What is climate change?

What climate change is

Climate change is the long-term shift in the Earth's average temperatures and weather conditions.

Over the last decade, the world was on average around 1.2C warmer than during the late 19th Century.

The volume of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is now around 50% higher than it was before we started burning fossil fuels on a large scale during the Industrial Revolution.

This long-term climate change has been caused by human activity says the IPCC, mainly from the widespread use of fossil fuels (coal, oil and gas) in homes, factories and transport.

Why climate change matters

When greenhouse gases are released from burning fossil fuels, they can stay in the Earth’s atmosphere for tens or hundreds of years. These gases are locked into our atmosphere and will contribute to rising temperatures.

If the Earth’s temperature continues to rise, we will start to see:

• More extreme weather such as heatwaves and heavy rainfall
• Rapid melting of glaciers and ice sheets which contributes to sea-level rises
• Declines in Arctic sea-ice
• Ocean-warming.

What you can do about climate change

Many people ask what they can do to tackle the impacts of climate change and while governments and businesses have a significant role to play, our own individual actions can help too.

Simple switches you can make are to:

• Choose a renewable energy supplier and get an energy audit of your home using our Energy Saving Home Improvement Tool
• Choose sustainable transport such as walking, cycling or using public transport
• Use up food leftovers, switch to eating more vegetables and less meat, switch out beef and lamb or consider becoming vegetarian or vegan
• Swap, re-use, recycle, borrow or switch to buying second hand.

What are we doing about climate change

Protecting the environment has always been a cornerstone of our Ethical Policy. This is why we will work to combat climate change and reverse the decline in biodiversity, taking responsibility for our own environmental impact.

In line with our Ethical Policy, we will:

• Work to limit and reduce global climate change
• Take steps to halt and reverse the decline in biodiversity
• Help to protect animal welfare
• Encourage our customers to make sustainable choices
• Work with our business customers to help them develop their sustainability policies and action plans.

Find out more on our what we do for the planet page.

Energy Saving Trust

You can find out more on Energy Saving Trust’s What is climate change? page.