effects of climate change and global warming speech

45,000+ students realised their study abroad dream with us. Take the first step today

Here’s your new year gift, one app for all your, study abroad needs, start your journey, track your progress, grow with the community and so much more.

Verification Code

An OTP has been sent to your registered mobile no. Please verify

Thanks for your comment !

Our team will review it before it's shown to our readers.

Global Warming Speech: 1, 2, 3-5 Minute Speech

• Updated on  
• Feb 3, 2024

Global warming refers to the long-term rise in Earth’s average surface temperature. Since the 18th-century Industrial Revolution in European Countries, global annual temperature has increased in total by a little more than 1 degree Celsius. Global Warming is one of the most concerning issues facing us, as it threatens the existence of life on Earth. Greenhouse gas emissions, deforestation, industrial processes, waste management, etc are all reasons for global warming.

Did you know: Antarctica is losing ice mass at an average rate of about 150 billion tons per year, and Greenland is losing about 270 billion tons per year, adding to sea level rise?

Today, weather prediction has been becoming more complex with every passing year, with seasons more indistinguishable, and the general temperatures hotter. The number of natural disasters like hurricanes, cyclones, droughts, floods, etc., has risen steadily since the onset of the 21st century. The supervillain behind all these changes is Global Warming. The name is quite self-explanatory; it means the rise in the temperature of the Earth. Since childhood, we all have heard about it, but just as a formality, let us first understand what global warming is!

Quick Read: 2-Minute Speech on Holi

This Blog Includes:

Short global warming speech 100-150 words (1 minute), global warming speech 250 words (2 minutes), global warming speech 500- 700 words (3- 5 minutes), 10-line global warming speech, causes of global warming, ways to tackle global warming.

It means a rise in global temperature due to the greenhouse gases in the atmosphere due to human activities and inventions. In scientific words, Global Warming is when the earth heats (the temperature rises). It occurs when the earth’s atmosphere warms up as a result of the sun’s heat and light being trapped by greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide, water vapour, nitrous oxide, and methane. Many people, animals, and plants are harmed by this. Many people die because they can’t handle the shift.

Good morning to everyone present here today I am going to present a speech on global warming. Global Warming is caused by the increase of carbon dioxide levels in the earth’s atmosphere and is a result of human activities that have been causing harm to our environment for the past few centuries now. Global Warming is something that can’t be ignored and steps have to be taken to tackle the situation globally. The average temperature is constantly rising by 1.5 degrees Celsius for the last few years. The best method to prevent future damage to the earth, cutting down more forests should be banned and Afforestation should be encouraged. Start by planting trees near your homes and offices, participate in events, and teach the importance of planting trees. It is impossible to undo the damage but it is possible to stop further harm.

Good morning everyone and topic of my speech today is global warming. Over a long period, it is observed that the Earth’s temperature is rising rapidly. This affected the wildlife, animals, humans, and every living organism on earth. Glaciers have been melting, and many countries have started water shortages, flooding, erosion and all this is because of global warming. No one can be blamed for global warming except for humans. Human activities such as gases released from power plants, transportation, and deforestation have resulted in the increase of gases such as carbon dioxide, CFCs, and other pollutants in the earth’s atmosphere. The main question is how can we control the current situation and build a better world for future generations. It starts with little steps by every individual. Start using cloth bags made from sustainable materials for all shopping purposes, instead of using the high-watt lights use the energy-efficient bulbs, switch off the electricity, don’t waste water, abolish deforestation and encourage planting more trees. Shift the use of energy from petroleum or other fossil fuels to wind and solar energy. Instead of throwing out the old clothes donate them to someone so that it is recycled. Donate old books, don’t waste paper.  Above all, spread awareness about global warming. Every little thing a person does towards saving the earth will contribute in big or small amounts. We must learn that 1% effort is better than no effort. Pledge to take care of Mother Nature and speak up about global warming. 

Also Read: How To Become an Environmentalist?

Also Read: Essay on Global Warming

Global warming isn’t a prediction, it is happening! A person denying it or unaware of it is in the most simple terms complicit. Do we have another planet to live on? Unfortunately, we have been bestowed with this one planet only that can sustain life yet over the years we have turned a blind eye to the plight it is in. Global warming is not an abstract concept but a global phenomenon occurring ever so slowly even at this moment. Global Warming is a phenomenon that is occurring every minute resulting in a gradual increase in the Earth’s overall climate. Brought about by greenhouse gases that trap the solar radiation in the atmosphere, global warming can change the entire map of the earth, displacing areas, flooding many countries and destroying multiple lifeforms. Extreme weather is a direct consequence of global warming but it is not an exhaustive consequence. There are virtually limitless effects of global warming which are all harmful to life on earth. The sea level is increasing by 0.12 inches per year worldwide. This is happening because of the melting of polar ice caps because of global warming. This has increased the frequency of floods in many lowland areas and has caused damage to coral reefs. The Arctic is one of the worst-hit areas affected by global warming. Air quality has been adversely affected and the acidity of the seawater has also increased causing severe damage to marine life forms. Severe natural disasters are brought about by global warming which has had dire effects on life and property. As long as mankind produces greenhouse gases, global warming will continue to accelerate. The consequences are felt at a much smaller scale which will increase to become drastic shortly. The power to save the day lies in the hands of humans, the need is to seize the day. Energy consumption should be reduced on an individual basis. Fuel-efficient cars and other electronics should be encouraged to reduce the wastage of energy sources. This will also improve air quality and reduce the concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. Global warming is an evil which can only be defeated when fought together. It is better late than never. If we take steps today, we will have a much brighter future tomorrow. Global warming is the bane of our existence and various policies have come up worldwide to fight it but that is not enough. The actual difference is made when we work at an individual level to fight it. Understanding its importance now is crucial before it becomes an irrevocable mistake. Exterminating global warming is of utmost importance and everyone is as responsible for it as the next.  

Students in grades 1-3 can benefit from this kind of speech since it gives them a clear understanding of the issue in an accessible manner.

• Although global warming is not a new occurrence and has been a worry since before civilization, the danger is only getting worse over time.
• The average global temperature is rising as a result of pollution and damage to the natural systems that control the climate, including the air, water, and land.
• Population growth and people’s desire to live comfortably are the main causes of pollution.
• The primary sources include carbon emissions from the combustion of fossil fuels, factories, cars, trains, and other transportation, as well as from the coal industry.
• When these dangerous pollutants are discharged into the atmosphere, protective layers like ozone begin to erode, allowing dangerous solar rays to enter the atmosphere and causing a temperature rise.
• Because of the disastrous consequences of global warming, the threat has increased.
• This causes unnatural effects like the melting of glaciers, the rise in sea level, hurricanes, droughts, and floods, which alters the climate and upsets everything.
• Changes in rainfall patterns have only made agricultural lands and hence the vegetation worse.
• Using renewable energy sources, such as solar or wind, for power and other requirements can help us slow down the effects of climate change.
• To protect the environment and our natural resources, we must begin living sustainably.

Various factors lead to global warming. These days people have become so careless and selfish that they mainly focus on their growth and development. They tend to ignore nature’s need for love and care. Enlisted are the various causes of Global Warming:

• Industrial Activities : Industrial Activities lead to the vast usage of fossil fuels for the production of energy. These fossil fuels release carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, which leads to global warming. This energy is used for heat and electricity, transportation, industrial activities, agriculture, oil and gas production, etc.
• Agricultural Activities : The activity which provides every living thing with food is the one that leads to climate change, i.e., global warming. Agricultural activities use harmful commercial fertilizers that reap nitrous oxide, the most potent greenhouse gas. Methane is the other potent greenhouse gas that comes from the decomposition of waste, burning biomass, digestive systems of livestock, and numerous natural sources.
• Oil Drilling : Residuals from oil drilling release carbon dioxide. The processing of these fossil fuels and their distribution leads to methane production, a harmful greenhouse gas.
• Garbage : A recent study shows that 18 per cent of methane gas comes from wastage and its treatment. This methane gas leads to harmful conditions, i.e., global warming.

Also Read: Essay on Sustainable Development: Format & Examples

• Afforestation : Every individual should take up an oath to plant at least five trees a year. This will lead to an increase in the number of trees, ultimately reducing the overall temperature.
• Reduce, Reuse and Recycle : We should focus on reducing the use of fossil fuels and other products, which lead to the production of harmful gases. Reusing means repetitive use of a single product. We must focus on reusing products to omit the disposing procedure, which leads to the production of harmful greenhouse gases. One must also focus on recycling paper, glass, newspaper, etc., which can reduce carbon dioxide production, ultimately reducing global warming.
• Reduce Hot Water Use : We should reduce the unnecessary use of hot water that leads to the production of carbon dioxide. A recent study shows that high hot water usage leads to an approximate output of 350 pounds of carbon dioxide.
• Buy Better Bulbs : It’s observed that traditional bulbs consume more energy as compared to LED bulbs. LED bulbs approximately conserve 80 per cent of the energy that might get wasted using traditional ones. So, one must shift to efficient and energy-conserving bulbs, which will ultimately help reduce global warming.

