Microbes without borders: uniting societies for climate action

J T Lennon^{1

2

3}, L S Bittleston^{3

4}, Q Chen^{5

6}, V S Cooper^{3

7}, J Fernández^{8

9}, J A Gilbert^{10

11}, M M Häggblom^{12

13}, L V Harper¹¹, J K Jansson^{14

15}, N Jiao^{5

6}, E M Kuurstra¹³, R S Peixoto^{16

17}, R Rappuoli^{18

19}, M A Schembri^{20

21}, A Ventosa^{13

22}, D L Vullo^{23

24}, C Zhang^{6

25}, N K Nguyen^{2

3}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Biology, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana, USA.
² American Academy for Microbiology, Washington, DC, USA.
³ American Society for Microbiology, Washington, DC, USA.
⁴ Department of Biological Sciences, Boise State University, Boise, Idaho, USA.
⁵ Innovation Research Center for Carbon Neutralization, Fujian Key Laboratory of Marine Carbon Sequestration, Xiamen University, Xiamen, China.
⁶ Global Ocean Negative Carbon Emissions Program, Xiamen, China.
⁷ Department of Microbiology & Molecular Genetics, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA.
⁸ Instituto de Biotecnología y Biología Molecular, Departamento de Ciencias Biológicas, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas, Universidad Nacional de La Plata, CCT La Plata-CONICET, La Plata, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
⁹ Sociedad Argentina de Investigaciones en Bioquímica y Biología Molecular, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
¹⁰ Department of Pediatrics and Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, California, USA.
¹¹ Applied Microbiology International, Cambridge, United Kingdom.
¹² Department of Biochemistry and Microbiology, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, New Jersey, USA.
¹³ Federation of European Microbiological Societies, Delft, the Netherlands.
¹⁴ Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, Washington, USA.
¹⁵ The Soil Stars, Applied Microbiology International, Cambridge, United Kingdom.
¹⁶ Division of Biological and Environmental Science and Engineering (BESE), King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), Thuwal, Saudi Arabia.
¹⁷ International Society of Microbial Ecology, Wageningen, The Netherlands.
¹⁸ Fondazione Biotecnopolo di Siena, Siena, Italy.
¹⁹ International Union of Microbiological Societies, Utrecht, The Netherlands.
²⁰ Institute for Molecular Bioscience, and School of Chemistry & Molecular Biosciences, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.
²¹ Australian Society for Microbiology, Fitzroy, Australia.
²² Department of Microbiology and Parasitology, University of Seville, Seville, Spain.
²³ Environmental Biotechnology Lab, Area Quimica, Instituto de Ciencias, Universidad Nacional General Sarmiento-CONICET, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
²⁴ Sociedad Argentina de Microbiología General, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
²⁵ Shenzhen Key Laboratory of Geo-Omics of Archaea, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen, China.

PMID: 40985999
PMCID: PMC12607868
DOI: 10.1128/mbio.02136-25

Editorial

Microbes without borders: uniting societies for climate action

J T Lennon et al. mBio. 2025.

. 2025 Nov 12;16(11):e0213625.

doi: 10.1128/mbio.02136-25. Epub 2025 Sep 23.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Department of Biology, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana, USA.
² American Academy for Microbiology, Washington, DC, USA.
³ American Society for Microbiology, Washington, DC, USA.
⁴ Department of Biological Sciences, Boise State University, Boise, Idaho, USA.
⁵ Innovation Research Center for Carbon Neutralization, Fujian Key Laboratory of Marine Carbon Sequestration, Xiamen University, Xiamen, China.
⁶ Global Ocean Negative Carbon Emissions Program, Xiamen, China.
⁷ Department of Microbiology & Molecular Genetics, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA.
⁸ Instituto de Biotecnología y Biología Molecular, Departamento de Ciencias Biológicas, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas, Universidad Nacional de La Plata, CCT La Plata-CONICET, La Plata, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
⁹ Sociedad Argentina de Investigaciones en Bioquímica y Biología Molecular, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
¹⁰ Department of Pediatrics and Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, California, USA.
¹¹ Applied Microbiology International, Cambridge, United Kingdom.
¹² Department of Biochemistry and Microbiology, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, New Jersey, USA.
¹³ Federation of European Microbiological Societies, Delft, the Netherlands.
¹⁴ Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, Washington, USA.
¹⁵ The Soil Stars, Applied Microbiology International, Cambridge, United Kingdom.
¹⁶ Division of Biological and Environmental Science and Engineering (BESE), King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), Thuwal, Saudi Arabia.
¹⁷ International Society of Microbial Ecology, Wageningen, The Netherlands.
¹⁸ Fondazione Biotecnopolo di Siena, Siena, Italy.
¹⁹ International Union of Microbiological Societies, Utrecht, The Netherlands.
²⁰ Institute for Molecular Bioscience, and School of Chemistry & Molecular Biosciences, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.
²¹ Australian Society for Microbiology, Fitzroy, Australia.
²² Department of Microbiology and Parasitology, University of Seville, Seville, Spain.
²³ Environmental Biotechnology Lab, Area Quimica, Instituto de Ciencias, Universidad Nacional General Sarmiento-CONICET, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
²⁴ Sociedad Argentina de Microbiología General, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
²⁵ Shenzhen Key Laboratory of Geo-Omics of Archaea, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen, China.

PMID: 40985999
PMCID: PMC12607868
DOI: 10.1128/mbio.02136-25

Abstract

The climate crisis is one of the greatest challenges of our time, yet the role of microorganisms remains underrecognized in climate science and policy. Microbes are highly sensitive to environmental change and regulate essential biogeochemical processes, while also offering solutions for reducing emissions, restoring ecosystems, and enhancing resilience. Microbiology societies from five continents recently convened in Washington, DC, for the inaugural Global Strategy Meeting on Microbes and Climate Change. The gathering launched a global alliance to position microbial science as a pillar of climate action and identified four priorities: building a coalition, embedding microbes in climate frameworks, transforming communication, and advancing real-world demonstration projects. This initiative marks the beginning of coordinated global action to harness microbial life for climate solutions.

Keywords: climate change; economics; industry; microbiology; policy.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

References

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Microbes without borders: uniting societies for climate action

Affiliations

Microbes without borders: uniting societies for climate action

Authors

Affiliations

Abstract

Conflict of interest statement

References

Publication types

MeSH terms

LinkOut - more resources

Full Text Sources

Medical