What is climate change?

According to the United Nations, climate change refers to the shifts in temperature and weather patterns over an extended period.

Some of these shifts may be natural, although, since 1800, human activities have been the main driver of climate change – primarily through burning fossil fuels such as coal, oil, and gas, which adds greenhouse gases to the atmosphere and oceans above what a natural cycle can cope with. This, in turn, causes shifts and accelerated changes in the local and global climates.

As emissions continue to rise, our planet is now 1.1°C warmer than it was in the late 1800s on average. Although climate change is equated to warmer temperatures, its consequences go beyond temperatures. Examples of climate change effects are intense droughts, water scarcity, severe fires, flooding, storms, and a decline in biodiversity.