Climate Change
Question 4 of 6: Which big forces are reshaping society? · The whole story
In short: Burning coal, oil and gas, and clearing forests, has added greenhouse gases to the air that trap heat. The planet is now about 1.3 °C warmer than before industrialisation, and warming continues as long as emissions do. Climate change makes heat waves, droughts, floods and storms worse, hits the poorest hardest, and shapes almost every other force in this section: energy, food, migration and conflict.
The Question
Section titled “The Question”The forces in this section are changing society right now. Climate change comes first because it reaches into all the others. This article asks: what is happening to the climate, and what does it mean for how we live?
What Causes It
Section titled “What Causes It”Some gases in the air, mainly carbon dioxide and methane, let sunlight in but hold heat back, like a blanket. Since the 1800s, people have added large amounts of them:
- Burning fossil fuels for electricity, heating, transport and industry causes about three quarters of greenhouse gas emissions.
- Farming and land clearing cause most of the rest, especially from cattle, rice fields, fertiliser and cutting down forests.
Carbon dioxide in the air has risen from about 280 parts per million before industrialisation to more than 420 today, the highest level in at least hundreds of thousands of years.
How Far It Has Gone
Section titled “How Far It Has Gone”- The world is about 1.3 °C warmer than in the late 1800s. 2024 was the first calendar year above 1.5 °C.
- In the Paris Agreement (2015), countries agreed to keep warming well below 2 °C and to try to stay at 1.5 °C.
- To have a good chance of 1.5 °C, the UN’s climate panel (IPCC) found that emissions would need to fall by about 43% by 2030 compared with 2019, and to net zero around 2050. So far they are still close to their highest level ever.
What It Changes for People
Section titled “What It Changes for People”- Heat: heat waves are more frequent and more intense, and dangerous for older people, outdoor workers and those without cooling.
- Water: some regions get more droughts, others more floods, and many get both, at different times of year.
- Food: harvests become less predictable, and some crops can no longer grow where they used to.
- Seas: sea level is rising as ice melts and water warms, threatening coastal cities and low-lying countries.
- Tipping points: past certain levels, systems like the great ice sheets or the Amazon rainforest could change for centuries, whatever we do afterwards.
The people who did least to cause it are often hit hardest: farmers in poor countries, island nations, and future generations.
Why Every Tenth of a Degree Matters
Section titled “Why Every Tenth of a Degree Matters”Climate change is not a cliff where everything is fine on one side and lost on the other. Each tenth of a degree of extra warming means more extreme weather, more damage and more risk of tipping points. So whatever has happened already, cutting emissions faster still makes a real difference.
Examples
Section titled “Examples”- Europe’s heat: the summer of 2022 caused over 60,000 heat-related deaths in Europe, according to a study in Nature Medicine.
- Progress is possible: the European Union’s greenhouse gas emissions are well over 30% below their 1990 level, while its economy has grown. The ozone layer, protected by a 1987 treaty, is also slowly recovering, which shows that a global problem can be tackled together.
The Human Side
Section titled “The Human Side”Climate change can feel huge and frightening, and many young people say it worries them. Fear on its own can freeze people. What helps is seeing that action is happening and that each step counts, and finding a part to play. See Fear management in the Personal Guide.
Open Questions
Section titled “Open Questions”- How should the cost of cutting emissions be shared between rich and poor countries, and between rich and poor people?
- How much should we invest in adapting to the warming that can no longer be avoided?
- Should countries pay for damage caused by their past emissions?
Where Next
Section titled “Where Next”- Previous: How Societies Change
- Next: The Energy Transition
- Related: Nature and Water, Plant-Based Consumption, Managing Regional Migration
Sources
Section titled “Sources”- IPCC, Sixth Assessment Report, Synthesis Report (2023)
- World Meteorological Organization, State of the Global Climate 2024 (2025)
- Copernicus Climate Change Service, Global Climate Highlights 2024
- Ballester et al., “Heat-related mortality in Europe during the summer of 2022”, Nature Medicine (2023)
- European Environment Agency, greenhouse gas emissions data
- Our World in Data, “CO₂ and Greenhouse Gas Emissions”