Climate Change
The change in the ratio of radiation received and reflected by the Earth, caused by increased greenhouse gasses and aerosols. More trapped radiation causes an increase in global temperatures and alters climate patterns.
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The Paris Agreement set a target of limiting the global temperature increase to no more than 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels. In 2023, we reached a global mean temperature increase of 1.45°C. This is already causing extreme weather events around the world, and affecting the lives of millions of people.
Top news on Climate Change
Impact
As more energy is captured on our planet, temperatures will continue to rise in the atmosphere, oceans, and on land. The impacts of this warming include altered weather patterns such as extreme events like torrential rainfall, floods, heatwaves, and droughts.
Additionally, this will cause further melting of ice caps, rising sea levels, and repercussions for all forms of life on land and underwater.
Control Variables
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Atmospheric CO2 Concentration
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Total Anthropogenic Radiative Forcing at the Top of the Atmosphere
Drivers
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Fossil fuel burning
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Non-CO2 emissions eg from agriculture
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Land use change
Connected Tipping Points
If the status of this Planetary Boundary continues to deteriorate, it will push many tipping elements toward tipping, including:
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The death of warm-water coral reefs
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The collapse of the Greenland and West Antarctic Ice Sheet
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Collapse of the North Atlantic Subpolar Gyre (SPG)
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Continued retreats of glaciers
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Dieback Amazon rainforest
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Collapse of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation
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Changes to the West African Monsoon (WAM)
Drivers & Interconnections
Human activity is the central contributor to breaching the Planetary Boundaries. Our actions almost always affect the planet in many ways. We need to take a holistic view, considering a whole earth approach to the decisions that we take.
Find out more about tipping points
The most viable areas for positive transformation are in energy generation, land use and consumption of resources. All can have substantial, positive effects on maintaining our safe operating space for humanity.
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