Preparing for an uncertain future: molecular responses of plants facing climate change

Climate change is mostly driven by the increase of atmospheric CO2 concentration. It leads to an increase in ambient temperature and temperature extremes, as well as to a reduction in water availability (Box 1). Despite the apparent benefit that an increase of CO2 and ambient temperature might have on the production of plant biomass, climate change severely challenges the plant life cycle, and thus increasingly leads to food insecurity. Investigating the molecular mechanisms of plant adaptation to climate change is thus a pressing issue. This was the theme of the EMBO Workshop 'Molecular responses of plants facing climate change' in June 2022 in Montpellier, France. Here, we summarize some key insights presented during the conference on the investigation of molecular mechanisms of plant adaptation to environmental constraints in a changing climate.