Also Read: Environmental Conservation

The three main causes of global warming are – burning fossil fuels, deforestation and agricultural activities.

Some of the ways through which we can stop global warming are – driving less, recycling more, planting trees, replacing regular bulbs with CFL ones, avoiding products with a lot of packaging, etc.

Climate change affects human health as it depletes the water and air quality, leads to extreme weather, increases the pace at which certain diseases spread, etc.

Mother Earth is facing the consequences of our careless actions. It is high time now that we act and protect the environment. A few decades ago, afforestation, using renewable sources, etc., was just an option, but today, these have become a necessity. If we do not change and move towards a more sustainable growth model, this planet that we all share will be significantly affected, and life, as we know it today, may perish. Let’s take a pledge to conserve and restore the beauty of our planet Earth. For more such informative content, follow Leverage Edu !

Sonal is a creative, enthusiastic writer and editor who has worked extensively for the Study Abroad domain. She splits her time between shooting fun insta reels and learning new tools for content marketing. If she is missing from her desk, you can find her with a group of people cracking silly jokes or petting neighbourhood dogs.

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.

Contact no. *

Leaving already?

8 Universities with higher ROI than IITs and IIMs

Grab this one-time opportunity to download this ebook

Connect With Us

45,000+ students realised their study abroad dream with us. take the first step today..

Resend OTP in

Need help with?

Study abroad.

UK, Canada, US & More

IELTS, GRE, GMAT & More

Scholarship, Loans & Forex

Country Preference

New Zealand

Which English test are you planning to take?

Which academic test are you planning to take.

Not Sure yet

When are you planning to take the exam?

Already booked my exam slot

Within 2 Months

Want to learn about the test

Which Degree do you wish to pursue?

When do you want to start studying abroad.

September 2024

January 2025

What is your budget to study abroad?

How would you describe this article ?

Please rate this article

We would like to hear more.

Talk to our experts

1800-120-456-456

• Climate Change Speech/Global Warming Speech

Download Long and Short Climate Change Speech Essay in English Free PDF from Vedantu

Earth is the only planet which has variety in weather and climate crucial for survival.  But we humans are killing nature to fulfil our need and greed that causes global warming, eventually leading to climate change. Here, we have provided both long and short Climate Change speech or Global Warming speech along with 10 lines for a brief speech on Global Warming. Students can refer to this article whenever they are supposed to write a speech on Global Warming. 

Long Global Warming Speech

Global Warming refers to the Earth's warming, i.e. rise in the Earth's surface temperature. A variety of human activities, such as industrial pollution and the burning of fossil fuels, are responsible for this temperature rise. These operations emit gases that cause the greenhouse effect and, subsequently, global warming. Climate change, starvation, droughts, depletion of biodiversity, etc. are some of the most important consequences of global warming.

The average surface temperature of the planet has risen by around 0.8 ° Celsius since 1880. The rate of warming per decade has been around 0.15 °-0.2 ° Celsius. This is a worldwide shift in the temperature of the planet and should not be confused with the local changes we witness every day, day and night, summer and winter, etc.

There can be several causes for Global Warming, the GreenHouse Effect is believed to be the primary and major cause. This impact is caused primarily by gases such as carbon dioxide, methane, chlorofluorocarbon, nitrous oxides, etc. In the atmosphere around the Earth, these gases form a cover from which the Sun's hot rays can penetrate the Earth but can not leave. So, in the lower circle of the Earth, the heat of the Sun persists, allowing the temperature to increase.

This is not something new, it is not something we weren’t aware of before. Since childhood, each one of us present here has been made to write a speech on Global Warming in their school/college, at least once. We have been made aware of the disastrous effects through movies, articles, competitions, posters, etc. But what have we done? Recently, the Greta Thunberg's Climate Change speech was making headlines. Greta Thunberg is a 16-year-old teenager who got the chance to speak at the United Nations Climate Action Summit. Although, most of us were quick to term Greta Thunberg Climate Change speech as ‘Scathing’ but very few could point out the need for such a brutal reminder. Remember? “We have been made to write a speech on Global Warming since our school days and nothing changed”. Maybe a searing reminder would bring a change and yes, it sure did.

Now, we have the titanic fame, Leonardo DiCaprio, speaking up about climate change in his Oscar speech as well as at the UN. However, Leonardo Dicaprio's Climate Change speech makes us aware of the fact that this has grown beyond individual choices. If we have to fight climate change, industries and corporations have to take decisive large-scale action.

I would like to end my speech by saying that only spreading awareness isn't the answer. It's time to act, as actions yield results.

Short Speech on Global Warming

Today, I am here to deliver a short speech on Global Warming. We all are well aware of Global Warming and how it results in Climate Change. Owing to global warming, there have been cases of severe drought. Regions, where there used to be a lot of rainfall, are seeing less rainfall. The monsoon trend has shifted around the globe. Global warming also causes ice to melt and the level of the ocean to rise, resulting in floods.

Various species are also widely impacted by global warming. Some land organisms are very vulnerable to changes in temperature and environment and can not tolerate extreme conditions. Koalas, for example, are at risk of famine because of climate change. Several fish and tortoise species are susceptible to changes in ocean temperatures and die.

One of the biggest threats to global security is climate change. Climate change knows no borders and poses us all with an existential threat. A significant security consequence of climate change is a rise in the frequency of severe weather events, especially floods and storms. This has an effect on city and town facilities, access to drinking water, and other services to sustain everyday life. It also displaces the population and since 2008, disasters caused by natural hazards have displaced an average of 26.4 million people annually from their homes. 85% of these are weather-related. This is equal to every second of approximately one person displaced.

It is important that we finally stop debating about it. Schools need to stop making students write a speech on Global Warming or Climate Change and focus on making them capable of living a sustainable life. Face it with courage and honesty. 

10 Lines for Brief Speech on Global Warming

Here, we have provided 10 key pointers for Climate Change Speech for Students.

Global warming refers to the above-average temperature increase on Earth.

The primary cause of global warming is the Greenhouse effect.

Climate change is blamed for global warming, as it badly affects the environment.

The most critical and very important issue that no one can overlook is climate change; it is also spreading its leg in India.

India's average temperature has risen to 1.1 degrees Celsius in recent years.

Living creatures come out of their natural environment due to global warming, and eventually become extinct.

Climate change has contributed to weather pattern disruptions across the globe and has led to unusual shifts in the monsoon.

Human actions, apart from natural forces, have also led to this transition. Global warming leads to drastic climate change, leading to flooding, droughts and other climate catastrophes.

The pattern of monsoon winds is influenced by changes in global temperature and alters the time and intensity of rain. Unpredictable climate change impacts the nation's farming and production.

Planting more trees can be a positive step in eliminating the global warming problem.

What is Climate Change?

Climate change refers to alterations in Earth's climate, it has been happening since the planet was formed. The Climate is always changing. There are different factors that could contribute to Climate Change, including natural events and human activities.

Factors that cause Climate Change

The sun’s energy output

Volcanic eruptions

Earth’s orbit around the sun

Ocean currents

Land-use changes

Greenhouse gasses emissions from human activity

The most significant factor that contributes to Climate Change is greenhouse gasses emissions from human activity. These gasses form a “blanket” around Earth that traps energy from the sun. This trapped energy makes Earth warm and disturbs the Earth’s climate.

The Impact of Climate Change

Climate change is already happening. It is causing more extreme weather conditions, such as floods and droughts.

Climate change could lead to a loss of biodiversity, as plants and animals are unable to adapt to the changing climate.

Climate change could also cause humanitarian crises, as people are forced to migrate because of extreme weather conditions.

Climate change could damage economies, as businesses and industries have to cope with increased energy costs and disrupted supply chains.

Here are some Tips on How to write a Speech on Climate Change:

Start by doing your research. Climate change is a complex topic, and there's a lot of information out there on it. Make sure you understand the basics of climate change before you start writing your speech.

Write down what you want to say. It can be helpful to draft an outline of your speech before you start writing it in full. This will help ensure that your points are clear and organized.

Be passionate about the topic. Climate change is a serious issue, but that doesn't mean you can't talk about it with passion and enthusiasm. Let your audience know how important you think this issue is.

Make it personal. Climate change isn't just a political or scientific issue - it's something that affects each and every one of us. Talk about how climate change has affected you or your loved ones, and let your audience know why this issue matters to you.

Use visuals to help explain your points. A good speech on climate change can be filled with charts, graphs, and statistics. But don't forget to also use powerful images and stories to help illustrate your points.

