Plants at risk from the climate crisis

The number of plants at risk due to the climate crisis is only increasing. We already knew that according to the IUCN Red List, the world's leading database on threatened species, approximately 40% of the plant species assessed are at risk of extinction (category “threatened”). Now a study of University of California, Davis (UC Davis) together with other international research centers, published on Science in March 2026, it focuses on the contours of the alarm with extreme precision. 

The researchers analyzed approximately 68.000 plant species (about 18% of all known plants) and concluded that:

• Between 7% and 16% of the world's plant species could lose more than 90% of its natural habitat by 2100
• This is equivalent to approximately 35.000–50.000 species at very high risk
• The main cause is not only the slow migration of plants, but the fact that the future climate will no longer make many areas of the planet suitable (temperature, rainfall, soil)

The study highlights three key points:

• It is not enough to "move" north or in altitude: in many areas the climate will simply become unsuitable for plant growth
• The most affected areas would be:
  • Mediterranean (including part of southern Europe)
  • Australia
  • Southwest United States

In practice, according to the researchers, without a strong reduction in emissions, even if some regions might gain species, habitat loss could become the main driver of plant extinctions by the end of the century, and not even assisted migration would be enough to compensate on a global scale.

Read also:

• One million plant and animal species are at risk of extinction
• One in three trees is at risk of extinction.