Background
Nordic countries have a long history in contributing to climate mitigation and adapting to ongoing climate change by making their societies more climate resilient. However, so far the climate adaptation plans and policies have not been formed with the impacts of crossing key climate tipping points in mind. This lack of preparedness was highlighted by the Open Letter by Climate Scientists to the Nordic Council of Ministers presented in 2024, suggesting larger than previously assumed risk for The Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) collapse.
Motivated in part by the letter, and by Finland’s council presidency theme resilience, the Nordic Council of Minister’s sponsored ‘Nordic Tipping Week’ -workshop, arranged in October 21–24, 2025, in Helsinki and Rovaniemi, Finland. The workshop brought together scientist working on different aspects of AMOC dynamics and its impacts, from physical oceanographers to social scientists, and led to the writing of this report. The purpose of this report is to summarize the scientific knowledge on the potential impacts of an AMOC collapse, to suggest ways to mitigate and adapt to these impacts, and to provide an outlook on remaining scientific knowledge gaps. This report is targeted for a wide audience, including policymakers in countries surrounding the North Atlantic, including Nordic countries, the UK, and Canada, as well as government officials and the general public interested in the topic, and for those seeking for practical action points.
Ethics statement
AI was used in summarizing the meeting notes to draft the first version of this report as well as in drafting the text for the two storylines. All the workshop participants have agreed to the use of workshop notes and discussions as the basis for this report.
Acknowledgement
We would like to thank the Nordic Council of Ministers for sponsoring the workshop and all the workshop participants for their inputs. On the next page we list the persons who have contributed with text and comments on this report.
Participants of the Helsinki event of the Nordic Tipping Week-workshop.