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Open Access

Editorial

Exploring key priorities for climate change adaptation research

Citation: Rose D, Birchall SJ (2025) Exploring key priorities for climate change adaptation research. PLOS Clim 4(12): e0000794. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pclm.0000794

Editor: Jamie Males, PLOS Climate, UNITED KINGDOM OF GREAT BRITAIN AND NORTHERN IRELAND

Published: December 22, 2025

Copyright: © 2025 Rose, Birchall. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Funding: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Competing interests: The author(s) received no specific funding for this work.

1. Introduction

Driven by human activities, greenhouse gas emissions continue to rise, causing global temperatures to climb. With every increment of warming, climate systems are further disrupted, and impacts intensify [1].

In order to moderate impacts, two complementary approaches to addressing climate change have been established: climate change mitigation and climate change adaptation (henceforth ‘mitigation’ and ‘adaptation’). Mitigation focuses on efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and prevent future warming. However, due to the multi-decade delay that occurs between reducing emissions and observing an effect on climate change, temperatures will continue to rise in the short-term regardless of mitigation action [2]. As such, adaptation is essential. Adaptation can be understood as the process of adjusting to climate impacts to minimize harm. It can take several forms, including structural (e.g., seawalls), non-structural (e.g., setbacks), and ecosystem-based (e.g., wetland preservation) approaches [3].

Local governments are often recognized as primarily responsible for adaptation [4]. Being the level of government closest to the impacts, they possess a strong understanding of how climate change manifests uniquely within their communities. Moreover, local governments are equipped with urban planning tools (e.g., strategic plans, zoning) that provide them with the legislative teeth necessary to carry out adaptation action [5].

According to the IPCC’s [1] most recent report, adaptation planning and implementation has been initiated across all regions and sectors. Despite this, scholars emphasize that current efforts are insufficient [6], with the rate of progress failing to keep pace with the increasing need [2,7]. Adaptation responses are fragmented, and implementation lag remains a key issue [8]. Importantly, adaptation research also remains incommensurate with the demand for evidence from policy-makers and practitioners. Though an exponential increase in adaptation research has occurred, large knowledge gaps persist [9]; insufficient research has been identified as a key barrier to adaptation progress [1,10]. The purpose of this editorial is to draw attention to key topics we believe warrant further scholarly attention in order to advance adaptation progress, highlighting them as research priorities for the Adaptation section of PLOS Climate: urban planning, rural and remote communities, and health.

2. Key topics for future research

2.1 Urban planning

Urban planning has an essential role to play in local-scale adaptation. Indeed, scholars have described it as “central to the success or failure of local adaptation action” [11, p. 623]. Urban planning is the mechanism through which adaptation is implemented on the ground. By integrating adaptation strategies within local urban planning frameworks, adaptation goals can be tangibly acted upon [12]. Moreover, urban planners are well-suited to lead climate adaptation efforts within their communities. Strengths related to advocacy, coordination, and knowledge integration allow urban planners to effectively champion climate action across departments, bring together necessary stakeholders, and mainstream adaptation within broader community goals and strategic planning [11].

Despite the important relationship between urban planning and adaptation, research often overlooks this intersection [13,14]. Several key research gaps persist, including a lack of empirical linkages between adaptation and urban planning, and limited knowledge of adaptation actions related to physical planning and urban design [13]. In order to bolster the integration of adaptation into urban planning tools, and thus accelerate implementation, there is a need to increase research in the field [15]. We therefore welcome manuscript submissions that explore the adaptation-urban planning interface.

2.2 Rural and remote communities

Rural and remote communities are disproportionately impacted by climate change. Due to various characteristics, they are both highly vulnerable to climate stressors, and less able to effectively respond. These communities are generally small in size, less accessible, and challenged by a lack of infrastructure [16]. Rural residents are also often older, less affluent, and possess lower education levels than their urban counterparts [17]. These factors compound and amplify each other, increasing vulnerability to climate impacts and thus necessitating urgent adaptation action. Yet, due to constraints such as a lack of financial resources, administrative staff, and climate awareness, capacity to adapt is often noted to be lower in these communities [18].

Rural and remote communities are therefore dually burdened in the face of climate change, given both their increased vulnerability and decreased adaptive capacity. As such, research efforts should prioritize this high-risk population; instead, however, they remain underrepresented in the adaptation literature [19,20]. Studies exploring climate impacts, adaptive capacity, and resilience through a rural lens are scarce [21], as scholarly attention has remained focused on the urban (city) context [22]. To ensure preparedness, the focus of adaptation research must be expanded to include insights from rural and remote communities [18]. Thus, we encourage authors to submit articles that shed light on this important perspective.

2.3 Health

Climate change poses a rapidly growing threat to public health. Across all regions, climate impacts are resulting in significant morbidity and mortality [1]. Within the literature, local-scale adaptation has been identified as essential for safeguarding health in the face of climate change [23,24]. Adaptation targeted specifically to protecting health – or “health adaptation” often relates to building capacity, policy development, data collection/ utilization, and practice/ behaviour change, and includes strategies such as increasing climate-health education and developing health adaptation plans [23]. To be most effective, these health adaptation strategies should be uniquely tailored to local contexts.

Although recognized as critical in reducing the climate-related risk to health, progress on health adaptation lags [25]. Similarly, within the literature, health adaptation is largely understudied [26]. Most climate-health research has focused on investigating impacts, remaining relatively distinct from adaptation-related literature [26,27]. Scholars emphasize that health adaptation research must be ramped up in order to support its implementation in practice [26]. In particular, key gaps relate to the feasibility and efficacy of health adaptation options, evidence to inform implementation and insight into enablers and barriers, and potential monitoring and evaluation approaches [28,29]. We welcome research that contributes to expanding the body of knowledge on health adaptation.

3. Outlook

Climate impacts are intensifying, and in order to avoid negative effects to lives and livelihoods, adaptation is critical. Yet scholars consistently conclude that current adaptation efforts are inadequate; in practice, implementation lags, and within the literature, various research gaps persist. For decision-makers to effectively carry out adaptation within their communities, they must be supported by a comprehensive body of scientific knowledge. Thus, researchers must direct greater scholarly attention towards addressing understudied areas within the adaptation field. Topics related to increasing implementation (urban planning), addressing vulnerable populations (rural and remote communities), and responding to key impacts (health) may hold particular value for bolstering adaptation progress.

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