The impact of modern society on the climate due to rapid industrialization and urbanization has become more evident in the past few decades. Climate change is now a hot-button topic in multiple scientific circles, and several international agreements have attempted to slow down the changing climate globally. This article will explore the topic of climate change and global warming.
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What are Climate Change and Global Warming?
Climate change is the periodic modification of the Earth’s climate systems over time, brought about by natural and artificial processes. It is the result of changes within the atmosphere, a dynamic fluid, and interactions between it and other factors, such as biological, chemical, geographic, and geological factors.1
Changes in the climate occur over different timescales. For instance, vegetation growth and ocean heat distribution have short-term impacts. In contrast, mountain range height and continental drift change over extremely long geological timescales, but all impact the climate itself.1
Global warming is another term that has slowly entered the cultural Zeitgeist. Human activity, such as the burning of fossil fuels, rapid urbanization over the 19th, 20th, and 21st centuries, and heavy industry have continued to have an impact on global temperatures, warming the atmosphere and having a potentially disruptive effect on the balance of the Earth’s climate and environmental systems.2
Climate change includes a broad range of global phenomena in addition to global warming, such as rising sea levels, accelerating sea and glacial ice melt, shifts in plant blooming patterns, changes in global food supply, and extreme weather events such as floods, storms, heat waves, and droughts.
Anthropogenic vs. Natural Climate Change
Natural causes include changes in the sun's intensity, volcanic eruptions, slow changes in the Earth's orbit around the sun, and other natural processes within the climate system, such as changes in ocean current circulation. These slow changes build up over decades or centuries and result in changes such as the recurring ice ages.
Relationship between greenhouse gases and climate change
Human activity causes anthropogenic climate change. This includes increased levels of greenhouse gases such as CO2 and methane, nitrous oxide, halocarbons, water vapor, sulfur dioxide, and other chemically manufactured gases from industrial activities, such as power generation, concrete and steel manufacture, industrial farming, and construction.
Greenhouse gases affect the climate and cause global temperature fluctuations by trapping incident sunlight in what is known as the greenhouse effect.
Other activities impacting the climate and global warming include cutting down carbon-absorbing forests, pollution that causes ecological imbalances, habitat and biodiversity loss, and energy-intensive activities with a large carbon footprint.
Environmental factors, such as temperature, atmospheric water vapor, the extent of polar ice sheets, and the concentrations of long-lived greenhouse gases (particularly CO2) in the atmosphere, are all closely coupled to feedback systems that dictate climate change.
Scientists have now established that the concentration of greenhouse gases emitted by human activities into the atmosphere directly affects the average global temperature.
History of Climate Science
Human activity has always affected the environment and climate, but it was not until the late 18th century and into the 19th century, with the advent of the Industrial Revolution, that this activity had a noticeable effect on global climate systems.
Data gathered by scientists has proven that human activities over the last 200 years have been the main driver of accelerated global warming.3
Climate change study began in the late 19th century when it was discovered that natural changes, such as the recurrent ice ages over history, were due to changes in the paleoclimate. Around this time, the natural greenhouse effect was also first identified, having been proposed in 1824 by Joseph Fourier.
However, it would not be until the 1960s that the evidence for CO2 and greenhouse gas emissions from human activities and their effect on global warming became convincing.
The next few decades saw improvements in computer modeling and observational work that further confirmed this, and scientific consensus formed that greenhouse gas emissions must be cut to avoid the dangerous effects of anthropogenic climate change.
Recent Developments
Many tools are used today to measure and predict global warming and climate change.
NASAs GRACE satellites
NASA's GRACE satellites, for instance, have measured Earth’s gravitational field since 2002 and have observed an acceleration of ice mass loss in the land ice sheets of Antarctica and Greenland since 2009.
The Paris Agreement
International agreements such as the Paris Agreement have spurred global action.
The Paris Agreement is a legally binding international treaty addressing climate change. It was adopted by 196 parties during the UN Climate Change Conference (COP21) in Paris, France, on December 12, 2015, and came into effect on November 4, 2016.
The treaty's primary objective is to limit the global average temperature rise to below 2°C above pre-industrial levels while striving to restrict the increase to 1.5 °C.
Global leaders have recently emphasized the importance of capping warming at 1.5°C by the century's end. This urgency stems from findings by the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which warn that surpassing the 1.5 °C threshold could trigger significantly more severe climate impacts, such as droughts, heatwaves, and heavy rainfall.
To achieve this goal, greenhouse gas emissions must peak no later than 2025 and decrease by 43% by 2030.
The Paris Agreement marks a historic milestone in global climate efforts, as it unites nations under a binding framework to combat climate change and adapt to its consequences collectively.4
Ever wondered: What is the 'Paris Agreement', and how does it work?