Stay positive. Climate change can be a depressing topic, but try not to end your speech on a negative note. Instead, talk about the steps we can take to address climate change and the positive outcomes that could come from it.

Start by defining what climate change is. Climate change is a problem that refers to a broad array of environmental degradation caused by human activities, including the emission of greenhouse gasses.

Talk about the effects of climate change. Climate change has been linked to increased wildfires, more extreme weather events, coastal flooding, and reduced crop yields, among other things.

Offer solutions to climate change. Some solutions include reducing our reliance on fossil fuels, investing in renewable energy sources, and planting trees to help absorb carbon dioxide.

Appeal to your audience’s emotions. Climate change is a problem that affects everyone, and it’s important to get people emotionally invested in the issue.

Make sure your speech is well-organized and easy to follow. Climate change can be a complex topic, so make sure your speech is clear and concise.

FAQs on Climate Change Speech/Global Warming Speech

1. What should be the main focus of my speech? Can I use statistics in my speech?

The main focus of your speech should be on the effects of climate change and the solutions we can enact to address it. However, you can also talk about your personal connection to the issue or how climate change has affected your community. Yes, you can use statistics to support your points, but don’t forget to also use images and stories to help illustrate your points.

2. How much should I talk about the potential solutions to climate change?

You should spend roughly equal time discussing both the effects of climate change and potential solutions. Climate change is a complex issue, and it’s important to provide your audience with both the facts and potential solutions.

3. Can I talk about how climate change has personally affected me in my speech?

Yes, you can talk about how climate change has personally affected you or your loved ones. Climate change is a serious issue that affects everyone, so it’s important to get people emotionally invested in the issue.

4. Are there any other things I should keep in mind while preparing my speech?

Yes, make sure your speech is well-organized and easy to follow. Climate change can be a complex topic, so make sure your speech is clear and concise. Also, remember to appeal to your audience’s emotions and stay positive. Climate change can be a depressing topic, but try not to end your speech on a negative note. Instead, talk about the steps we can take to address climate change and the positive outcomes that could come from it.

5. Where can I find more information about preparing a speech on climate change?

The best place to start is by reading some of the reports from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). You can also find helpful resources on the websites of Climate Reality Project or Greenpeace.

6. How long should my speech be?

Your speech should be between 5 and 7 minutes in length. Any longer than that, and your audience will start to lose interest. Climate change can be a complex issue, so it’s important to keep your points brief and concise. If you need help organizing your speech, consider using the following outline:

Define what climate change is;

Talk about the effects of climate change;

Offer solutions to climate change;

Appeal to your audience’s emotions.

7. How can I download reading material from Vedantu?

Accessing material from Vedantu is extremely easy and student-friendly. Students have to simply visit the website of  Vedantu and create an account. Once you have created the account you can simply explore the subjects and chapters that you are looking for. Click on the download button available on the website on Vedantu to download the reading material in PDF format. You can also access all the resources by downloading the Vedantu app from the play store.

News • June 25, 2013

Transcript of Obama’s Speech on Climate Change

Georgetown University Washington, D.C.  June 25, 2013

THE PRESIDENT:  Thank you!  (Applause.)  Thank you, Georgetown!  Thank you so much.  Everybody, please be seated.  And my first announcement today is that you should all take off your jackets.  (Laughter.)  I’m going to do the same.  (Applause.)  It’s not that sexy, now.  (Laughter.)

It is good to be back on campus, and it is a great privilege to speak from the steps of this historic hall that welcomed Presidents going back to George Washington. 

I want to thank your president, President DeGioia, who’s here today.   (Applause.)  I want to thank him for hosting us.  I want to thank the many members of my Cabinet and my administration.  I want to thank Leader Pelosi and the members of Congress who are here.  We are very grateful for their support. 

And I want to say thank you to the Hoyas in the house for having me back.  (Applause.)  It was important for me to speak directly to your generation, because the decisions that we make now and in the years ahead will have a profound impact on the world that all of you inherit. 

On Christmas Eve, 1968, the astronauts of Apollo 8 did a live broadcast from lunar orbit.  So Frank Borman, Jim Lovell, William Anders—the first humans to orbit the moon -– described what they saw, and they read Scripture from the Book of Genesis to the rest of us back here.  And later that night, they took a photo that would change the way we see and think about our world. 

RELATED CONTENT

The big story: Obama sets grand plan

The breakdown: Key features of plan

Response to speech: How it played

Watch the speech:  Youtube

Charting the course: Infographic

Details of climate plan: Slideshare

It was an image of Earth -– beautiful; breathtaking; a glowing marble of blue oceans, and green forests, and brown mountains brushed with white clouds, rising over the surface of the moon.

And while the sight of our planet from space might seem routine today, imagine what it looked like to those of us seeing our home, our planet, for the first time.  Imagine what it looked like to children like me.  Even the astronauts were amazed.  “It makes you realize,” Lovell would say, “just what you have back there on Earth.” 

And around the same time we began exploring space, scientists were studying changes taking place in the Earth’s atmosphere.  Now, scientists had known since the 1800s that greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide trap heat, and that burning fossil fuels release those gases into the air.  That wasn’t news. But in the late 1950s, the National Weather Service began measuring the levels of carbon dioxide in our atmosphere, with the worry that rising levels might someday disrupt the fragile balance that makes our planet so hospitable.  And what they’ve found, year after year, is that the levels of carbon pollution in our atmosphere have increased dramatically.

That science, accumulated and reviewed over decades, tells us that our planet is changing in ways that will have profound impacts on all of humankind.

The 12 warmest years in recorded history have all come in the last 15 years.  Last year, temperatures in some areas of the ocean reached record highs, and ice in the Arctic shrank to its smallest size on record—faster than most models had predicted it would.  These are facts.

Now, we know that no single weather event is caused solely by climate change.  Droughts and fires and floods, they go back to ancient times.  But we also know that in a world that’s warmer than it used to be, all weather events are affected by a warming planet.  The fact that sea level in New York, in New York Harbor, are now a foot higher than a century ago—that didn’t cause Hurricane Sandy, but it certainly contributed to the destruction that left large parts of our mightiest city dark and underwater. 

The potential impacts go beyond rising sea levels.  Here at home, 2012 was the warmest year in our history.  Midwest farms were parched by the worst drought since the Dust Bowl, and then drenched by the wettest spring on record.  Western wildfires scorched an area larger than the state of Maryland.  Just last week, a heat wave in Alaska shot temperatures into the 90s.

And we know that the costs of these events can be measured in lost lives and lost livelihoods, lost homes, lost businesses, hundreds of billions of dollars in emergency services and disaster relief.  In fact, those who are already feeling the effects of climate change don’t have time to deny it—they’re busy dealing with it.  Firefighters are braving longer wildfire seasons, and states and federal governments have to figure out how to budget for that.  I had to sit on a meeting with the Department of Interior and Agriculture and some of the rest of my team just to figure out how we're going to pay for more and more expensive fire seasons. 

Farmers see crops wilted one year, washed away the next; and the higher food prices get passed on to you, the American consumer.  Mountain communities worry about what smaller snowpacks will mean for tourism—and then, families at the bottom of the mountains wonder what it will mean for their drinking water.  Americans across the country are already paying the price of inaction in insurance premiums, state and local taxes, and the costs of rebuilding and disaster relief. 

So the question is not whether we need to act.  The overwhelming judgment of science—of chemistry and physics and millions of measurements—has put all that to rest.  Ninety-seven percent of scientists, including, by the way, some who originally disputed the data, have now put that to rest.  They've acknowledged the planet is warming and human activity is contributing to it.

So the question now is whether we will have the courage to act before it’s too late.  And how we answer will have a profound impact on the world that we leave behind not just to you, but to your children and to your grandchildren. 

As a President, as a father, and as an American, I’m here to say we need to act.  (Applause.)

I refuse to condemn your generation and future generations to a planet that’s beyond fixing.  And that’s why, today, I'm announcing a new national climate action plan, and I'm here to enlist your generation's help in keeping the United States of America a leader—a global leader—in the fight against climate change.

This plan builds on progress that we've already made.  Last year, I took office—the year that I took office, my administration pledged to reduce America's greenhouse gas emissions by about 17 percent from their 2005 levels by the end of this decade.  And we rolled up our sleeves and we got to work. We doubled the electricity we generated from wind and the sun.  We doubled the mileage our cars will get on a gallon of gas by the middle of the next decade.  (Applause.)

President Obama during his speech detailing his climate action plan for the U.S.

