Search results
Climate change is a long-term change in the average weather patterns that have come to define Earth’s local, regional and global climates. These changes have a broad range of observed effects that are synonymous with the term.
- Facts
Climate change is a long-term change in the average weather...
- Facts
- Climate Change Evidence
- What Causes Climate Change?
- How Much Warming Could We See?
- Impacts of Climate Change
- How Can We Stop Climate Change?
- Stay Up to Date with The Latest Climate News
How are humans changing the climate?
In the 11,000 years before the Industrial Revolution, the average temperature across the world was stable at around 14°C. The Industrial Revolution began in the mid-1800s when humans began to burn fossil fuels such as coal, oil, and gas for fuel. Burning fossil fuels produces energy, but also releases greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous monoxide into the air. Over time, large quantities of these gases have built up in the atmosphere. For example, the level of carbon...
How fast is the temperature rising?
Since the Industrial Revolution, the average temperature of the planet has risen by around 1°C. This is a rapid change in terms of our global climate system. Previously, natural global changes are understood to have happened over much longer periods of time. It is also important to remember that the world is not warming evenly, so the temperature increase is higher than 1°C in some countries. This graph shows the average global temperature for each month, from 1850 to 2017. The temperature in...
What is the greenhouse effect?
When greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide build in the atmosphere, they act like a blanket around the earth. When sunlight (mostly short-wave radiation) hits this blanket, it passes straight through and continues until it reaches the surface of the planet. The earth then absorbs this sunlight and emits a different type of light, longer-wave infrared radiation, back out to space. As it leaves the atmosphere, the infrared radiation also hits the greenhouse gas blanket. Most of it goes straig...
What are the sources of greenhouse gases?
One-quarter of human-made greenhouse gas emissions come from burning fossil fuels for electricity and heat production. This chart shows the human-made greenhouse gas emissions, taken from the IPCC AR5 report. AFOLU stands for Agriculture, Forestry, and Other Land Use. Another quarter of human-made greenhouse gas emissions come from Agriculture, Forestry, and Other Land Use (AFOLU). To feed our livestock and ourselves, people have chopped down large areas of the forest and used the land to gro...
Greenhouse gases can live in our atmosphere for tens or hundreds of years. The gases that are already in our atmosphere are effectively locked in and will contribute to increasing temperatures. Even if we stop all emissions today, we cannot avoid some level of warming. The amount of warming we will see, beyond what we have already caused, depends o...
Human activity – from releasing greenhouse gases and aerosols into the atmosphere, to changing the use of land – is the main driver of climate change. This has a range of impacts on the climate system, ecosystems, and people. Changes to the climate system include: 1. Rising ocean levels – Rising temperatures are causing glaciers and ice sheets to m...
Reduce global greenhouse gas emissions
The most crucial step to limit climate change is to make big and rapid reductions in global greenhouse gas emissions. There are many different ways this can be done and governments, businesses, organisations and individuals around the world can all contribute. In June 2019, the UK became the world’s first major economy to pass a law committing the country to a target of ‘net zero’ emissions by 2050. You can read more about what they are doing to achieve this, as well as what businesses and in...
Our climate newsletter shares research and news to give you the latest updates on climate science. We publish the newsletter twice a month and it's easy to sign up. Find out more and sign up to the climate newsletter. The Met Office is not responsible for the content of external sites.
Feb 8, 2024 · Climate change is the long-term shift in the Earth's average temperatures and weather conditions. Over the last decade, the world was on average around 1.2C warmer...
Climate change is a long-term change in the average weather patterns that have come to define Earth’s local, regional and global climates. These changes have a broad range of observed effects that are synonymous with the term.
2 days ago · Climate change is the long-term alteration of temperature and typical weather patterns in a place. Climate change could refer to a particular location or the planet as a whole. Climate change may cause weather patterns to be less predictable.
Climate change is the defining issue of our time. Find out how global warming affects people and animals around the world, how we know it's happening, and whether we can fix it. We're already seeing the damaging effects climate change can have on our planet.
Climate change refers to long-term shifts in temperatures and weather patterns. Such shifts can be natural, due to changes in the sun’s activity or large volcanic eruptions. But...
