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Climate Action Fast Facts

Check here for regularly updated facts and findings on climate and its links to the economy, social
issues, nature and more.

For downloadable pdfs of factsheets and graphic assets, see the Digital Library.
What Is Climate Change?
Climate change can be a natural process where temperature, rainfall, wind and other elements vary
over decades or more. In millions of years, our world has been warmer and colder than it is now. But
today we are experiencing unprecedented rapid warming from human activities, primarily due to
burning fossil fuels that generate greenhouse gas emissions.
Physical Science
Human activities have warmed the atmosphere, ocean and land, producing widespread and rapid
changes in the atmosphere, ocean, cryosphere and biosphere.
Temperature Rise
The Earth is now about 1.1°C warmer than it was in the 1800s. We are not on track to meet the Paris
Agreement target to keep global temperature from exceeding 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels. That is
considered the upper limit to avoid the worst fallout from climate change.
Adaptation
Adaptation to climate change safeguards people from higher temperatures, rising seas, fiercer storms,
unpredictable rainfall and more acidic oceans. Some people are more vulnerable to these effects, such
as those living in poverty.
Finance
Public climate finance, including $100 billion that developed countries have agreed to provide to
developing countries each year, supports critical infrastructure for adaptation, resilience and the new
renewable energy-based economy.
Gender Equality
Empowering women and girls to have a voice and a role in decision-making on climate change-
related issues is essential for sustainable development and greater gender equality.
Economy
Climate action is not a budget buster or economy-wrecker. Shifting to a green economy could yield a
direct economic gain of $26 trillion through 2030 compared with business-as-usual. This could
produce over 65 million new low-carbon jobs.
Jobs
A green transition, including a shift to renewable energy, the manufacturing of electric vehicles and
construction of energy-efficient buildings, will create 24 million jobs by 2030, far more than the 6
million that could be lost.
Renewable Energy
Derived from natural resources that are abundant and continuously replenished, renewable energy is
key to a safer, cleaner, and sustainable world. Sunlight, wind and water, for example, are such sources
that are constantly being replenished.
Transport
Most cars, trucks, ships and planes run on fossil fuels, such as gasoline, diesel and kerosene, which
release carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas. Road vehicles account for the largest part, but emissions
from ships and planes continue to grow.
Food and Agriculture
Producing food causes emissions of carbon dioxide, methane and other greenhouse gases in various
ways. Deforestation and clearing of land for agriculture and grazing, digestion by cows and sheep, and
the production and use of fertilizers and manure for growing crops all cause emissions, as does the use
of energy to run farm equipment or fishing boats, usually with fossil fuels. Emissions also come from
packaging and distributing food.
Health
Climate change is the single biggest health threat facing humanity. The impacts are already harming
health through air pollution, disease, extreme weather events, forced displacement, food insecurity and
pressures on mental health. Every year, environmental factors take the lives of around 13 million
people.
Nature
Healthy ecosystems can provide 37 per cent of the mitigation needed to limit global temperature rise.
Damaged ecosystems release carbon instead of storing it.
Ocean
The ocean is central to reducing global greenhouse gas emissions and stabilizing the Earth’s climate.
The ocean generates 50 per cent of the planet’s oxygen (UNEP), absorbs 25 per cent of all carbon
dioxide emissions (IPCC) and captures 90 per cent of the excess heat generated by these emissions
(UNEP).
Water
Water and climate change are inextricably linked. Climate change affects the world’s water in
complex ways. From unpredictable rainfall patterns to shrinking ice sheets, rising sea levels, floods
and droughts – most impacts of climate change come down to water (UN Water).
Early Warnings
Climate change is causing more frequent and intense extreme weather events, resulting in widespread
adverse impacts and related losses and damages to nature and people. Early warning systems to
predict floods, droughts, and storms, for instance, are a proven, efficient, and cost-effective way to
save lives and jobs, land and infrastructure, and support long-term sustainability.

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FACTS AND FIGURES

 What is climate change?

 Causes and effects

  Myth busters

 Reports

 Fast facts

CUTTING EMISSIONS

 Explaining net zero

 High-level expert group on net zero

 Checklists for credibility of net-zero pledges

 Greenwashing

 What you can do

CLEAN ENERGY

 Renewable energy – key to a safer future

 What is renewable energy

 Five ways to speed up the energy transition

 Why invest in renewable energy

 Clean energy stories

 A just transition

ADAPTING TO CLIMATE CHANGE

 Climate adaptation

 Early warnings for all

 Youth voices

FINANCING CLIMATE ACTION

 Finance and justice

 Loss and damage

  $100 billion commitment

 Why finance climate action

EXPLAINERS

 Health

 Food

 Biodiversity

 Ocean

 Water

 Land

 Greenwashing

 Human Security

INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION

 Paris Agreement

 What are Nationally Determined Contributions

 Acceleration Agenda

 Climate Ambition Summit

 Climate conferences (COPs)

 Youth Advisory Group

 Action initiatives

 Sustainable Development Goals

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