The world is facing an unprecedented emergency that threatens to compromise the lives of our youngest generation, placing on them an intolerable burden – uncontrollable climate change on a path to +3°C above pre-industrial levels. Fig. 1 below shows that global temperature has already risen 1.5°C. If we do not decrease our carbon emissions immediately and substantially, then global temperature will continue on its current upward trajectory towards +3°C, a temperature at which large parts of our planet become uninhabitable.

Annual global temperature anomalies relative to pre-industrial (1850-1900)

Data: ERA5 (1940-2024) Credit: Copernicus Climate Change Service/ECMWF

Figure 1

Global carbon emissions from fossil fuels reached a record high in 2024 and there is still “no sign” that the world has reached a peak, according to new research by the Global Carbon Project. It beggars belief that, in the face of a mountain of data predicting a world where large swathes of land are rendered unfit for human habitation, governments should, in 2025, set about increasing the extraction and export of fossil fuels. Are the parents and grandparents of young children not outraged by such policies that threaten the livelihoods of future generations?

Scientists have been warning us for decades of the oncoming climate crisis. Have the governments of developed nations, who are largely responsible for the causes of global warming, responded by cutting carbon emissions?

No! Their response has been to award new licenses for the exploration and drilling of new oil and gas fields.

All the good work on transition to renewable energy, electrification of transport, afforestation and more is not enough to offset the colossal rise in the extraction of fossil fuels together with the continued destruction of tropical forests. These in turn are driving up the atmospheric CO2 concentration which passed 425ppm in 2024, the highest it has been since the Pliocene era three million years ago.

A 1.5°C increase in global temperature is already causing catastrophic climate change around the world. It has no respect for affluence. Communities in both the poorest and richest nations are suffering wildfires, droughts, floods and storms. According to NASA:

'Above the 2°C threshold, dangerous and cascading effects are predicted to occur, with many areas experiencing simultaneous multiple impacts due to climate change.'

For the sake of our children and every generation thereafter, we must prevent global temperatures reaching 3°C above pre-industrial levels. Whatever it takes. Whatever it costs.

This website aims to present the facts which support our current understanding of climate change in such a way that the layperson without much background in science can quickly gain an informed and balanced view of this rapidly developing global crisis. The three main sections of the website - causes, impacts and mitigation (slowing climate change) - are each subdivided into more specific units which look in more detail at what has, and is, happening in different parts of the world.

Causes of climate change:

• World population growth

• Fossil fuels

• Greenhouse gases

• Cement

• Deforestation

Impacts of climate change:

• Temperature

• Extreme weather

• Wildfires

• Rising sea level

• Melting sea ice

Slowing climate change:

• Coal to renewables

• Renewable energy

• Electrification of transport

• Afforestation

• Low carbon cement

Sources of data include, amongst others:

• Our World in Data

• United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs

• National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

• National Aeronautic and Space Administration (NASA)

• Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)

• International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)

• Goddard Institute for Space Studies

• Copernicus Climate Change Service

• Energy Institute

• Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)

• European Commission Joint Research Centre

• Polar Science Centre

• Natural Resources Defense Council