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Climate change risks

Global Climate Risks

All parts of the climate system – the atmosphere, the land surface, rivers and oceans, snow and ice and ecosystems – are linked together through interacting processes.


Processes and Interactions affecting the Climate System

How climate change affects the environment

A warming planet will therefore lead to many other climate changes, such as:
  • changing precipitation patterns
  • sea level rise
  • changes in the intensity of extreme weather (storms, droughts, heatwaves, etc.)
  • loss of snow and ice from mountains and polar regions
  • acidification of the oceans as they absorb more carbon dioxide migrations and extinctions of plant and animal species
The scale of the resulting impacts will depend on a range of factors, including future GHG emissions, the strength of the climate system response, socio-economic development and the adaptability of people and species. But the IPCC has identified a number of risks across sectors as temperatures increase over the next century:

Global mean annual tempreture change relative to 1850 - 1899

Source: Adapted from Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change 4th Assessment (2007)

These impacts will not be distributed evenly across the world. Small islands, the tropics and polar regions are most vulnerable, but all regions will be at risk if warming continues:

Global mean annual tempreture change relative to 1850 - 1899
Source: Adapted from Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change 4th Assessment (2007)


Risks to the UK

Climate prediction becomes more difficult when looking beyond global changes to smaller scales. Despite this, there are emerging findings about what climate change might mean for the UK.

Agriculture, housing, flood risk, biodiversity, energy supply and demand, water availability and health are all likely to be affected. Even if global temperatures are stabilised around 2°C, the UK will still feel some consequences along with the rest of the world.

The Adaptation Sub-Committee of the CCC provides independent advice to the UK Government on preparing for climate change in the UK.
 
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