Erick Burgueño Salas
Research expert covering climate change and the water industry
Global climate change - statistics & facts
Since the beginning of the industrial revolution, human activities have been the main driver of the current change in the climate. In 2023, the Earth’s land and ocean surface temperature was around 1.2 degrees Celsius warmer than the 20th-century average. Global temperatures have been consistently among the hottest on record. The increase in surface temperature is causing a series of impacts, like sea level rise, a decrease in arctic ice, and intensifying weather-related catastrophes, putting humanity’s resilience into test.
To reduce the production of CO₂-the most prominent GHG- several countries have started implementing market-oriented approaches. Market-based strategies, like carbon taxes and emission trading systems, help fight climate change by setting an explicit price on emissions and encouraging corporations to find cost-effective ways to lower them. As of May 2024, the number of carbon pricing mechanisms in operation reached 75, a considerable increase since 1990 – the year Finland became the world’s first country to introduce a carbon tax.
Even if important steps have been taken in the fight against climate change, more drastic measures are required to turn the tide. Based on policies and actions in place as of December 2023, the global temperature is estimated to reach a median of 2.7 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels by 2100, severely overshooting the goals of the Paris Agreement.
What are the causes of climate change?
Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions resulting from anthropogenic activities act like an extra layer in the atmosphere, trapping the sun’s heat and raising temperatures. Such emissions, primarily from burning fossil fuels, have been on a nonstop upward trend for decades, reaching a new global high in 2022 at 53.8 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) equivalent. Another cause of the change in the climate is the disturbance of natural carbon sinks. Terrestrial and marine ecosystems can capture more carbon from the atmosphere than they naturally emit. When degraded, ecosystems like forests or mangroves release significant amounts of carbon, losing their ability to keep it out of the atmosphere. In 2023, almost 28.3 million hectares of tree cover were lost globally, a more than twofold increase compared to 2001 levels.How is climate change being tackled?
Global energy-related CO₂ emissions stood at around 14.7 billion metric tons in 2022, the main CO₂ emitting-sector in the world. Therefore, transitioning to greener energy production technologies has become one of the main solutions against climate change. Investments in renewable energy have soared since the beginning of the century to reach almost 500 billion U.S. dollars in 2022.To reduce the production of CO₂-the most prominent GHG- several countries have started implementing market-oriented approaches. Market-based strategies, like carbon taxes and emission trading systems, help fight climate change by setting an explicit price on emissions and encouraging corporations to find cost-effective ways to lower them. As of May 2024, the number of carbon pricing mechanisms in operation reached 75, a considerable increase since 1990 – the year Finland became the world’s first country to introduce a carbon tax.
Even if important steps have been taken in the fight against climate change, more drastic measures are required to turn the tide. Based on policies and actions in place as of December 2023, the global temperature is estimated to reach a median of 2.7 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels by 2100, severely overshooting the goals of the Paris Agreement.