Here at Georgetown, I unveiled my strategy for a secure energy future.  And thanks to the ingenuity of our businesses, we're starting to produce much more of our own energy.  We're building the first nuclear power plants in more than three decades—in Georgia and South Carolina.  For the first time in 18 years, America is poised to produce more of our own oil than we buy from other nations.  And today, we produce more natural gas than anybody else.  So we're producing energy.  And these advances have grown our economy, they've created new jobs, they can't be shipped overseas—and, by the way, they've also helped drive our carbon pollution to its lowest levels in nearly 20 years.  Since 2006, no country on Earth has reduced its total carbon pollution by as much as the United States of America.  (Applause.)

So it's a good start.  But the reason we're all here in the heat today is because we know we've got more to do.

In my State of the Union address, I urged Congress to come up with a bipartisan, market-based solution to climate change, like the one that Republican and Democratic senators worked on together a few years ago.  And I still want to see that happen.  I'm willing to work with anyone to make that happen.

But this is a challenge that does not pause for partisan gridlock.  It demands our attention now.  And this is my plan to meet it—a plan to cut carbon pollution; a plan to protect our country from the impacts of climate change; and a plan to lead the world in a coordinated assault on a changing climate.  (Applause.)

This plan begins with cutting carbon pollution by changing the way we use energy—using less dirty energy, using more clean energy, wasting less energy throughout our economy. 

Forty-three years ago, Congress passed a law called the Clean Air Act of 1970.  (Applause.)  It was a good law.  The reasoning behind it was simple:  New technology can protect our health by protecting the air we breathe from harmful pollution.  And that law passed the Senate unanimously.  Think about that—it passed the Senate unanimously.  It passed the House of Representatives 375 to 1.  I don’t know who the one guy was—I haven’t looked that up.  (Laughter.)  You can barely get that many votes to name a post office these days.  (Laughter.)

It was signed into law by a Republican President.  It was later strengthened by another Republican President.  This used to be a bipartisan issue. 

Six years ago, the Supreme Court ruled that greenhouse gases are pollutants covered by that same Clean Air Act.  (Applause.)  And they required the Environmental Protection Agency, the EPA, to determine whether they’re a threat to our health and welfare. In 2009, the EPA determined that they are a threat to both our health and our welfare in many different ways—from dirtier air to more common heat waves—and, therefore, subject to regulation. 

Today, about 40 percent of America’s carbon pollution comes from our power plants.  But here’s the thing:  Right now, there are no federal limits to the amount of carbon pollution that those plants can pump into our air.  None.  Zero.  We limit the amount of toxic chemicals like mercury and sulfur and arsenic in our air or our water, but power plants can still dump unlimited amounts of carbon pollution into the air for free.  That’s not right, that’s not safe, and it needs to stop.  (Applause.) 

So today, for the sake of our children, and the health and safety of all Americans, I’m directing the Environmental Protection Agency to put an end to the limitless dumping of carbon pollution from our power plants, and complete new pollution standards for both new and existing power plants.  (Applause.)

I’m also directing the EPA to develop these standards in an open and transparent way, to provide flexibility to different states with different needs, and build on the leadership that many states, and cities, and companies have already shown.  In fact, many power companies have already begun modernizing their plants, and creating new jobs in the process.  Others have shifted to burning cleaner natural gas instead of dirtier fuel sources.

Nearly a dozen states have already implemented or are implementing their own market-based programs to reduce carbon pollution.  More than 25 have set energy efficiency targets.  More than 35 have set renewable energy targets.  Over 1,000 mayors have signed agreements to cut carbon pollution.  So the idea of setting higher pollution standards for our power plants is not new.  It’s just time for Washington to catch up with the rest of the country.  And that's what we intend to do.  (Applause.) 

Now, what you’ll hear from the special interests and their allies in Congress is that this will kill jobs and crush the economy, and basically end American free enterprise as we know it.  And the reason I know you'll hear those things is because that's what they said every time America sets clear rules and better standards for our air and our water and our children’s health.  And every time, they've been wrong. 

For example, in 1970, when we decided through the Clean Air Act to do something about the smog that was choking our cities—and, by the way, most young people here aren't old enough to remember what it was like, but when I was going to school in 1979-1980 in Los Angeles, there were days where folks couldn't go outside.  And the sunsets were spectacular because of all the pollution in the air.

But at the time when we passed the Clean Air Act to try to get rid of some of this smog, some of the same doomsayers were saying new pollution standards will decimate the auto industry.  Guess what—it didn’t happen.  Our air got cleaner. 

In 1990, when we decided to do something about acid rain, they said our electricity bills would go up, the lights would go off, businesses around the country would suffer—I quote—“a quiet death.”  None of it happened, except we cut acid rain dramatically. 

See, the problem with all these tired excuses for inaction is that it suggests a fundamental lack of faith in American business and American ingenuity.  (Applause.)  These critics seem to think that when we ask our businesses to innovate and reduce pollution and lead, they can't or they won't do it.  They'll just kind of give up and quit.  But in America, we know that’s not true.  Look at our history.

When we restricted cancer-causing chemicals in plastics and leaded fuel in our cars, it didn’t end the plastics industry or the oil industry.  American chemists came up with better substitutes.  When we phased out CFCs—the gases that were depleting the ozone layer—it didn’t kill off refrigerators or air-conditioners or deodorant.  (Laughter.)  American workers and businesses figured out how to do it better without harming the environment as much.

The fuel standards that we put in place just a few years ago didn’t cripple automakers.  The American auto industry retooled, and today, our automakers are selling the best cars in the world at a faster rate than they have in five years—with more hybrid, more plug-in, more fuel-efficient cars for everybody to choose from.  (Applause.)

So the point is, if you look at our history, don’t bet against American industry.  Don’t bet against American workers.  Don’t tell folks that we have to choose between the health of our children or the health of our economy.  (Applause.)

The old rules may say we can’t protect our environment and promote economic growth at the same time, but in America, we’ve always used new technologies—we’ve used science; we’ve used research and development and discovery to make the old rules obsolete.

Today, we use more clean energy –- more renewables and natural gas -– which is supporting hundreds of thousands of good jobs.  We waste less energy, which saves you money at the pump and in your pocketbooks.  And guess what—our economy is 60 percent bigger than it was 20 years ago, while our carbon emissions are roughly back to where they were 20 years ago.

So, obviously, we can figure this out.  It’s not an either/or; it’s a both/and.  We’ve got to look after our children; we have to look after our future; and we have to grow the economy and create jobs.  We can do all of that as long as we don’t fear the future; instead we seize it.  (Applause.) 

And, by the way, don’t take my word for it—recently, more than 500 businesses, including giants like GM and Nike, issued a Climate Declaration, calling action on climate change “one of the great economic opportunities of the 21st century.”  Walmart is working to cut its carbon pollution by 20 percent and transition completely to renewable energy.  (Applause.)  Walmart deserves a cheer for that.  (Applause.)  But think about it.  Would the biggest company, the biggest retailer in America—would they really do that if it weren’t good for business, if it weren’t good for their shareholders?

A low-carbon, clean energy economy can be an engine of growth for decades to come.  And I want America to build that engine.  I want America to build that future—right here in the United States of America.  That’s our task.  (Applause.)

Now, one thing I want to make sure everybody understands—this does not mean that we’re going to suddenly stop producing fossil fuels.  Our economy wouldn’t run very well if it did.  And transitioning to a clean energy economy takes time.  But when the doomsayers trot out the old warnings that these ambitions will somehow hurt our energy supply, just remind them that America produced more oil than we have in 15 years.  What is true is that we can’t just drill our way out of the energy and climate challenge that we face.  (Applause.)  That’s not possible.

I put forward in the past an all-of-the-above energy strategy, but our energy strategy must be about more than just producing more oil.  And, by the way, it’s certainly got to be about more than just building one pipeline.  (Applause.)

Now, I know there’s been, for example, a lot of controversy surrounding the proposal to build a pipeline, the Keystone pipeline, that would carry oil from Canadian tar sands down to refineries in the Gulf.  And the State Department is going through the final stages of evaluating the proposal.  That’s how it’s always been done.  But I do want to be clear:  Allowing the Keystone pipeline to be built requires a finding that doing so would be in our nation’s interest.  And our national interest will be served only if this project does not significantly exacerbate the problem of carbon pollution.  (Applause.)  The net effects of the pipeline’s impact on our climate will be absolutely critical to determining whether this project is allowed to go forward.  It’s relevant. 

Now, even as we’re producing more domestic oil, we’re also producing more cleaner-burning natural gas than any other country on Earth.  And, again, sometimes there are disputes about natural gas, but let me say this:  We should strengthen our position as the top natural gas producer because, in the medium term at least, it not only can provide safe, cheap power, but it can also help reduce our carbon emissions.

Federally supported technology has helped our businesses drill more effectively and extract more gas.  And now, we'll keep working with the industry to make drilling safer and cleaner, to make sure that we're not seeing methane emissions, and to put people to work modernizing our natural gas infrastructure so that we can power more homes and businesses with cleaner energy.

