Climate change refers to large-scale, long-term shifts in the earth’s weather patterns and average temperatures. Since the industrial revolution, humans have contributed significantly to the release of huge quantities of greenhouse gas emissions into the atmosphere. This has led to an enhanced greenhouse effect, with rising temperatures around the world and long-term alterations to the world’s climate.
What are greenhouse gas emissions and the greenhouse effect?
Some gases that are found in the earth’s atmosphere, including carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, and water vapour, act as an insulating blanket trapping radiation and heating the earth’s surface. These are known as ‘greenhouse gases’, and the insulating blanket is known as the ‘greenhouse effect’. Without these, the surface temperature on earth would be around -18C, so the greenhouse effect is crucial to support life.
How are humans contributing?
For centuries before the Industrial Revolution, the average global temperature was stable at around 14C. With the onset of the Industrial Revolution in the 1800’s, large quantities of fossil fuels were burnt to produce energy. In the burning process, fossil fuels release greenhouse gases, such as carbon dioxide, into the atmosphere. Over time, greenhouse gases build up, making a thicker insulating blanket around earth and leading to an ‘enhanced greenhouse effect’. Carbon dioxide concentrations in the atmosphere have risen from around 280 parts per million (ppm) in 1850, to well over 400 in the present day, which is a higher concentration than at any point in the last two million years.
There are many sources of greenhouse gas emissions in the modern day. Some of the most significant contributors globally include electricity and heating, transport, manufacturing and construction, and agriculture. In 2023, Runnymede Borough Council commissioned a study into the Council’s and borough’s greenhouse gas emissions in pursuit of an operational net zero target of 2030, and borough-wide by 2050. Across the borough, transport is by far the largest source of emissions, followed by residential property.
Interested to find out your own environmental impact? Use this tool from WWF to determine your current environmental footprint and identify changes you could make to reduce your impact.
To learn more about what climate change is, visit the Met Office website.
What can we do?
Put simply, the most important thing we can do is urgently make significant reductions in our greenhouse gas emissions. There are many ways this can be done, and everyone has the power to make a difference. In 2019, the UK government became the first major economy to pass a law committing to a target of net zero emissions country-wide by 2050. In 2023, Runnymede Borough Council declared a Climate emergency meaning it will use its reasonable endeavours to continue its work to meet the Council’s target of net zero operational emissions by 2030, and to use its sphere of influence to support the Borough and its communities to achieve the 2050.
To find out what you can do to act on climate change, visit our ‘What can you do’ pages.
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