It is the way of extinction that what kills the last individual commonly has nothing to do with the underlying factors that doomed the species. Could climate change by itself kill everyone on earth? No. Could it be a significant contributing factor to a downward spiral that ends in extinction? I hope not, but I don't really know. Leaving aside the purely fictional versions of AI and nanotech to which you refer, could real-life versions of those technologies help us develop sustainable energy sources? Yes. Will they do so fast enough? I hope so, but I don't really know.
As for whether there's anything we here can usefully do about it, I don't think it would be useful for us to get bogged down in the sort of bickering about politics that all too often goes with this kind of territory, but LW does have a good track record of avoiding that; and perhaps it would be useful for us to explore potential solutions.
We don't need help finding sustainable resources. We already have nuclear power. We just need to convince everyone that nuclear isn't bad.
What does the community here think when it comes to climate change as a potential existential risk? While strategies for combating climate change are fairly straightforward, the seeming lack of political capital behind meaningful climate reform and legislation seems to indicate that the problem is going to get substantially worse before it gets better, and the potential consequences of ignoring this issue look to be quite severe indeed!
Should the rationality/x-risks community be spending more effort on evaluating this idea and exploring potential solutions? It certainly seems like a big problem, and the current trajectory is quite worrisome. On the other hand, the issue is a political minefield and could risk entangling the community in political squabbling, potentially jeopardizing its ability to act on other threats. What do you guys think?