Climate change

The impacts produced by climate change are already tangible: after 2014 and 2015, 2016 has been the warmest year ever registered (NAOO 2016). Human activities add huge amounts of greenhouse gases to those already present in the atmosphere, contributing to the greenhouse effect and global warming: these gases capture the heat of the sun, preventing it from going back to space. A year ago, the concentration of GreenHouse Gas increased over 400ppm (WMO 2017).

CO2 is a greenhouse gas mainly produced by human activity and is responsible for 63% of human made global warming. Its concentration in the atmosphere is currently 40% over the level recorded at the beginning of the industrial era. The other greenhouse gases are emitted in minor quantity; however, they capture heat much more than CO2 – sometimes 1,000 times more. (ISDE 2015)

The main causes of the increase in emissions are:

• Combustion of coal, oil and gas
• Deforestation
• Intensive livestock farming
• Nitrogen fertilizers
• Fluorinated gases

The current average world temperature is 0.85ºC higher compared to the end of the 19th century. The main world climate experts strongly believe that human activities are the principal cause of the increase in the temperatures recorded since the mid-20th century. Scientists agree that a 2ºC increase in the temperatures typical of the preindustrial era is the threshold beyond which we could witness dangerous and potentially catastrophic global environmental changes. For these reasons, the international community has acknowledged the need to keep the increase below 2ºC. (European Commission 2017)

However, in the last few years, the increasingly devastating impact on territories and health produced by pollution and climate change has turned the ecological issue into a burning issue, which relates to our quality of life, the survival of our species and our planet, and which brings into question the very model of our productive system (IPCC 2013).

Additional resources:

• ClimateChangingMe campaign resources on climate change impacts. Learn more about:
  • Global warming 
  • Water Scarcity 
  • Extreme Events
  • Sea Level Rise
  • Biodiversity Loss
  • Food Security 
  • Forced Migrations
  • Desertification 
  • Drought 
• IPCC Fifth Assessment Report: “Climate Change 2013: The Physical Science Basis”
• NASA’s Analysis of 2012 Global Temperature video
• Racing anthropogenic carbon dioxide and methane emissions to fossil fuel and cement producers, 1854–2010”, Climatic Change (2014) 122: 229., Heede
• Interactive map of companies responsible for climate change