Climate change, nature degradation, and financial stability: A review of domino-effects between finance, climate, and the biosphere

Sánchez-García, P. A., V. Galaz, J. C. Rocha, F. Barbour. 2025. Climate change, nature degradation, and financial stability: A review of domino-effects between finance, climate, and the biosphere. Ecology and Society 30(2):36.

The threat associated with climate change and nature degradation poses complex financial challenges. Our systematic literature review of 88 finance-related publications published between 2015 and early 2022 revealed a gap in research on nature-related financial risks and their connections to climate change, particularly regarding ocean-related risks beyond rising sea levels. Although methods are available to assess these risks, more standardized approaches are needed. Based on...

Dark Machines: How Artificial Intelligence, Digitalization and Automation is Changing our Living Planet

Galaz, V. 2025. Dark Machines: How Artificial Intelligence, Digitalization and Automation is Changing our Living Planet. Routledge.

This book offers a critical primer on how Artificial Intelligence and digitalization are shaping our planet and the risks posed to society and environmental sustainability. As the pressure of human activities accelerates on Earth, so too does the hope that digital and artificially intelligent technologies will be able to help us deal with dangerous climate and environmental change. Technology giants, international think-tanks and policy-makers are...

The Earth alignment principle for artificial intelligence

Gaffney, O., A. Luers, F. Carrero-Martinez, B. Oztekin-Gunaydin, F. Creutzig, V. Dignum, V. Galaz, N. Ishii, F. Larosa, M. Leptin, and K. Takahashi Guevara. 2025. The Earth alignment principle for artificial intelligence. Nature Sustainability https://doi.org/10.1038/s41893-025-01536-6.

At a time when the world must cut greenhouse gas emissions precipitously, artificial intelligence (AI) brings large opportunities and large risks. To address its uncertain environmental impact, we propose the ‘Earth alignment’ principle to guide AI development and deployment towards planetary stability.

Artificial intelligence, digital social networks, and climate emotions

Galaz, V., H. Metzler, C. Schill, T. Lindahl, S. Daume, A. Marklund, A.J. Castro, J. Bard, T. McPhearson, D. Galafassi, and H. Peters. 2025. Artificial intelligence, digital social networks, and climate emotions. npj Climate Action 4:23.

Emotions relate to climate change action in various ways. Here we elaborate on how the expansion of digital social networks and advances in artificial intelligence, ranging from recommender systems to generative AI, may affect the way people perceive and engage emotionally on climate change. We develop a simple framework that links individual and collective emotions, AI, and climate action, and suggest three critical areas in...

Editorial Overview: Open Issue 2023: Sustainability Science, Digitization, and Artificial Intelligence

Galaz, V., O. P. Dube, and W. Solecki. 2024. Editorial Overview: Open Issue 2023: Sustainability Science, Digitization, and Artificial Intelligence. Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability 68:101452.

Beijer Institute Annual Report 2023/2024

Annual report. 2023/2024. The Beijer Institute of Ecological Economics

Mapping the automation of Twitter communications on climate change, sustainability, and environmental crises — a review of current research.

Daume, S., P. Bjersér, and V. Galaz. 2023. Mapping the automation of Twitter communications on climate change, sustainability, and environmental crises — a review of current research.. Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability  65:101384.

Online social media such as the microblog Twitter are key digital arenas shaping the public discourse on important societal topics. Automated social media accounts, so-called ‘social bots,’ have emerged as a controversial phenomenon, proven to both disrupt and support online communications on topics such as political elections and public health. To what extent social bots also impact online conversations on climate change, environmental crises, and...

Automated framing of climate change? The role of social bots in the Twitter climate change discourse during the 2019/2020 Australia bushfires

Daume, S., V. Galaz, and P. Bjersér. 2023. Automated framing of climate change? The role of social bots in the Twitter climate change discourse during the 2019/2020 Australia bushfires. Social Media + Society 9(2).

Extreme weather-related events like wildfires have been increasing in frequency and severity due to climate change. Public online conversations that reflect on these events as climate emergencies can create awareness and build support for climate action but are also used to spread misinformation and climate change denial. To what extent automated social media accounts—“social bots”—amplify different perspectives of such events and influence climate change discourses,...

Climate misinformation in a climate of misinformation.

Galaz, V., H. Metzler, S. Daume, A. Olsson, B. Lindström, A. Markström. 2023. Climate misinformation in a climate of misinformation.. Online research brief. Stockholm Resilience Centre (Stockholm University) and Beijer Institute of Ecological Economics (Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences) .

Global environmental governance in times of turbulence

Galaz, V. 2022. Global environmental governance in times of turbulence. One Earth 5(6):582-585.

50 years might not seem long in the history of planet Earth, but the last 50 years have had profound implications for our living planet. 2022 marks the 50th anniversaries of the United Nations Environment Programme and the historic 1972 United Nations Conference on the Human Environment. These anniversaries invite us all to reflect on the successes and failures of collective action and global environmental governance.