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Abstract

Nobody can deny the importance of science of climate change in this era. Climate change is visible in the form of changes in the atmosphere, ocean, cryosphere, and biosphere. Climate change considers many aspects of earth system and human activities as both of them interact in a complex way which affects the global and regional climate. Understanding impacts and potential responses of climate change is very important for all social and scientific disciplines. Climate change science requires involvement of policy/decision-makers and other stakeholders so that generated knowledge can be delivered to the ground scale. This chapter presents details about climate science and with the role of different organization working in the field of climate change. These include the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), WMO (World Meteorological Organization), and UNEP (United Nations Environment Program). Moreover, different assessment reports (ARs) generated by IPCC was briefly elaborated in this chapter. Greenhouse gases (GHGs) contribution in the change of radiative forcing, carbon cycling, non-CO2 biogeochemical feedback, and finally to the global warming was discussed. Furthermore, relationship of different drivers (e.g., air temperature, sea surface temperature [SST], precipitation, and radiative forcing) with climate change was elaborated. The reviewed literature depicted that during the first decade of the twenty-first century average rise in surface temperature was 0.8 °C as compared to the first decade of the twentieth century and most pronounced warming was in the last three decades of twenty-first century. Similarly, increase in global surface temperature was 1.09 °C (0.95-1.20 °C) for 2011-2020 and the past 5 years (2016-2020) were recorded as the hottest years. Greenhouse effect, warming of planet earth, global warming potential (GWP), annual greenhouse gas index (AGGI), radiative forcing (RF), climate change effects, and risk with potential mitigation and adaptation to climate change were discussed.

Keywords

and Adaptation; Annual greenhouse gas index; Climate change; Greenhouse effect; Greenhouse gases; IPCC; Mitigation; Radiative forcing; Warming potential

Published in

Title: The Palgrave Handbook of Global Sustainability
Publisher: Springer International Publishing

SLU Authors

  • Ahmed, Mukhtar

    • Department of Agricultural Research for Northern Sweden, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    • Pir Mehr Ali Shah Arid Agriculture University

UKÄ Subject classification

Climate Science

Publication identifier

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-01949-4_22
  • ISBN: 9783031019487
  • eISBN: 9783031019494

Permanent link to this page (URI)

https://res.slu.se/id/publ/142833