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Abstract Non-technical summary We identify a set of essential recent advances in climate change research with high policy relevance, across natural and social sciences: (1) looming inevitability and implications of overshooting the 1.5°C warming limit, (2) urgent need for a rapid and managed fossil fuel phase-out, (3) challenges for scaling carbon dioxide removal, (4) uncertainties regarding the future contribution of natural carbon sinks, (5) intertwinedness of the crises of biodiversity loss and climate change, (6) compound events, (7) mountain glacier loss, (8) human immobility in the face of climate risks, (9) adaptation justice, and (10) just transitions in food systems. Technical summary The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Assessment Reports provides the scientific foundation for international climate negotiations and constitutes an unmatched resource for researchers. However, the assessment cycles take multiple years. As a contribution to cross- and interdisciplinary understanding of climate change across diverse research communities, we have streamlined an annual process to identify and synthesize significant research advances. We collected input from experts on various fields using an online questionnaire and prioritized a set of 10 key research insights with high policy relevance. This year, we focus on: (1) the looming overshoot of the 1.5°C warming limit, (2) the urgency of fossil fuel phase-out, (3) challenges to scale-up carbon dioxide removal, (4) uncertainties regarding future natural carbon sinks, (5) the need for joint governance of biodiversity loss and climate change, (6) advances in understanding compound events, (7) accelerated mountain glacier loss, (8) human immobility amidst climate risks, (9) adaptation justice, and (10) just transitions in food systems. We present a succinct account of these insights, reflect on their policy implications, and offer an integrated set of policy-relevant messages. This science synthesis and science communication effort is also the basis for a policy report contributing to elevate climate science every year in time for the United Nations Climate Change Conference. Social media summary We highlight recent and policy-relevant advances in climate change research – with input from more than 200 experts.

Providing usable climate information to city planners and decision makers is considered a pre-requisite to develop robust urban adaptation strategies. However, despite efforts to increase the use of climate information, its integration in decision processes is still low. This article argues that a key aspect hindering the uptake of climate information is the lack of understanding about the social dimensions underpinning its use. The article contributes to bridge this gap by explaining the use of climate information as social practice.Drawing on three case studies of municipal administrations, the article shows how the use of climate information unfolds within a network of practices that are intricately woven into the workflow of each respective municipality. Findings suggest that the use of climate information transpires in four social dimensions: a legitimacy dimension, which recognises that using climate information requires deliberate legitimation action; a dependency dimension, which stresses that the use of climate information depends on customary-working practices; a consequential dimension, which suggests that using climate information provokes changes to working practices; and a processual dimension, which reveals that the use climate information co-evolves with working practices as two mutually constitutive phenomena. The article concludes by suggesting that a practice approach helps us to shed light on how the use of climate information transpires inherently tied to a specific decision context.