Questions and answer on Climate Change

Climate change is the long-term shift in average weather conditions, and it is caused by human activities such as burning fossil fuels, deforestation, and large-scale agriculture. It is considered the defining issue of our time because of the unprecedented scale and scope of its impacts. Climate change threatens food production due to shifting weather patterns, and it increases the risk of catastrophic flooding due to rising sea levels. Without drastic action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, adapting to these impacts in the future will be more difficult and costly.

2-What are greenhouse gases, and what is their impact on the Earth's atmosphere?

Greenhouse gases are essential to the survival of humans and other living things because they keep some of the sun's warmth from reflecting back into space, making Earth livable. However, after more than a century and a half of industrialization, deforestation, and large-scale agriculture, quantities of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere have risen to record levels not seen in three million years. The concentration of greenhouse gases in the Earth's atmosphere is directly linked to the average global temperature, which has been rising steadily since the time of the Industrial Revolution.

3-What is the IPCC, and what is its role in climate change research?

The World Meteorological Organization and the United Nations Environment Programme established the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) to provide an objective source of scientific information on climate change.Its Sixth Assessment Report, which will be released in March 2023, provides an overview of the state of knowledge on the science of climate change. It is based on the reports of the three working groups of the IPCC: on the physical science; impacts; adaptation and vulnerability; and mitigation; as well as on the three special reports on global warming of 1.5°C, on climate change and land, and on the ocean and cryosphere in a changing climate.

4-What are some of the key findings of the IPCC reports?

The IPCC reports state that human influence has warmed the atmosphere, oceans, and land and that the scale of recent changes across the climate system as a whole is unprecedented over many centuries to many thousands of years. Human-induced climate change is already affecting many weather and climate extremes in every region across the globe, and approximately 3.3 to 3.6 billion people live in contexts that are highly vulnerable to climate change. The reports also highlight the need for major transitions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions across the full energy sector.

5-What is the "Global Warming of 1.5°C" report, and what are its key findings?

The "Global Warming of 1.5°C" report is a special report issued by the IPCC in October 2018. It found that limiting global warming to 1.5°C would require rapid, far-reaching, and unprecedented changes in all aspects of society. Limiting global warming to 1.5°C compared to 2°C could go hand in hand with ensuring a more sustainable and equitable society. The report also highlights a number of climate change impacts that could be avoided by limiting global warming to 1.5 C compared to 2 C or more. Limiting global warming to 1.5°C would require "rapid and far-reaching" transitions in land, energy, industry, buildings, transport, and cities, and global net human-caused emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) would need to fall by about 45 percent from 2010 levels by 2030, reaching "net zero" around 2050.

6-What is the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), and what is its ultimate aim?

The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) was produced in 1992 at the "Earth Summit."