Recently the Past Global Changes magazine featured ‘tipping points’ in climate as well as in biological, ecological or social systems. Although thresholds, tipping points and multiple equilibria are much discussed in the scientific literature, and many paleo systems have been studied in this regard, the relevance for future changes may still not be clear. This Splinter Meeting invites a discussion on how to move forward on this topic. Amongst the questions to be discussed are how to define ‘tipping points’, how to detect and diagnose tipping points in data and in model simulations, and how to identify when a system is close to the tipping point. this discussion could lead to further activities on this topic.