The bottom line is natural gas is creating jobs.  It's lowering many families' heat and power bills.  And it's the transition fuel that can power our economy with less carbon pollution even as our businesses work to develop and then deploy more of the technology required for the even cleaner energy economy of the future.

And that brings me to the second way that we're going to reduce carbon pollution—by using more clean energy.  Over the past four years, we've doubled the electricity that we generate from zero-carbon wind and solar power.  (Applause.)  And that means jobs—jobs manufacturing the wind turbines that now generate enough electricity to power nearly 15 million homes; jobs installing the solar panels that now generate more than four times the power at less cost than just a few years ago.

I know some Republicans in Washington dismiss these jobs, but those who do need to call home—because 75 percent of all wind energy in this country is generated in Republican districts. (Laughter.)  And that may explain why last year, Republican governors in Kansas and Oklahoma and Iowa—Iowa, by the way, a state that harnesses almost 25 percent of its electricity from the wind—helped us in the fight to extend tax credits for wind energy manufacturers and producers.  (Applause.)  Tens of thousands good jobs were on the line, and those jobs were worth the fight.

And countries like China and Germany are going all in in the race for clean energy.  I believe Americans build things better than anybody else.  I want America to win that race, but we can't win it if we're not in it.  (Applause.)

So the plan I'm announcing today will help us double again our energy from wind and sun.  Today, I'm directing the Interior Department to green light enough private, renewable energy capacity on public lands to power more than 6 million homes by 2020.  (Applause.)

The Department of Defense—the biggest energy consumer in America—will install 3 gigawatts of renewable power on its bases, generating about the same amount of electricity each year as you'd get from burning 3 million tons of coal.  (Applause.) 

And because billions of your tax dollars continue to still subsidize some of the most profitable corporations in the history of the world, my budget once again calls for Congress to end the tax breaks for big oil companies, and invest in the clean-energy companies that will fuel our future.  (Applause.)

Now, the third way to reduce carbon pollution is to waste less energy—in our cars, our homes, our businesses.  The fuel standards we set over the past few years mean that by the middle of the next decade, the cars and trucks we buy will go twice as far on a gallon of gas.  That means you’ll have to fill up half as often; we’ll all reduce carbon pollution.  And we built on that success by setting the first-ever standards for heavy-duty trucks and buses and vans.  And in the coming months, we’ll partner with truck makers to do it again for the next generation of vehicles. 

Meanwhile, the energy we use in our homes and our businesses and our factories, our schools, our hospitals—that’s responsible for about one-third of our greenhouse gases.  The good news is simple upgrades don’t just cut that pollution; they put people to work—manufacturing and installing smarter lights and windows and sensors and appliances.  And the savings show up in our electricity bills every month—forever.  That’s why we’ve set new energy standards for appliances like refrigerators and dishwashers.  And today, our businesses are building better ones that will also cut carbon pollution and cut consumers’ electricity bills by hundreds of billions of dollars. 

That means, by the way, that our federal government also has to lead by example.   I’m proud that federal agencies have reduced their greenhouse gas emissions by more than 15 percent since I took office.  But we can do even better than that.  So today, I’m setting a new goal:  Your federal government will consume 20 percent of its electricity from renewable sources within the next seven years.  We are going to set that goal.  (Applause.)

We’ll also encourage private capital to get off the sidelines and get into these energy-saving investments.  And by the end of the next decade, these combined efficiency standards for appliances and federal buildings will reduce carbon pollution by at least three billion tons.  That’s an amount equal to what our entire energy sector emits in nearly half a year.

So I know these standards don’t sound all that sexy, but think of it this way:  That’s the equivalent of planting 7.6 billion trees and letting them grow for 10 years—all while doing the dishes.  It is a great deal and we need to be doing it. (Applause.) 

So using less dirty energy, transitioning to cleaner sources of energy, wasting less energy through our economy is where we need to go.  And this plan will get us there faster.  But I want to be honest—this will not get us there overnight.  The hard truth is carbon pollution has built up in our atmosphere for decades now.  And even if we Americans do our part, the planet will slowly keep warming for some time to come.  The seas will slowly keep rising and storms will get more severe, based on the science.  It's like tapping the brakes of a car before you come to a complete stop and then can shift into reverse.  It's going to take time for carbon emissions to stabilize.

So in the meantime, we're going to need to get prepared.  And that’s why this plan will also protect critical sectors of our economy and prepare the United States for the impacts of climate change that we cannot avoid.  States and cities across the country are already taking it upon themselves to get ready.  Miami Beach is hardening its water supply against seeping saltwater.  We’re partnering with the state of Florida to restore Florida’s natural clean water delivery system—the Everglades.

The overwhelmingly Republican legislature in Texas voted to spend money on a new water development bank as a long-running drought cost jobs and forced a town to truck in water from the outside.

New York City is fortifying its 520 miles of coastline as an insurance policy against more frequent and costly storms.  And what we’ve learned from Hurricane Sandy and other disasters is that we’ve got to build smarter, more resilient infrastructure that can protect our homes and businesses, and withstand more powerful storms.  That means stronger seawalls, natural barriers, hardened power grids, hardened water systems, hardened fuel supplies.

So the budget I sent Congress includes funding to support communities that build these projects, and this plan directs federal agencies to make sure that any new project funded with taxpayer dollars is built to withstand increased flood risks. 

And we’ll partner with communities seeking help to prepare for droughts and floods, reduce the risk of wildfires, protect the dunes and wetlands that pull double duty as green space and as natural storm barriers.  And we'll also open our climate data and NASA climate imagery to the public, to make sure that cities and states assess risk under different climate scenarios, so that we don’t waste money building structures that don’t withstand the next storm. 

So that's what my administration will do to support the work already underway across America, not only to cut carbon pollution, but also to protect ourselves from climate change.  But as I think everybody here understands, no nation can solve this challenge alone—not even one as powerful as ours.  And that’s why the final part of our plan calls on America to lead—lead international efforts to combat a changing climate.  (Applause.)

And make no mistake—the world still looks to America to lead.  When I spoke to young people in Turkey a few years ago, the first question I got wasn't about the challenges that part of the world faces.  It was about the climate challenge that we all face, and America's role in addressing it.  And it was a fair question, because as the world's largest economy and second-largest carbon emitter, as a country with unsurpassed ability to drive innovation and scientific breakthroughs, as the country that people around the world continue to look to in times of crisis, we've got a vital role to play.  We can't stand on the sidelines.  We've got a unique responsibility.  And the steps that I've outlined today prove that we're willing to meet that responsibility.

Though all America's carbon pollution fell last year, global carbon pollution rose to a record high.  That’s a problem.  Developing countries are using more and more energy, and tens of millions of people entering a global middle class naturally want to buy cars and air-conditioners of their own, just like us.  Can't blame them for that.  And when you have conversations with poor countries, they'll say, well, you went through these stages of development—why can't we? 

But what we also have to recognize is these same countries are also more vulnerable to the effects of climate change than we are.  They don’t just have as much to lose, they probably have more to lose.

Developing nations with some of the fastest-rising levels of carbon pollution are going to have to take action to meet this challenge alongside us.  They're watching what we do, but we've got to make sure that they're stepping up to the plate as well.  We compete for business with them, but we also share a planet.  And we have to all shoulder the responsibility for keeping the planet habitable, or we're going to suffer the consequences—together. 

So to help more countries transitioning to cleaner sources of energy and to help them do it faster, we're going to partner with our private sector to apply private sector technological know-how in countries that transition to natural gas.  We’ve mobilized billions of dollars in private capital for clean energy projects around the world.

Today, I'm calling for an end of public financing for new coal plants overseas—(applause)—unless they deploy carbon-capture technologies, or there's no other viable way for the poorest countries to generate electricity.  And I urge other countries to join this effort.

And I'm directing my administration to launch negotiations toward global free trade in environmental goods and services, including clean energy technology, to help more countries skip past the dirty phase of development and join a global low-carbon economy.  They don’t have to repeat all the same mistakes that we made.  (Applause.) 

We've also intensified our climate cooperation with major emerging economies like India and Brazil, and China—the world’s largest emitter.  So, for example, earlier this month, President Xi of China and I reached an important agreement to jointly phase down our production and consumption of dangerous hydrofluorocarbons, and we intend to take more steps together in the months to come.  It will make a difference.  It’s a significant step in the reduction of carbon emissions.  (Applause.) 

And finally, my administration will redouble our efforts to engage our international partners in reaching a new global agreement to reduce carbon pollution through concrete action.  (Applause.) 

Four years ago, in Copenhagen, every major country agreed, for the first time, to limit carbon pollution by 2020.  Two years ago, we decided to forge a new agreement beyond 2020 that would apply to all countries, not just developed countries.