Video Credit: UN Climate Change/YouTube.com
Inflation Reduction Act
A few major steps forward have been made in the last few years toward transitioning the global economy to a greener future. For example, clean energy has been given a boost by the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) in the US. This Act provides $396 billion to support green energy and electrification and to provide action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in one of the world’s major economies.4
According to the US Administration, more than $110 billion in private sector investment in clean energy, including $70 billion for electric vehicles (EVs), has been announced since the IRA was passed in 2022. According to some estimates, the IRA could help reduce US greenhouse gas emissions by 43-48% compared with 2005 levels.
Deforestation legislation
The EU has also introduced new regulations to stop importing products and commodities linked to deforestation. Several campaigners have described this as a ground-breaking agreement that will help reduce deforestation's impact, one of the main anthropogenic drivers of global warming.
Under this legislation, importers of commodities such as soy, cocoa, coffee, beef, and palm oil must prove that they have not come from areas of recent deforestation or have contributed to the degradation of forested land. The rules also cover products such as furniture and chocolate.5
Deforestation in the Amazon basin has also dropped sharply, with Brazil’s government pledging in 2023 to end forest clearance within the decade. Colombia’s rate of deforestation has also reduced, and if this trend continues, it will have large positive effects on international climate action.5
What is the Conference of the Parties (COP)?
International agreements and cooperation between developed and developing economies are vital to cutting global greenhouse gas emissions and avoiding the worst predicted effects of climate change.
The COP climate change conferences have made noteworthy progress in recent years despite the complex challenges of interconnected global climate change action.
Key takeaways from recent Conference of the Parties
COP 28, held in November and December 2023 in Dubai, brought together 85,000 participants from scientific, governmental, and corporate climate sector stakeholders.6 This conference was significant because it concluded the first “global stocktake” of international efforts to address climate change and global warming. A total of 150 Heads of Government and State participated in the conference.
Key takeaways from COP 28 included enhancing global efforts to strengthen climate resilience, new funding for damage and loss to economies and communities caused by climate change, and signaling the beginning of the end for fossil fuel use. The conference also provided a platform for governments and the private sector to showcase practical solutions to the climate crisis.6
In November 2024, COP29 took place, ending with a global climate finance target. Parties agreed to fund developing countries in two parts:7
- $1.3 trillion annually to be “enabled” by all actors
- $300 billion for developed countries to take the lead on delivering
In the UK, the Labour Government has lifted a ban on onshore wind projects and announced the formation of a publicly owned clean energy company. The UK government has also pledged to commit £11.6 billion to overseas aid to deal with the effects of climate change and global warming.8 Across the world, many companies and industries are transitioning to clean energy and climate-friendly practices.
In Summary
Climate change can be natural or caused by humans and happens over short and long timescales. Over the past 200 years, human activity has accelerated global warming, causing atmospheric carbon levels to be unprecedented in the last 800,000 years.
Despite the many challenges of reducing society’s reliance on fossil fuels and transitioning to a green economy, noteworthy progress has been made in the past decade.
The growing urgency to address climate change has led to significant global efforts, from international agreements like the Paris Agreement to groundbreaking legislation such as the Inflation Reduction Act and EU deforestation regulations.
While natural factors contribute to climate fluctuations, human activities—particularly greenhouse gas emissions—are the primary drivers of global warming.
The recent focus on clean energy, sustainable practices, and global cooperation highlights the path forward. However, achieving the ambitious targets, such as limiting warming to 1.5 °C, requires immediate and sustained action from governments, industries, and individuals worldwide. The challenge, as are the opportunities to create a sustainable and resilient future, is monumental.
References and Further Reading
- Encyclopedia Britannica (2024) Climate Change [online] Available at: https://www.britannica.com/science/climate-change (Accessed on 15 November 2024)
- Encyclopedia Britannica (2024) Global warming [online] Available at: https://www.britannica.com/science/global-warming (Accessed on 15 November 2024)
- United Nations (2024) What is Climate Change? [online] Available at: https://www.un.org/en/climatechange/what-is-climate-change (Accessed on 15 November 2024)
- United Nations Climate Change (n.d.) What is the Paris Agreement? [online] Available at: https://unfccc.int/process-and-meetings/the-paris-agreement (Accessed on 29 November 2024)
- Future Planet (2023) Nine breakthroughs for climate and nature in 2023 you may have missed [online] bbc.com. Available at: https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20231214-nine-breakthroughs-for-climate-and-nature-in-2023-you-may-have-missed (Accessed on 15 November 2024)
- United Nations (2024) COP 28: What Was Achieved and What Happens Next? [online] Available at: https://unfccc.int/cop28/5-key-takeaways (Accessed on 15 November 2024) (Accessed on 29 November 2024)
- Valdre, P. & Barbarà, L. (2024) Climate finance, carbon markets and more: 4 key takeaways from COP29. [online] World Economic Forum. Available at: https://www.weforum.org/stories/2024/11/cop29-4-key-takeaways/
- Time (2023) Ed Miliband [online] Available at: https://time.com/7172535/ed-miliband/ (Accessed on 15 November 2024)
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