A brief introduction to climate change

Climate change has by the World Health Organisation been identified as the greatest threat to global health in the 21st century2. Human activity is the main cause of climate change. Since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution, people have burned more and more fossil fuels and changed vast areas of land from forests to farmland - releasing carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. Climate change is mainly caused by radiation being trapped in the atmosphere by greenhouse gases that would otherwise escape into space. Since the Industrial Revolution, carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions have increased by 50%, not decreasing with population growth and continuous burning of fossil fuels3 .

2 Craggs, A. 2018. “Climate Change and Health.” WHO. 2018 3 Sky News UK. 2020. “Climate Change: Seven Technology Solutions That Could Help Solve Crisis,” September 11, 2020. https://news.sky.com/story/climate-change-seven-technologysolutions-that-couldhelp- solve-crisis-12056397.