication, the challenges of urgency and injustice, and the strategies for building effective and inclusive communication channels.

Communication is essential for keeping communities safe when climate disasters occur. Here, we explore how disaster communication informs protective actions and examine five challenges: false information, exhaustion from repeated disasters, unequal access to information, polarized climate attitudes and mental health.

Climate change communication differs across regions, shaped by unique political, economic, social and environmental conditions. These influence how climate messages are framed, received and acted upon by the local public. To explore this diversity, Nature Climate Change spoke to globally distributed scholars for their perspectives on the communication patterns, challenges and priorities in their regions.

Carbon markets reward the climate mitigation benefits of nature-based solutions but rarely value their broader societal impacts. Creating markets for verified co-benefits, such as coastal protection and biodiversity, could redirect investment towards projects that deliver larger gains for both people and climate.