The effects of climate change
Our planet is facing some of the biggest challenges ever known because of the climate crisis. No matter what you’re passionate about, something you care about will be affected by climate change.
What is the effect of climate change?
Since the Industrial Revolution, global temperatures have risen by 1.2°C, leading to more frequent and severe weather events like heatwaves, floods, and storms. These events threaten lives, ecosystems, and economies, and become harder to manage over time. Climate change disproportionately affects the poorest communities, indigenous peoples, and future generations—those least responsible for the crisis. While countries have pledged under the Paris Agreement to limit warming to 1.5°C, current actions fall short, potentially pushing temperatures up to 2.7°C by 2100.
These extreme weather events endanger people’s lives and livelihoods, wildlife and nature. Warming beyond 1.5°C means that critical environmental tipping points, such as the widespread dieback of the Amazon rainforest, become more likely and could lead to irreversible damage.
Consequences of warming beyond 1.5°C
- Warming seas and ocean acidification would mean that most of the world’s coral reefs would be lost.
- Widespread extinction and species loss.
- More intense and extreme wildfires.
- More frequent and severe storms and cyclones.
- Dying rainforests.
- Unthinkable loss of ancient ice sheets of Greenland and Antarctica, causing dramatic sea-level rises.
- Risks to food security, as higher temperatures lead to crop failures.
- Chronic water scarcity and more severe droughts.
- More heat-related deaths.
- Increased risk of pandemics.
- Increased risk of conflicts fuelled by resource scarcity.
- Mass displacement of people, known as climate refugees, as a result of homes being lost due to sea-level rise, food and water insecurity, or war.
- Increased pressure and risks to people’s mental health, as a result of witnessing the impacts of climate change and living through repeated extreme weather events.
Effect on our natural world
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© WWF AustraliaMore Forests
As climate change creates warmer, drier conditions, forests around the world are becoming increasingly vulnerable to drought, flooding, mudslides and wildfires. These not only pose a threat to the lives of people and animals in the area, but can cause damage to soil, vegetation and whole ecosystems, as well as polluting the air and water.
Impacts vary depending on the type of forest and where it is in the world. Sub-Arctic boreal forests are likely to be particularly badly affected by climate change as temperatures rise and tree lines gradually retreat north. In tropical forests such as the Amazon, where there’s abundant biodiversity, even minor alterations in temperature, rainfall or other environmental factors can disrupt the delicate ecosystems that exist there, jeopardising the survival of many species and heightening the risk of extinction.
When large areas of forest are destroyed, it’s disastrous for the local species and communities that rely on them. When trees are cut down and burned, or left to decay, they release their stores of carbon dioxide. This adds to atmospheric greenhouse gases concentrations and pushes us further along the path to runaway global heating.
Forests are vitally important as they soak up carbon dioxide, one of the main greenhouse gases responsible for global warming and help to regulate the world’s climate. They’re also home to countless plant and animal species. We’re working with communities, local governments and businesses to ensure the world’s forests are protected.
Effects of deforestation -
© naturepl.com / Maxime Aliaga / WWFMore Species
Global warming is likely to be the greatest cause of species extinctions this century. The IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) says a 1.5°C average rise will likely put up to 14% of species at risk of extinction. [1] If the planet warms by more than 2°C, the risk of extinction will increase further. Many of the world’s threatened species live in areas that will be severely affected by climate change. And climate change is happening too quickly for many species to adapt.
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© Richard Edwards / WWF-UKMore Oceans
Oceans are vital ‘carbon sinks’, meaning that they absorb huge amounts of carbon dioxide, preventing it from reaching the upper atmosphere. However, higher carbon dioxide concentrations in oceans are making them more acidic. Ocean acidification and rising sea temperatures together are having an impact on marine life and ecosystems.
