Research and the Climate Crisis

It is estimated that human activities are responsible for 1.0°C of global warming above pre-industrial levels. This warming from emissions will persist for centuries to millennia and will cause long-term changes in our climate system. The results of this are projected to include devastating impacts on biodiversity and ecosystems, including species loss and extinction, and significant risks to health, livelihood, food security, water supply and economic growth.

The climate crisis knows no boundaries. It can only be tackled through alignment, collaboration, and a willingness to directly address the crisis and act.

Our knowledge on climate, prediction and crisis planning are all underpinned by the peer-reviewed research made available by scholarly publishers. Through advancing trusted research, publishers help climate research reach the widest possible audiences – providing knowledge, context and insight. 

Publication of articles on climate change has increased substantially.

• 92% of climate change articles have been published since the year 2000 [1].  
• Climate research is increasingly being published as Open Access.  
• In terms of journals on climate change, as of 2021, 50% of active, scholarly, peer-reviewed journals in any language are fully Open Access and the remaining majority are either hybrid or transformative [2].

What you can do — what we can do as publishers, together.

Here’s the crux: publishers have a wider role to play beyond ensuring that research is high quality, trustworthy and easy to access – they too must also play their part in tackling climate change. 

STM’s member publishers have been working individually and collectively to stimulate innovative research and approaches both inside and outside of their organisations to address the global climate crisis.