Global interventions show synergistic but uneven positive impacts on climate and biodiversity

Abstract

Climate change and biodiversity loss are two of the most pressing and interconnected sustainability challenges. A one-sided focus on either climate change mitigation or biodiversity conservation may undermine other sustainability goals. Although global scenarios are widely used to explore pathways addressing both challenges, overarching evidence on their synergies and trade-offs remains limited. This meta-analysis examines the results of the most up-to-date global intervention scenarios that address climate change and biodiversity. We show that most scenarios prioritize climate change mitigation. While interventions had a synergistic effect on climate and biodiversity, they were more effective at mitigating climate change. Highly synergistic scenarios frequently include measures in agriculture, forestry and other land uses, and the food sector. These findings indicate that climate-focused approaches alone are insufficient to halt biodiversity loss. More integrated assessments using diverse metrics and models are needed to identify transformative pathways supporting climate, biodiversity, and other sustainability goals.