What is climate change? A really simple guide
The climate has changed throughout the Earth’s history and natural factors, such as El Niño, can affect the weather for shorter periods of time, as happened in 2023.
But natural causes cannot explain the particularly rapid warming seen in the last century, according to the UN’s climate body, the IPCC.
This long-term climate change has been caused by human activity, the IPCC says, mainly from the widespread use of fossil fuels – coal, oil and gas – in homes, factories and transport.
When fossil fuels burn, they release greenhouse gases – mostly carbon dioxide (CO2). This traps extra energy in the atmosphere near the Earth’s surface, causing the planet to heat up.
Since the start of the Industrial Revolution – when humans started burning large amounts of fossil fuels – the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere has risen by about 50{f8f2f6c3978be4280dba4728e3685952f3615a1d089d426e0671ec3cc6712d50}, external.
The CO2 released from burning fossil fuels, external has a distinctive chemical fingerprint which matches the type increasingly found in the atmosphere.
