Climatic fluctuations during the Pleistocene played a crucial role in shaping the evolution, dispersal, adaptation, and extinction of many terrestrial mammals, including hominins. However, disentangling and quantifying these effects remains a major scientific challenge. A nuanced understanding of climate’s role in human and mammalian evolution can enhance our response to current environmental issues and inform conservation strategies. This session brings together researchers from paleoclimatology, paleoecology, paleoanthropology, archaeology, evolutionary biology, and geology to explore innovative, interdisciplinary approaches. We welcome contributions from empirical studies, lab analyses, numerical simulations, and integrative syntheses that offer insights into how climate-driven environmental changes influenced species persistence, biogeographic shifts, evolutionary trajectories, and cultural dynamics.