What we need is an agreement that’s ambitious—because that’s what the scale of the challenge demands.  We need an inclusive agreement -– because every country has to play its part.  And we need an agreement that’s flexible—because different nations have different needs.  And if we can come together and get this right, we can define a sustainable future for your generation.

So that’s my plan.  (Applause.)  The actions I’ve announced today should send a strong signal to the world that America intends to take bold action to reduce carbon pollution.  We will continue to lead by the power of our example, because that’s what the United States of America has always done. 

I am convinced this is the fight America can, and will, lead in the 21st century.  And I’m convinced this is a fight that America must lead.  But it will require all of us to do our part. We’ll need scientists to design new fuels, and we’ll need farmers to grow new fuels.  We’ll need engineers to devise new technologies, and we’ll need businesses to make and sell those technologies.  We’ll need workers to operate assembly lines that hum with high-tech, zero-carbon components, but we’ll also need builders to hammer into place the foundations for a new clean energy era.

We’re going to need to give special care to people and communities that are unsettled by this transition—not just here in the United States but around the world.  And those of us in positions of responsibility, we’ll need to be less concerned with the judgment of special interests and well-connected donors, and more concerned with the judgment of posterity.  (Applause.)  Because you and your children, and your children’s children, will have to live with the consequences of our decisions.

As I said before, climate change has become a partisan issue, but it hasn’t always been.  It wasn’t that long ago that Republicans led the way on new and innovative policies to tackle these issues.  Richard Nixon opened the EPA.  George H.W. Bush declared—first U.S. President to declare—“human activities are changing the atmosphere in unexpected and unprecedented ways.”  Someone who never shies away from a challenge, John McCain, introduced a market-based cap-and-trade bill to slow carbon pollution.

The woman that I’ve chosen to head up the EPA, Gina McCarthy, she’s worked—(applause)—she’s terrific.  Gina has worked for the EPA in my administration, but she’s also worked for five Republican governors.  She’s got a long track record of working with industry and business leaders to forge common-sense solutions.  Unfortunately, she’s being held up in the Senate. She’s been held up for months, forced to jump through hoops no Cabinet nominee should ever have to –- not because she lacks qualifications, but because there are too many in the Republican Party right now who think that the Environmental Protection Agency has no business protecting our environment from carbon pollution.  The Senate should confirm her without any further obstruction or delay.  (Applause.) 

But more broadly, we’ve got to move beyond partisan politics on this issue.  I want to be clear—I am willing to work with anybody –- Republicans, Democrats, independents, libertarians, greens -– anybody—to combat this threat on behalf of our kids. I am open to all sorts of new ideas, maybe better ideas, to make sure that we deal with climate change in a way that promotes jobs and growth.

Nobody has a monopoly on what is a very hard problem, but I don’t have much patience for anyone who denies that this challenge is real.  (Applause.)  We don’t have time for a meeting of the Flat Earth Society.  (Applause.)  Sticking your head in the sand might make you feel safer, but it’s not going to protect you from the coming storm.  And ultimately, we will be judged as a people, and as a society, and as a country on where we go from here.

Our founders believed that those of us in positions of power are elected not just to serve as custodians of the present, but as caretakers of the future. And they charged us to make decisions with an eye on a longer horizon than the arc of our own political careers.  That’s what the American people expect.  That’s what they deserve. 

And someday, our children, and our children’s children, will look at us in the eye and they'll ask us, did we do all that we could when we had the chance to deal with this problem and leave them a cleaner, safer, more stable world?  And I want to be able to say, yes, we did.  Don’t you want that?  (Applause.)

Americans are not a people who look backwards; we're a people who look forward.  We're not a people who fear what the future holds; we shape it. What we need in this fight are citizens who will stand up, and speak up, and compel us to do what this moment demands.

Understand this is not just a job for politicians.  So I'm going to need all of you to educate your classmates, your colleagues, your parents, your friends. Tell them what’s at stake. Speak up at town halls, church groups, PTA meetings.  Push back on misinformation.  Speak up for the facts.  Broaden the circle of those who are willing to stand up for our future.  (Applause.)

Convince those in power to reduce our carbon pollution.  Push your own communities to adopt smarter practices.  Invest.  Divest.  (Applause.)  Remind folks there's no contradiction between a sound environment and strong economic growth.  And remind everyone who represents you at every level of government that sheltering future generations against the ravages of climate change is a prerequisite for your vote.  Make yourself heard on this issue.  (Applause.) 

I understand the politics will be tough.  The challenge we must accept will not reward us with a clear moment of victory.  There’s no gathering army to defeat.  There's no peace treaty to sign.  When President Kennedy said we’d go to the moon within the decade, we knew we’d build a spaceship and we’d meet the goal.  Our progress here will be measured differently—in crises averted, in a planet preserved.  But can we imagine a more worthy goal?  For while we may not live to see the full realization of our ambition, we will have the satisfaction of knowing that the world we leave to our children will be better off for what we did.

“It makes you realize,” that astronaut said all those years ago, “just what you have back there on Earth.”  And that image in the photograph, that bright blue ball rising over the moon’s surface, containing everything we hold dear—the laughter of children, a quiet sunset, all the hopes and dreams of posterity —that’s what’s at stake.  That’s what we’re fighting for.  And if we remember that, I’m absolutely sure we'll succeed.

Thank you.  God bless you.  God bless the United States of America.  (Applause.) 

Text of President Obama's speech is courtesy of the White House Office of the Press Secretary.

Mobile Menu Overlay

The White House 1600 Pennsylvania Ave NW Washington, DC 20500

Remarks by President   Biden on Actions to Tackle the Climate   Crisis

Brayton Point Power Station Somerset, Massachusetts

2:43 P.M. EDT

THE PRESIDENT:  Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you.  And thank you for your patience.  You’ve been sitting out here.  Appreciate — please, have a seat, if you have one.

Well, hello, Massachusetts.  (Applause.)  It’s an honor to be with your outstanding members of Congress today: Senator Ed Markey.  Ed?  Where’s — there you go.  (Applause.)  Senator Elizabeth Warren.  (Applause.)  Congressman Auchincloss — -oss.  Where is she?  There you go, Jake.  Bill Keating — Congressman.  (Applause.) 

And your great former members and one of my dearest friends, John Kerry, who’s doing a great job leading our international — (applause) — Special Presidential Envoy on Climate, traveling the world and talking with an awful lot of people he’s talking into moving more than they’ve been doing. 

And another great Massachusetts nata- — native, Gina McCarthy.  Gina?  (Applause.)  There she is.  My National Climate Advisor is leading our climate efforts here at home.

It’s an honor to be joined by your neighbor by — your neighbor from Rhode Island.  He’s not a bad guy at all.  (Laughter.)  I live in his house.  Sheldon Whitehouse — a great champion — (applause) — a great champion of the environment.  And he’d been banging away at it.

I come here today with a message: As President, I have a responsibility to act with urgency and resolve when our nation faces clear and present danger.  And that’s what climate change is about.  It is literally, not figuratively, a clear and present danger.

The health of our citizens and our communities is literally at stake.

The U.N.’s leading international climate scientists called the latest climate report nothing less than, quote, “code red for humanity.”  Let me say it again: “Code red for humanity.”  It’s not a group of political official — elected officials.  These are the scientists.

We see here in America, in red states and blue states, extreme weather events costing $145 billion — $145 billion in damages just last year — more powerful and destructive hurricanes and tornadoes. 

I’ve flown over the vast majority of them out west and down in Louisiana, all across America.  It’s a — it’s amazing to see. 

Ravaging hundred-year-old droughts occurring every few years instead of every hundred years.  Wildfires out west that have burned and destroyed more than 5 million acres — everything in its path.  That is more land than the entire state of New Jersey, from New York down to the tip of Delaware.  It’s amazing.  Five million acres.

Our national security is at stake as well.  Extreme weather is already damaging our military installations here in the States.  And our economy is at risk.  So we have to act.

Extreme weather disrupts supply chains, causing delays and shortages for consumers and businesses.

Climate change is literally an existential threat to our nation and to the world. 

So my message today is this: Since Congress is not acting as it should — and these guys here are, but we’re not getting many Republican votes — this is an emergency.  An emergency.  And I will — I will look at it that way.

I said last week and I’ll say it again loud and clear: As President, I’ll use my executive powers to combat climate — the climate crisis in the absence of congressional actions, notwithstanding their incredible action.  (Applause.) 

In the coming days, my administration will announce the executive actions we have developed to combat this emergency.  We need to act. 

But just take a look around: Right now, 100 million Americans are under heat alert — 100 million Americans.  Ninety communities across America set records for high temperatures just this year, including here in New England as we speak.

And, by the way, records have been set in the Arctic and the Antarctic, with temperatures that are just unbelievable, melting the permafrost.  And it’s astounding the damage that’s being done.

