Urgency under uncertainty: Acting on negative and positive tipping points

Tipping points in the Earth system have been an important topic in climate research for the last couple of decades. Numerous systems are thought to have non-linear dynamics, such that a slow linear external forcing on them can cause large, irreversible changes that have serious consequences for the climate. Recently, the concept of ‘positive’ societal tipping points has been considered to combat the global climate crisis. Social systems that exhibit these behaviours can promote a more environmentally conscious society with considered interventions. This commentary responds to recent analysis of how negative climate tipping points and positive tipping points are framed in public debate by asking what these framings mean for prediction and decision-making. I argue that highlighting movement toward positive tipping points can spur action because governments often have greater domestic leverage and the faster timescales make progress visible on policy horizons.

• Publication year

  2025

• Venue

  Dialogues on Climate Change

• Publication date

  2025-11-25

• Fields of study

  Not labeled

• Identifiers
  DOI 10.1177/29768659251403032
• External record

  Open on Semantic Scholar

• Source metadata

  Semantic Scholar

• No claims are published for this paper.

• No concepts are published for this paper.

• Destabilization of Earth system tipping elements

  2025cited by this paper
• A race to the tip—revisiting societal tipping points in the public climate debate

  2025cited by this paper
• A method to identify positive tipping points to accelerate low-carbon transitions and actions to trigger them

  2025cited by this paper
• Early opportunity signals of a tipping point in the UK's second-hand electric vehicle market

  2025cited by this paper
• Tipping point detection and early warnings in climate, ecological, and human systems

  2024cited by this paper
• Physics-based early warning signal shows that AMOC is on tipping course

  2024cited by this paper
• Uncertainties in critical slowing down indicators of observation-based fingerprints of the Atlantic Overturning Circulation

  2023cited by this paper
• Warning of a forthcoming collapse of the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation

  2023cited by this paper
• A socio-technical transition perspective on positive tipping points in climate change mitigation: Analysing seven interacting feedback loops in offshore wind and electric vehicles acceleration

  2023cited by this paper
• The momentum of the solar energy transition

  2023cited by this paper
• Operationalising positive tipping points towards global sustainability

  2022cited by this paper
• Exceeding 1.5°C global warming could trigger multiple climate tipping points

  2022cited by this paper
• Social tipping points everywhere?—Patterns and risks of overuse

  2022cited by this paper
• Pronounced loss of Amazon rainforest resilience since the early 2000s

  2021cited by this paper
• Upward-scaling tipping cascades to meet climate goals: plausible grounds for hope

  2021cited by this paper
• Overshooting tipping point thresholds in a changing climate

  2021cited by this paper
• Managing Climate Risks, Facing up to Losses and Damages

  2021cited by this paper
• Shifts in national land use and food production in Great Britain after a climate tipping point

  2020cited by this paper
• Self-amplified Amazon forest loss due to vegetation-atmosphere feedbacks

  2017cited by this paper
• On the importance of cascading moisture recycling in South America

  2014cited by this paper
• Slowing down as an early warning signal for abrupt climate change

  2008cited by this paper

• No citing papers are available for this paper.