Prof. Benjamin Horton Co-Authors Crucial Coastal Risk Study in Nature Communications

The School of Energy and Environment (SEE) at City University of Hong Kong (CityUHK) is proud to announce that Dean Prof. Benjamin Horton has co-authored the latest study published in the prestigious journal Nature Communications. The paper, titled “Subsidence more than doubles sea-level rise today along densely populated coasts,” highlights an urgent, yet often underappreciated contributor to the global climate crisis: land subsidence.

The study, led by Dr. Julius Oelbermann, is a collaborative research effort featuring scientists from the Technical University of Munich, Tulane University, and other leading international institutions. By integrating high-resolution observations of vertical land motion to evaluate coastal vulnerability, the team revealed a stark reality for coastal zones worldwide, particularly across Asia and major delta regions: land subsidence can more than double the rate of relative sea-level rise in densely populated coastal areas.

The findings deliver a simple yet critical message for climate policy and urban planning: addressing climate change requires accounting for sinking land just as much as rising seas. Ignoring the compounding effects of subsidence inevitably leads to a severe underestimation of both present and future coastal risks.

Prof. Horton expressed his gratitude to the distinguished international research team for their invaluable collaboration. He anticipates that the insights generated by this study will empower municipal authorities globally to re-evaluate climate projections, strengthen localized resilience strategies, and expedite the implementation of effective, data-driven strategies to mitigate coastal vulnerability.

The full paper can be accessed via Nature Communications: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-026-72293-z.