And this crisis impacts every aspect of our everyday life.  That’s why today I’m making the largest investment ever — $2.3 billion — to help communities across the country build infrastructure that is designed to withstand the full range of disasters we’ve been seeing up to today -– extreme heat, drought, flooding, hurricanes, tornadoes.

Right now, there are millions of people suffering from extreme heat at home.  So my team is also working with the states to deploy $385 million right now.

For the first time, states will be able to use federal funds to pay for air conditioners in homes, set up community cooling centers in schools where people can get through these extreme heat crises.  And I mean people — and crises that are 100 to 117 degrees.

An Infrastructure Law that your members of Congress have delivered includes $3.1 billion to weatherize homes and make them more energy efficient, which will lower energy cost while keeping America cool in the summer and warm in the winter, and not using too much energy.

And my Department of Labor, led by a guy named Marty Walsh — (said in Boston accent) — he talks funny, but he’s a hell of a guy.  (Applause.)  But all kidding aside, Marty was a great mayor, and I know — I know he knows how to get a job done. 

And he’s doing two things for me:

First of all, as Secretary of Labor, he’s developing the first-ever workplace standards for extreme heat, saying, under these cond- — under these conditions, if it hits this pr- — you cannot do the following — you cannot ask people to do a certain thing.

Second, he’s sending folks out from the Labor Department to make sure we hold workplaces and — to those standards that are being set.  They’ve already completed over 500 heat-related inspections of workplaces across 43 states.  At the end of the day, it’s going to save lives.

Now, let me tell you why we’re here at Brayton Point.  Five years ago, this towering power plant that once stood with cooling towers 500 feet high closed down.  The coal plant at Brayton Point was the largest of its kind in New England — 1,500 megawatts of power, enough to power one in five Massachusetts homes and businesses.

For over 50 years, this plant supported this region’s economy through their electrici- — the electricity they supplied, the good jobs they provided, and the local taxes they paid.

But the plant, like many others around the country, had another legacy: one of toxins, smog, greenhouse gas emissions, the kind of pollution that contributed to the climate emergency we now face today.

Gina McCarthy, a former regulator in Massachusetts, was telling me on the way up how folks used to get a rag out and wipe the gunk off of their car’s windshields in the morning just to be able to drive — not very much unlike where I grew up in a place called Claymont, Delaware — which has more oil refineries than Houston, Texas, had in its region — just across the line in Pennsylvania.  And all the prevailing winds were our way. I just lived up the road.  I just — in an apartment complex when we moved to Delaware.  And just up the road was a little school I went to, Holy Rosary grade school.  And because it was a four-lane highway that was accessible, my mother drove us and — rather than us be able to walk. And guess what?  The first frost, you knew what was happening.  You had to put on your windshield wipers to get, literally, the oil slick off the window.  That’s why I and so damn many other people I grew up [with] have cancer and why can- — for the longest time, Delaware had the highest cancer rate in the nation.

But that’s the past, and we’re going to get — we’re going to build a different future with one — one with clean energy, good-paying jobs.

Just 15 years ago, America generated more than half its electricity from coal — coal-fired plants.  Today, that’s down to 20 percent because there’s a big transition happening.

Many of these fossil fuel plants are becoming sites for new clean energy construction.  Others are switching to new, clean technologies.

Look at Brayton Point.  Today, Brayton is one of the frontiers — on the frontier of clean energy in America.  On this site, they’ll manufacture four hun- — 248 miles of high-tech, heavy-duty cables.  Those specialized, subsea cables are necessary to tie offshore wind farms to the existing grid.

Manufacturing these cables will mean good-paying jobs for 250 workers — as many workers as the old plant — power plant had at its peak. 

And the port — (applause) — the port here, 34 feet deep, was used to carry coal into the power plant.  Now we’re going to use that same port to carry components of — for wind power into the sea.

The converter station here and the substation nearby are the assets that move energy across the power lines.

They’ll now move clean electricity generated offshore by the wind — (applause) — enough power to power hundreds of thousands of homes onto the grid — putting old assets to work delivering clean energy.  This didn’t happen by accident.  It happened because we believed and invested in America’s innovation and ingenuity.

One of the companies investing in the factory here joined me at the White House this month.  Vineyard Winds, whose CEO told me about the ground-breaking project labor agreements they’ve negotiated, would create good-paying union jobs.  (Applause.)

And I want to compliment Congressman Bill Keating for his work in this area.

I’m also proud to point out that my administration approved the first commercial project for offshore wind in America, which is being constructed by Vineyard Winds.

Folks, elsewhere in the country, we are pr- — we are propelling retrofits and ensuring that even where fossil fuel plant retires, they still have a role in powering the future.

In Illinois, for example, the state has launched a broad effort to invest in converting old power plants to solar farms, led by Governor Pritzker.

In California, the IBEW members have helped turn a former oil plant into the world’s largest battery storage facility — the world’s largest facility.

In Wyoming, innovators are chosen to — a retiring plant as the next site for the next-generation nuclear plant.

And my administr- — my administration is a partner in that progress, driving federal resources and funding to the communities that have powered this country for generations.  And that’s why they need to be taken care of as well.

I want to thank Cecil Roberts, a friend and President of United Mine Workers of America, and so many other labor leaders who worked with — worked with on these initiatives.

Since I took office, we’ve invested more than $4 billion in federal funding to the 25 hardest-hit coal communities in the country, from West Virginia, to Kentucky, to Wyoming, to New Mexico.

Through the Infrastructure Law, we’re investing in clean hydrogen, nuclear, and carbon capture with the largest grid investment in American history.

We’ve secured $16 billion to clean up abandoned mines and wells, protecting thousands of communities from toxins and waste, particularly methane.  And we still — and we’re going to seal leaking methane pollution — an incredibly power[ful] greenhouse gas that’s 40 times more dangerous to the environment than carbon dioxide.  (Applause.)

And, folks, with American leadership back on climate, I was able to bring more world leaders together than — we got 100 nations together to agree that — at the major conference in Glasgow, England — I mean, Scotland — to change the emissions policies we had.

We’ve made real progress, but there is an enormous task ahead.  We have to keep retaining and recruiting building trades and union electricians for jobs in wind, solar, hydrogen, nuclear, creating even more and better jobs.

We have to revitalize communities, especially those fence-line communities that are smothered by the legacy of pollution.

We have to outcompete China and in the world, and make these technologies here in the United States — not have to import them.

Folks, when I think about climate change — and I’ve been saying this for three years — I think jobs.  Climate change, I think jobs.  (Applause.)

Almost 100 wind turbines going up off the coasts of Massachusetts and Rhode Island with ground broken and work underway.

Jobs manufacturing 2,500-ton steel foundations that anchor these offshore wind farms to the sea’s floor.  Jobs manufacturing a Jones Act vessel in Texas to service these offshore wind farms.

We’re going to make sure that the ocean is open for the clean energy of our future, and everything we can do — give a green light to wind power on the Atlantic coast, where my predecessor’s actions only created confusion.

And today we begin the process to develop wind power in the Gulf of Mexico as well for the first time.  A real opportunity to power millions of additional homes from wind.

Let’s clear the way — let’s clear the way for clean energy and connect these projects to the grid.

I’ve directed my administration to clear every federal hurdle and streamline federal permitting that brings these clean energy projects online right now and right away.  And some of you have already come up and talked to me about that.  (Applause.)  

And while so many governors and mayors have been strong partners in this fight to tackle climate change, we need all governors and mayors.  We need public utility commissioners and state agency heads.  We need electric utilities and developers to stand up and be part of the solution.  Don’t be a road block.  (Applause.)

You all have a duty right now to our economy, to our competitiveness in the world, to the young people in this nation, and to future generations — and that sounds like hyperbole but it’s not; it’s real — to act boldly on climate.

And so does Congress, which — notwithstanding the leadership of the men and women that are here today — has failed in this duty.  Not a single Republican in Congress stepped up to support my climate plan.  Not one. 

So, let me be clear: Climate change is an emergency. 

And in the coming weeks, I’m going to use the power I have as President to turn these words into formal, official government actions through the appropriate proclamations, executive orders, and regulatory power that a President possesses.  (Applause.) 

And when it comes to fighting the climate change — climate change, I will not take no for an answer.  I will do everything in my power to clean our air and water, protect our people’s health, to win the clean energy future. 

This, again, sounds like hyperbole, but our children and grandchildren are counting on us.  Not a joke.  Not a joke.  

If we don’t keep it below 1.5 degrees Centigrade, we lose it all.  We don’t get to turn it around.  And the world is counting on us.  And this is the United States of America.  When we put our hearts and minds to it, there’s not a single thing beyond our capacity — I mean it — when we act together. 

And of all things we should be acting together on, it’s climate.  It’s climate.

