We need a global assessment of avoidable climate-change risks
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- COMMENT
- 25 February 2026
We need a global assessment of avoidable climate-change risks
To understand the urgency of emissions reductions, policymakers and citizens need a full analysis of what is at stake.
Peter A. Stott0,
Y. T. Eunice Lo1,
John H. Marsham2,
David Obura3,
Tom H. Oliver4,
Matthew D. Palmer5,
Nicola Ranger6,
Simon Sharpe7 &
- …
Rowan Sutton8
Peter A. Stott
Peter A. Stott is a science fellow at the Met Office Hadley Centre and a professor of detection and attribution at the University of Exeter, Exeter, UK.
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Y. T. Eunice Lo
Y. T. Eunice Lo is a senior research fellow in climate change and health at the University of Bristol, Bristol, UK.
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John H. Marsham
John H. Marsham is a professor of atmospheric science at the University of Leeds, Leeds, UK.
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David Obura
David Obura is director of CORDIO East Africa, Mombasa, Kenya.
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Tom H. Oliver
Tom H. Oliver is a professor of applied ecology at the University of Reading, Reading, UK.
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Matthew D. Palmer
Matthew D. Palmer is a science fellow at the Met Office Hadley Centre and an associate professor of climate science at the University of Bristol, Bristol, UK.
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Nicola Ranger
Nicola Ranger is executive director of Earth Capital Nexus and a professor in practice at the London School of Economics and Political Science, London, UK.
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Simon Sharpe
Simon Sharpe is managing director of S-Curve Economics CIC, London, and an honorary professor at the University of Manchester, Manchester, UK.
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Rowan Sutton
Rowan Sutton is director of the Met Office Hadley Centre and a professor of climate science at the University of Reading, Reading, UK.
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[Image: A few people walk in a flooded street.]
Heavy rains flooded streets in São Paulo, Brazil, in February 2025.Credit: Fabio Vieira/FotoRua/NurPhoto/Getty
Climate change presents many threats to life on our planet: a worsening global food crisis, extreme heat that could lead to millions of deaths, intense droughts, floods and the collapse of crucial ecosystems. Some island countries and cities might disappear beneath rising seas. Conflict, state failure and mass migration could escalate.
As we breach 1.5 °C, we must replace temperature limits with clean-energy targets
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[Original source](https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-026-00544-6)