Already, the world has experienced just over 1.2°C of warming since the Industrial Revolution and our oceans are experiencing large-scale changes, with mass bleaching events of coral reefs becoming more common. At 1.5°C, approximately 70-90% of the world’s coral reefs will be wiped out. At 2°C of warming virtually all coral reefs will be lost. This isn’t only a tragedy for wildlife - around half a billion people rely on fish from coral reefs as their main source of protein and without these coral reefs they will no longer have access to this food source.
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© Terry WhittakerMore Freshwater
Climate change is having serious impacts on the world’s water systems. Warmer air can hold more water which, in turn, can change rainfall patterns.
Rivers and lakes supply drinking water for people and animals and are a vital resource for farming and industry. Freshwater environments around the world are already under excessive pressure from drainage, dredging, damming, pollution, extraction, silting and invasive species. Climate change only exacerbates the problem and makes this worse. Extremes of drought and flooding will become more common as climate change advances, potentially leading to displacement and conflict.
In mountainous regions, melting glaciers are also impacting on freshwater ecosystems. Himalayan glaciers feed great Asian rivers such as the Yangtze, Yellow, Ganges, Mekong and Indus. Over a billion people rely on these glaciers for drinking water, sanitation, agriculture and hydroelectric power. The accelerated melting of glaciers due to warmer temperatures poses significant threats to the availability and stability of these vital water resources, further exacerbating challenges for communities reliant upon them.
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© Chris Johnson / WWF-AusMore Polar regions
Climate change is amplified in the polar regions. The earth’s north and south extremities are crucial for regulating our planet’s climate and are particularly vulnerable to the impacts of global warming, which has global consequences.
In the Arctic average air temperatures in the region have increased by about 5°C over the last 100 years. Recent data shows that there’ll be almost no summer sea ice cover left in the Arctic in the next few decades. The effects won't just be felt by the habitats and species that rely upon this area, they'll be felt throughout the entire northern hemisphere.
The Antarctic ice sheet is the largest single mass of ice on earth, accounting for around 90% of all fresh water on the earth's surface and spanning over 14 million km2. This ice plays a vitally important role in influencing the world’s climate, reflecting the sun’s energy back into space and helping to regulate global temperatures. Parts of the west Antarctic Peninsula are among the fastest-warming places on Earth. Even small-scale melting is likely to have significant effects on global sea level rise.
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The uneven effect on people
While climate change is a global crisis, its effects are not felt evenly worldwide. The poorest, indigenous people (often important stewards of nature), and future generations – those least responsible for greenhouse gas emissions – are often the most affected by the climate crisis.
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© Michael Dantas /WWF-BrazilMore Indigenous people
Indigenous people are among those most affected by climate change, as it threatens their traditional ways of life. Disrupted rainfall patterns impact their agricultural cycles. Changing landscape and climate challenge their traditional hunting practices. While indigenous people have often been important stewards of nature, their close connection to the land means they are often the first to observe and experience the impacts of a warming planet.
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More People living in poverty
People living in poverty are at the frontline of the climate crisis. Low-income countries and poor communities often lack the infrastructure and resources to adapt to rapidly changing conditions, for example, intensifying droughts and storms. As such, people living in poverty, who are among the least responsible for climate change, now suffer the most from climate change.
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© David Bebber / WWF-UKMore Future generations
Future generations will face the intensifying impacts of climate change. They will inherit a world transformed by the emissions of previous generations, with more frequent extreme weather events, food and water insecurity, and potential large-scale ecosystem collapse.
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Netflix's ground-breaking documentary series Our Planet, produced in collaboration with WWF, shows the wonders of our natural world and how we’re changing it like never before.
Our frozen worlds of ice and snow are vital to maintaining Earth’s equilibrium by reflecting sunlight back into space. But with climate change, our ice, snow and permafrost is melting. The dark surfaces it leaves behind absorb heat instead of reflecting it, which could tip the balance…
Learn more about the Our Planet Series
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Sources
[1] Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change https://www.ipcc.ch/assessment-report/ar6/