What is climate change?

Countries of the world formed the United Nations Organization, commonly called the UN, after world war 2, to primarily seek to resolve issues between and among countries, in an attempt to attain peace, security and generally, a better quality of life for the people of the world. So not surprisingly, climate change a development that affects the entire world has become a major concern for the organization. The UN itself has defined for us what climate change is and it has done so in a quite simple, eloquent and straightforward way. In its analysis the UN wants us to know that the change in the climate is not a temporary occurrence but an ongoing situation and that the economic and social activities human beings have been engaged in and the way we have chosen to live our lives, generally, are all responsible for the emergence climate change. The UN argues that “since the 1800s, human activities have been the main driver of climate change, primarily due to the burning of fossil fuels like coal, oil and gas,” and to add a bit more clarify, it states, “burning fossil fuels generates greenhouse gas emissions that act like a blanket wrapped around the earth, trapping the sun’s heat and rising temperatures.”

According to the UN, greenhouse gases are primarily composed of carbon dioxide and methane and these are produced “from using gasoline for driving a car or coal for heating a building, for example. Clearing land and cutting down forests can also release carbon dioxide. Agriculture, oil and gas operations are major sources of methane emissions. Energy, industry, transport, buildings, agriculture and land use are among the main sectors causing greenhouse gases.” In summary, when human beings burn fossil fuels, gases like carbon dioxide and methane are released into the atmosphere, and together with carbon dioxide from other sources, they are trapped in the atmosphere as greenhouse gases which eventually formulate in a blanket-like fashion over the earth.

Greenhouse gases trap heat from the sun and also the heat from the earth’s surface that is warmed by the sun and is leaving the earth and on its way into space. At this stage, according to the UN, the heated greenhouse gases cause the earth to get warmer and at a faster pace. This is sometimes called global warming and this warming leads to climate change. As UN states “many people think climate change mainly means warmer temperatures. But temperature rise is only the beginning of the story. Because the earth is a system, where everything is connected, changes in one area can influence changes in all others” and “the consequences of climate change now include, among others, intense droughts, water scarcity, severe fires, rising sea levels, flooding, melting solar ice, catastrophic storms and declining biodiversity.”

It is generally believed that the advent of huge volumes of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere began with the industrial revolution in England, in or around the late 1700s to the early 1800s. In the 1700s England was already an Imperial power with colonial outposts in India, and in parts of North America and the Caribbean, where the slave trade, in particular, was an integral part of England’s economy. The industrial revolution in England was also beneficially connected to its colonial territories, which became reliable markets for its manufactured goods and in turn the colonies provided marketable consumer products and other financial benefits to stakeholders back home in England. The colonies provided raw materials like sugar, cotton and silk to England and became ready made markets for manufactured goods like clothing, iron and textiles and general household items.

In England the proliferation of factories to facilitate both the speed and volume of production, created employment and economic prospects and opportunities and fostered increased urbanization, which in turn increased the demand for goods from the colonies. Pioneering financiers invested money in colonial activities and profits were largely expatriated to England which further enhanced its industrial and economic expansion. It was during this period that Coal burning, a huge carbon dioxide emitter, entered the industrial process as a form of energy and began the process of climate-altering greenhouse gas formation in the atmosphere. England’s method of industrial production was, before long, adopted by most of Europe and the rest of world. As described by the Open Library at the Oklahoma State University, coal, during the industrial revolution was “plentiful in England and Western Europe” and was “used in enormous quantities as a source of power – particularly for the steam-powered machinery in textile factories and locomotives.” Alongside coal came oil and gas at a later stage in our history, as other major forms of energy.

The world has built its economy on fossil fuels, mainly coal, oil and gas. These generate greenhouse gasses when used in manufacturing, housing, transportation and other forms, and the UN is making it clear that according to the climate scientists “humans are responsible for virtually all global heating over the last 200 years.” To reduce the impact of climate change the UN states “in a series of UN reports, thousands of scientists and government reviewers agreed that limiting global temperature rise to no more than 1.5 degrees celsius would help to avoid the worst climate impacts and maintain a livable climate.” To further clarify, the UN is saying here that based on the best professional judgement of thousand of climate scientists and government technocrats, in order to avoid a climate catastrophe, it is best for the world to avoid increasing the world’s temperature to more than 1.5 degrees celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) above the world’s pre-industrial average temperature. That is, no more than 1.5 degrees over what the global average temperature was before the industrial revolution in England. This has to be quite alarming to readers learning this for the first time, but it may get even more alarming because the UN concludes that global “policies currently in place point to up to 3.1 degrees celsius of warming by the end of the century,” meaning that by the end of the century, the rise in the average temperature is projected to be far in excess of what may be possible for the survival of human beings and other living things on the planet.

