SDG 13: Climate Action

Studying, understanding, tackling, and mitigating the impact of climate change has to bring together research from across disciplines. From climate policy to climatology and meteorology to green energy to infrastructure and more this SDG needs support from across the sciences.

On this page, you’ll find curated research addressing all of these challenges, and more. Because this SDG covers so much ground, you’ll find the links below to sub-topics, including climate policy, social impact, meteorology, food production, policy, chemistry, and more.

Topical Collections

Climate Change & Extreme Weather

Greenhouse Gases

Climate Change & Meteorology

Chemistry-based Solutions

npj Climate Action

A new, fully open access, interdisciplinary journal. Open for submissions.

The journal is now calling for papers for an aritlcle collection: Behavioral Economics of Climate Action

In this special issue we encourage high-quality original contributions from behavioral and experimental economics that explore the reasons for insufficient climate actions, and also the motives and conditions for promising actions that could help mitigate pollution and overcome climate change. Learn more

Guest Editors: Till Requate, Gernot Wagner & Israel Waichman

What are authors saying about publishing their SDG 13-related research OA?

The following authors have benefitted from publishing their research open access (OA) at no extra cost:

Oliver Hauser

Associate Professor of Economics, University of Exeter Business School; UKRI Future Leaders Fellow; Turing Fellow, Alan Turing Institute, UK

“OA publishing is part of a much-needed push for greater equity across academia and the world. It means giving more people the opportunity to read your work. I hope that agreements such as the Jisc Transformative Agreement will become more widespread to support the wider uptake of OA..."

Mihri Ozkan

Professor of Electrical Engineering, University of California, Riverside, USA

“To maximize the societal impact of research, it is important to have quick access to the results of published work to facilitate timely discussions and feedback. In this regard, OA is advantageous for researchers as it allows them to advance and progress both in their research and professionally."

Daniel Balting

Doctoral Researcher, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research, Alfred Wegener Institute, Germany

“The Projekt DEAL agreement makes OA publication much easier and less complicated for us scientists. Administrative procedures, which are necessary for every publication, are reduced to a minimum and at the same time, there are no complicated payment procedures.”

Find out if you too are eligible to publish open access with your fees covered

Having early and rapid access to research findings is fundamental to the advancement of science and discovery. Many funders and institutions now cover OA publishing costs for affiliated researchers, as part of an OA agreement with Springer Nature.

Find out more about OA agreements and whether you may be entitled to publish OA with your fees covered.

Journal Open Access Agreements

Researchers at more than 3,450 institutions worldwide are benefitting from transformative agreements (TAs) with Springer Nature—and that number is growing.

These agreements cover the open access (OA) journal article publishing costs for researchers at those institutions. Find out more about OA agreements and whether you may be entitled to publish OA with your fees covered.

Benefits of publishing your SDG13-related research openly include increased citation and usage, greater public engagement, faster impact and compliance with open access mandates.

Are you entitled to publish OA with your fees covered?

In Conversation: The importance of the oceans in tackling climate change

In Conversation - Philip Campbell & Jane Lubchenco

Join Philip and Jane as they discuss the critical interface of research and policy, and the importance of the oceans in tackling climate change.

Sir Philip Campbell, Springer Nature Editor in Chief; Editor in Chief of Nature 1995-2018
Jane Lubchenco, Deputy Director for Climate and the Environment at the White House Office for Science and Technology Policy (OSTP)

Perspectives from Field Experts

Consensus Article Calling for Separate Indication of Short and Long-Lived Greenhouse gases in Emissions Targets

Myles Allen, Professor of Geosystem Science in the School of Geography and the Environment and Department of Physics at the University of Oxford

Climate Risk and Business

Anna Dowbiggin, a risk scholar and management and public policy consultant in Canada

SDG 13 Climate Action: Observations made by Dr Malti Goel

Malti Goel, President of the Climate Change Research Institute and was Senior Advisor and Scientist ‘G’ in the Ministry of Science & Technology (MST), the Government of India

The Sustainable Development Goals Series

Discover the latest SDG13-related books published in Springer Nature’s Sustainable Development Goals Series.
The Series features research on each of the SDGs, addressing the urgent global challenges facing humanity. The books published in the Series feature impactful contributions that support the efforts to make the SDGs a reality.

Browse the entire book series

Explore our Open Access Books

Selected Open Access Journals

Information for Authors

Getting started publishing your SDG 13 work at Springer Nature is easy. Springer Nature aspires to lead in publishing SDG research, and especially in open access (OA) SDG research.

You can add impact and power to your SDG-related research when you publish it at Springer Nature, and alongside leading research (like the examples above). Research published OA at Springer Nature gets more exposure. For example, research published in fully OA Springer Nature journals are downloaded over 7,000 times on average (up to 5x more than competitors) and cited 7.39 times on average.

Publishing with Springer Nature gives you:

A range of journals, from Nature, Springer, and BMC, both hybrid and OA. The journals with SDG content curated above are a small selection of journals you can publish in. Clicking through on them will give you the information — including journal metrics, submission guidelines and more — that you need to plan your next submission.
The world’s leading scholarly book program, including the option to publish your book OA. ᐅSDG 13 OA Books
Support in finding funding for OA. Many funders and institutions now cover open access (OA) journal article publishing costs for affiliated researchers, as part of an OA agreement with Springer Nature. Find out more about OA agreements and whether you may be entitled to publish OA journal articles with your fees covered. The OA funding support service can help you find and access other OA publishing funds — for journal articles and books — to which you may be entitled. ᐅOA Agreements ᐅFunding Support Service ᐅThe impact of OA
Support in writing and publishing your work — both free, including tutorials and paid research solutions services, including editing, translation, and more. ᐅAuthor Services ᐅResearch Solutions
An easy way to get started on a book. Even if it is only a germ of an idea, by filling in this form, you will be put in touch with an editor who can help you grow it into a fully formed book. ᐅSubmit your book idea

Stories told by Authors

These are inspiring personal accounts shared during the Springer Nature Storytellers event at Berlin Science Week 2022 on the theme the food–energy–water connections which lie at the heart of sustainable, economic and environmental development. Our proud storytellers included:

Florian Humpenöder - Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research

Azucena Morán - Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies

Research Stories: How a dislike of suits led to high-impact climate research

Florian opened his talk with an unexpected story about his dislike for wearing suits as a teenager. A dislike which would eventually lead him to turn down a place on a dual study programme in Business Informatics at Deutsche Bahn, the National Railway Company of Germany – much to the dismay of his parents. But Deutsche Bahn’s loss proved to be climate research’s gain, as Florian went on to explain in his story. You can find out more about his stories in his blog.

Research stories: From aspiring journalist to researching the democratic response to the climate crisis

Azucena’s research explores the interface between social and political philosophy, democratic theory and citizen participation in contemporary politics. As well as her work at IASS Potsdam, she’s a senior research fellow at Public Agenda, engaged in the Healthier Democracies Project. Read more

SDG 13 researchers and societal impact

Discover SDG 13 researchers' attitudes towards societal impact in this downloadable infographic, part of a larger project in partnership with the Association of Universities in the Netherlands (VSNU), exploring the role of open research in accelerating progress on global societal challenges.