Climate Emergency
Since the mid-20th century, global temperature has increased significantly, owing to human activity and is proceeding at an unprecedented rate.
The heat-trapping nature of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases has resulted in the rise of the average surface temperature by about 1° Celcius since the late 19th-century
Facts about the climate emergency
- Climate change is real and human activities are the main reason
- The concentration of the greenhouse gases in the earth's atmosphere is directly related to the average global temperature on earth
- The concentration has been rising slowly, and so are the average global temperatures, since the time of the Industrial revolution
- The most abundant greenhouse gas, carbon dioxide is majorly due to burning fossil fuels
- Methane, the primary component of natural gas, is responsible for more than 25% of the warming that we are experiencing today. it is a powerful pollutant that is 80 times greater than CO2 during the 20 years after it released into the atmosphere
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)
IPCC was set up by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).
It is to provide an objective source of scientific information on climate change.
In 2013, IPCC provided a global peer-reviewed report about the role of human activities in climate change when it released its fifth Assessment report
Effects and Impacts of Climate Change
- The global average temperature is 1.1 degrees Celsius above the pre-industrial period according to WMO
- A decade of exceptional heat, retreating ice and record sea levels driven by greenhouse gases produced by human activities
- 30% of the world's population is exposed to deadly heatwaves more than 20 days a year
- 2019 was the second-highest year on record
- The difference between 1.5° to 2° is the difference between 70% or 99% of coral reefs dying, some environmentalists stated coral reefs may extinct in 50 years
- Insects, vital pollinators, lose half of their habitat
- 1 meter added in sea level rise
- Up to 16 million affected by the sea level rise in coastal areas by the end of this century
Paris Agreement-Nations agreed to a legally binding Commitment in Paris to limit global temperature rise to no more than 2° above pre-industrial levels by 2030. the updated Paris agreement was reviewed at the climate change conference (CoP26) in Glasgow in 2021
