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Key messages • Total carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from fossil fuels and land use change remained high in 2022 and the first half of 2023. Fossil fuel CO2 emissions increased 1% globally in 2022 compared to 2021, and global average concentrations continued rising through 2022 and the first half of 2023. • The years from 2015 to 2022 were the eight warmest on record,…

By shifting to more minimally processed plant-rich diets, particularly where meat and saturated-fat consumption is high or growing at levels that risk human and/or planetary health, there is potential to reduce the energy intensity of our food systems and diet-related GHG emissions by 49% while generating substantial health co-benefits. Consumer groups, the public health community, and even…

This paper presents new estimates of the effects of dry episodes (rainfall shocks) and droughts on gross domestic product per capita growth rates using state-of-the-art empirical methods. Rainfall and water availability exhibit considerable spatial variability that is almost two times greater than that of temperature. Hence, the analysis needs to be conducted at a high degree of spatial…

Agrifood systems generate significant benefits to society, including the food that nourishes us and jobs and livelihoods for over a billion people. However, their negative impacts due to unsustainable business-as-usual activities and practices are contributing to climate change, natural resource degradation and the unaffordability of healthy diets. Addressing these negative impacts is challenging…

Today’s climate change headlines often seem at odds with each other. One day, it’s catastrophic wildfires wreaking havoc around the world; the next, it’s an optimistic piece on the rapid scale-up of solar and wind power. Taken together, such stories can make it challenging to understand the broader state of climate action. Are countries deploying climate solutions effectively if greenhouse gas …

Sand and dust storms (SDS) are common in drylands with dust often transported over great distances, frequently across international boundaries. Such storms are important for ecosystem functioning, but they also create numerous hazards to society, in agriculture and other socioeconomic sectors. The yields and productivity of crops, trees, pastures and livestock are adversely affected…