Reduce emissions driving climate change

Heatwaves, droughts, river and flash floods, landslides, and storms frequently plague Pakistan, including cyclones. The impact of climate change has the potential to initiate extensive and potent negative feedback loops that affect both livelihoods and public health. The effects of global climate change in Pakistan are already evident in the form of the growing frequency of droughts, flooding, increasingly erratic weather behavior, and changes in agricultural patterns, reduction in freshwater supply, and the loss of biodiversity. Climate change refers to long-term shifts in temperatures and weather patterns. Such shifts can be natural, due to changes in the sun’s activity or large volcanic eruptions. Since the 1800s, human activities have been the main driver of climate change, primarily because of the burning of fossil fuels like coal, oil, and gas. Burning fossil fuels generates greenhouse gas emissions that act as a blanket wrapped around the Earth, trapping the sun’s heat and raising temperatures. The main greenhouse gases causing climate change include carbon dioxide and methane. These come from using gasoline for driving a car or coal for heating a building. Clearing land and cutting down forests can also release carbon dioxide. Agriculture, oil, and gas operations are major sources of methane emissions. Energy, industry, transport, buildings, agriculture, and land use are causing greenhouse gases. Climate scientists have shown that humans have been guilty of virtually global heating over the last 200 years. Human activities like the ones mentioned above are causing greenhouse gases that are warming the world faster than at any time in at least the last two thousand years. The average temperature of the earth’s surface is now warmer than before the Industrial Revolution. The last decade was the warmest on record. Many people think climate change mainly means warmer temperatures. However, the temperature rise is only the beginning of the story. Because the Earth is a system, where everything is connected, changes in one area can influence changes in all others. The consequences of climate change now include, among others, intense droughts, water scarcity, severe fires, rising sea levels, flooding, melting polar ice, catastrophic storms, and declining biodiversity. Climate change can affect our health, ability to grow food, housing, safety, and work. Many climate change solutions can deliver economic benefits while improving our lives and protecting the environment. We also have global frameworks and agreements to guide progress, such as the Sustainable Development Goals, the UN Framework Convention on climate change, and the Paris Agreement. Three broad categories of action are cutting emissions, adapting to climate impacts, and financing required adjustments. Thousands of scientists and government reviewers agreed that limiting global temperature rise to no more than 1.5°C would help us avoid the worst climate impacts and maintain a livable climate. Adopting climate consequences protects people, homes, businesses, livelihoods, infrastructure, and natural ecosystems. Adaptation will be required everywhere, for the most vulnerable people with the fewest resources to cope with climate hazards. The return rate can be high. Early warning systems for disasters, for instance, save lives and property and can deliver benefits up to 10 times the initial cost. To keep warming below 1.5°C, emissions be cut in half by 2030. Achieving this means huge declines in using of coal, oil, and gas.  To prevent catastrophic levels of climate change, by 2050 we must not use over two-thirds of proven reserves of fossil fuels. Switching energy systems from fossil fuels to renewables like solar and wind can reduce the emissions driving climate change. Developed countries keep burning fossil fuels warming the Earth’s atmosphere with an increasing frequency. We have to act now. Everyone must take climate action, but countries creating more of the problem have a greater responsibility to act first.