Our world is under stress due to global warming. Although there is a general consensus amongst scientists that the global warming is induced by anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions, there is still on-going debate on how fast and severe future climate change will be and how this will affect life on Earth. There are multiple examples of episodes of global warming in the Earth’s past. These events are often, but not always, associated with extinctions, but commonly with restructuring of ecosystems. Palaeontological, sedimentological and geochemical proxy records can provide detailed analyses and insights into the biotic and environmental responses to such events. The biotic and environmental impact of global warming events may vary substantially in time and space. The aim of this session is to highlight lessons that can be learned for the present and the future, from studying long- and short-term consequences of global warming events in deep time. The session will focus on global warming events of the Late Palaeozoic-Cenozoic.