The UN contends that some countries produce more greenhouse gases than others and says “the six biggest emitters, China, The United States, India, the European Union, the Russian Federation and Brazil, together account for more than half of all global greenhouse gas emissions in 2023. By contrast, the 45 least developed countries contribute only 3 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions.” The UN is encouraging every country, and indeed each global citizen, to play a role in fighting greenhouse gas emissions, but proposes that those that emit the most greenhouse gases should shoulder a greater portion of the climate burden.

The UN takes the position that fighting greenhouse gas emissions can generate economic activity and wealth at the same time, probably a subtle rebuttal of the occasional argument that implementing climate solutions would only absorb wealth and limit economic growth. In fighting greenhouse emissions and climate change the UN stipulates three necessary forms of action, “cutting emissions, adapting to climate impacts and financing these required adjustments,” To achieve these it recommends the guidance and usage of three tools formulated by the UN itself, “the Sustainable Development Goals, the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Paris Agreement.” The Sustainable Development Goals (SDG’s), include themes referred to as goals, that were ratified by the UN in 2015 to be a guide to members in terms of what they should be aspiring to achieve, on behalf of the world’s citizens. They include the elimination of hunger, conflicts, promotion of gender equality, availability of education, protection of the ocean, ecosystems and biodiversity. The UN Framework Convention on Climate Change in basically a treaty ratified by the UN members in 1992 specifically to deal with climate change issues. Mainly dealing directly with the global community in reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The conference of the Parties (COP) acts as the decision making executive entity within the Framework convention and meets every year to assess global achievements in the effort to combat climate change.

The Paris Agreement is the binding agreement ratified by UN members at the COP meeting in Paris in 2015. The Paris Agreement is the signed commitment of UN members to work towards the most important goals the UN considers necessary and imperative to limit the impact of the changing climate. Embedded in this agreement, for example, is a joint global promise to not allow the global temperature to exceed 1.5 degrees Celsius above that which existed globally before the industrial revolution as well as nation’s formal binding commitment to engage in activities geared towards reducing greenhouse gases and to initiate reorganization of their countries to better adapt to the impacts of climate change. The UN Framework convention on Climate Change and the Paris Agreement are more fully discussed elsewhere.

Its the official policy and recommendation of the UN that all countries, with urgency, transform their societies away from the usage of coal, oil, gas and other fossil fuels as forms of energy production and instead incorporate the usage of renewable energies like solar, wind and hydropower. Not only are fossil fuel resources not limitless, and therefore may not be sufficiently available at some stage in the future, but when burned to generate electricity, burned in furnaces at factories and homes to facilitate machine operations and generate heat, or used as gasoline and fuel for trucks, cars, trains, ships or planes, the result is that carbon dioxide is emitted into the atmosphere, which later becomes greenhouse gases, and act as the main driver of climate change. Renewable energies when utilized emit little or no greenhouse gases and are called renewable because they are freely available and are from easily replenished sources. If the sun shines, solar energy can be produced, if the wind blows, wind turbines can produce energy and if we maintain and protect the rivers and waterfalls, hydropower will also continue to generate energy. Renewable energy is sometimes referred to as sustainable energy, clean energy or green energy.

But the UN has a warning for countries, it states, “while a growing number of countries is committing to net-zero emissions by 2050, emissions must be cut in half by 2030 to keep warming below 1.5 Degrees Celsius. Achieving this means huge declines in the use of coal, oil and gas.” Net zero refers to the Paris Agreement’s requirement that by 2050 nations should have a procedure in place that equally balance their greenhouse gas emission levels with their greenhouse gas reduction levels. To achieve this, the UN, it seems, is insinuating that the task will be difficult and time is therefore of the essence and emission cuts need to be 50 percent achieved by 2030 if the 2050 goal is to become a reality. The UN is making an adjustment when it later claims that “production and consumption of all fossil fuels need to be cut by at least 30 percent by 2030 in order to prevent catastrophic levels of climate change.” The UN envisions a world where nation states work in collaboration and assist one another to counteract which is essentially a global existential problem. It says, “climate action requires significant financial investments by governments and businesses. But climate inaction is vastly more expensive. One critical step is for developed countries to support developing countries so they can adapt and move towards greener economies.”

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