This report of Working Group II of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (which focuses on impacts, adaptation and vulnerability) has just been published – and the full text is also available at no charge from http://www.ipcc-wg2.org/ [1]. For those interested in urban areas, the chapter on “Industry, settlement and society” by T J Wilbanks, P Romero Lankao, M Bao, F Berkhout, S Cairncross, J-P Ceron, M Kapshe, R Muir-Wood and R Zapata-Marti has particular relevance, although many other chapters also discuss urban issues. A more complete book note of this publication will be included in the April 2008 issue.