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Envisioning a future with climate change

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Climate change research and assessments, including the most recent IPCC report, paint an increasingly dire picture of the future. However, the assumption that the future will be worse than the present may be wrong for many aspects of human well-being.

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Correspondence to Brian C. O’Neill.

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The author declares no competing interests.

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Nature Climate Change thanks Bramka Arga Jafino and Andy Reisinger for their contribution to the peer review of this work.

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O’Neill, B.C. Envisioning a future with climate change. Nat. Clim. Chang. 13, 874–876 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-023-01784-4

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