A study of clam shells suggests Atlantic Ocean currents may be approaching a “tipping point”. Scientists studied records of quahog clams (which can live for over 500 years) and dog cockles – because shell layers provide an annual record of ocean conditions. They studied these natural archives to understand long-term patterns in Atlantic Ocean currents such as the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) and the subpolar gyre (SPG). Recent studies have debated possible AMOC and SPG tipping points – transitions that would transform climate patterns. For example, AMOC collapse would have far-reaching global effects, from harsher winters in north-west Europe to shifts in global rainfall patterns, while a weakening of the SPG would be less catastrophic but still bring substantial impacts, including more frequent extreme weather in the North Atlantic region. The new study, led by the University of Exeter, finds evidence of “stability loss” which suggests the region is “moving towards a tipping point”. “Anticipating a tipping point requires good data, covering a long period with no gaps,” said Dr Beatriz Arellano Nava. “We don’t have ocean observations going back into the distant past, but the bands in clam shells give us an unbroken annual record covering hundreds of years.”…

A group of researchers have published new methods to help the financial sector recognise the importance of nature to economic and financial stability. Introducing a special issue of journal Ecological Economics, Professor Ben Groom from the University of Exeter Business School said the financial sector largely fails to consider the economic and financial risks posed by biodiversity loss. Assets including equities, bonds, loans, and other financial instruments he said are vulnerable to ecological disruptions that undermine the long-term viability of the underlying economic activities. He explained that biodiversity risks to finance can be both physical – eg from degraded ecosystems reducing returns in sectors such as agriculture and tourism – and transition risks, as firms have to adjust their operations in response to policy. The flow of capital can also exacerbate biodiversity loss, whether directly (eg financing deforestation-linked infrastructure) or indirectly (eg insurance underwriting for extractive industries such as oil and gas producers). But despite this two-way relationship, biodiversity remains marginal in financial decision-making, which reflects structural barriers such as the difficulty of monetizing ecosystem services, the public goods nature of biodiversity as well as misaligned fiduciary incentives. “We’re questioning whether current market practices — while often aligned with fiduciary responsibilities…