And, by the way, my dear mother — God rest her soul — used to say, “Joey, out of everything bad, something good will come if you look hard enough.”  Look what’s happening.  We’re going to be able to create as many or more good-paying jobs.  We’re going to make environments where people live safer.  We’re going to make the clean — the air safer.  I really mean it.  We have an opportunity here. 

I’ll bet you when you see what’s happened here in this cable construction here — manufacturing — and you go back and ask all the people who grew up in this beautiful place what they’d rather have: Do they want the plant back with everything it had, or what you’re going to have?  I will be dumbfounded if you find anybody, other than for pure sentimental reasons, saying, “I’d rather have the coal plant.” 

I’ll end by telling you another quick story.  When we moved from Scranton — when coal died in Scranton, everything died in Scranton.  And my dad wasn’t a coal miner.  My — my great — my great-grandfather was a mining engineer.  But my dad was in sales, and there was no work.  So we left to go down to Delaware, where I told you where those oil plants were. 

But I remember driving home — when you take the trolley in Scranton, going out North Washington and Adams Avenues.  Within 15 blocks — we didn’t live in the neighborhood — among the most prestigious neighborhood in the region, in the — in the town where the Scrantons and other good, decent people lived, there was a pla- — you’d go by a wall that — my recollection is it was somewhere between 15 and 18 feet tall.  And it went for the — essentially, a city block. 

And you could see the coal piled up to the very top of the wall from inside.  It was a coal-fired plant.  A coal-fired plant.  And all of that — all of the negative impacts of breathing that coal, the dust were effecting everybody.  But at the time, people didn’t know it and there wasn’t any alternative.

Folks, we have no excuse now.  We know it.  There are answers for it.  We can make things better in terms of jobs.  We can make things better in terms of the environment.  We can make things better for families overall.  So I’m looking forward to this movement. 

Thank you, thank you, thank you.  (Applause.)  May God bless you all.  And may God protect our troops.  Thank you.  (Applause.)

3:02 P.M. EDT

Stay Connected

We'll be in touch with the latest information on how President Biden and his administration are working for the American people, as well as ways you can get involved and help our country build back better.

Opt in to send and receive text messages from President Biden.

• Skip to main content
• Keyboard shortcuts for audio player

8 Ways To Teach Climate Change In Almost Any Classroom

Anya Kamenetz

NPR/Ipsos conducted a national poll recently and found that more than 8 in 10 teachers — and a similar majority of parents — support teaching kids about climate change.

But in reality, it's not always happening: Fewer than half of K-12 teachers told us that they talk about climate change with their children or students. Again, parents were about the same.

The top reason that teachers gave in our poll for not covering climate change? "It's not related to the subjects I teach," 65% said.

Most Teachers Don't Teach Climate Change; 4 In 5 Parents Wish They Did

Yet at the same time, we also heard from teachers and education organizations who are introducing the topic in subjects from social studies to math to English language arts, and at every grade level, from preschool on up.

That raises the question: Where does climate change belong in the curriculum, anyway?

The "reality of human-caused climate change" is mentioned in at least 36 state standards, according to an analysis done for NPR Ed by Glenn Branch, the deputy director at the National Center for Science Education. But it typically appears only briefly — and most likely just in earth science classes in middle and high school. And, Branch says, that doesn't even mean that every student in those states learns about it: Only two states require students to take earth or environmental science classes to graduate from high school.

Joseph Henderson teaches in the environmental studies department at Paul Smith's College in upstate New York. He studies how climate change is taught in schools and believes it needs to be taught across many subjects.

"For so long this has been seen as an issue that is solely within the domain of science," he says. "There needs to be a greater engagement across disciplines, particularly looking at the social dimensions," such as the displacement of populations by natural disasters.

Why Science Teachers Are Struggling With Climate Change

At the same time, there's a tension in pushing more educators to take this on. "I worry a lot about asking schools to solve yet another problem that society refuses to deal with."

As a potential response to this criticism, the nonprofit Ten Strands follows an "incremental infusion" model in California. In other words, environmental literacy becomes part of subjects and activities that are already in the curriculum instead of, the organization says, "burdening educators" with another stand-alone and complex area to cover.

We also heard from teachers who say they are searching for more ideas and resources to take on the topic of climate change. Here are some thoughts about how to broach the subject with students, no matter what subject you teach:

1. Do a lab.

Lab activities can be one of the most effective ways to show children how global warming works on an accessible scale.

Ellie Schaffer is a sixth-grader at Alice Deal Middle School in Washington, D.C. In science class, she has done simulations on greenhouse effects, using plastic wrap to trap the sun's heat. And she has used charcoal to see how black carbon from air pollution can speed the melting of ice.

These lessons have raised her awareness — and concern. "We've ignored climate change for a long time and now it's getting to be, like, a real problem, so we've gotta do something."

Many teachers we talked with mentioned NASA as a resource for labs and activities. The ones in this outline can be done with everyday materials such as ice, tinfoil, plastic bottles, rubber, light bulbs and a thermometer.

Teaching Middle-Schoolers Climate Change Without Terrifying Them

On the Earth Science Week website, there's a list of activities and lesson plans aligned with the Next Generation Science Standards. They range from simple to elaborate.

2. Show a movie.

Susan Fisher, a seventh-grade science teacher at South Woods Middle School in Syosset, N.Y., showed her students the 2016 documentary Before the Flood , featuring Leonardo DiCaprio journeying to five continents and the Arctic to see the effects of climate change. "It is our intention to make our students engaged citizens," Fisher says.

Before the Flood has an action page and an associated curriculum. Common Sense Media has a list of climate change-related movies for all ages.

The 2006 film An Inconvenient Truth and its 2017 sequel, An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth To Power, have curricular materials created in partnership with the National Wildlife Federation.

3. Assign a novel.

Rebecca Meyer is an eighth-grade English language arts teacher at Bronx Park Middle School in New York City.

She assigned her students a 2013 novel by Mindy McGinnis called Not a Drop to Drink .

"As we read the novel, kids made connections between what is happening today and the novel," Meyer says. "At the end of the unit, as a culminating project, students chose groups, researched current solutions for physical and economic water scarcity and created PSA videos using iMovie about the problem and how their solution could help to combat the issue."

Educators On A Hot Topic: Global Warming 101

She described the unit as a success. "They were very engaged; they loved it," she explains. "A lot of them shared this information with their families. When parents came in for parent-teacher conferences, they mentioned their kids had been talking to them about conserving water."

Not A Drop To Drink belongs to a subgenre of science fiction known as " cli-fi " (climate fiction) or sometimes eco-fiction. You can find lists of similar books at websites like Dragonfly.eco or at the Chicago Review of Books, which has a monthly Burning Worlds column about this kind of literature.

Looking for English topics for younger students? EL Education covers environmental topics, including water conservation and the impact of natural disasters, in its K-5 English language arts curriculum.

4. Do citizen science.

Terry Reed is the self-proclaimed "science guru" for seventh-graders at Prince David Kawananakoa Middle School in Honolulu. He has also spent a year sailing the Caribbean, and on his way, he collected water samples on behalf of a group called Adventure Scientists , to be tested for microplastics. (Spoiler: Even on remote, pristine beaches, all the samples had some.)

He has assigned his students to collect water samples from beaches near their homes to submit for the same project. He also has them take pictures of cloud formations and measure temperatures, to see changes in weather patterns over time. "One thing I stress to them, that in the next few years, they become the voting public," he says. "They need to be aware of the science."

5. Assign a research project, multimedia presentation or speech.

Gay Collins teaches public speaking at Waterford High School in Waterford, Conn. She is interested in "civil discourse" as a tool for problem-solving, so she encourages her students "to shape their speeches around critical topics, like the use of plastics, minimalism, and other environmental issues.

6. Talk about your personal experience.

Pamela Tarango teaches third grade at the Downtown Elementary School in Bakersfield, Calif. She tells her students about how the weather has changed there in her lifetime, getting hotter and drier: "In our Central Valley California city of Bakersfield, there has been a change in the winter climate. I told them about how, when I was growing up in the 1970s, we often had several two-and-three-hour delays to school starting because of dense tule fog, which affected visibility. We really never have those delays in the metropolitan area. It is only the outlying areas, which still have two-and-three-hour dense fog delays, and they are rare even for the rural areas."

(Although the Central Valley winter has indeed become hotter and drier because of climate change, recently a University of California, Berkeley study has attributed the reduction in tule fog specifically to declines in air pollution.)

7. Do a service project.

"I teach preschoolers and use the environment and our natural resources to highlight our everyday life," says Mercy Peña-Alevizos, who teaches at Holy Trinity Academy in Phoenix. "I stress the importance of appreciation and eliminating waste. My students understand and have fantastic ideas. We recycle and pick up around our neighborhood."

Environment And Energy Collaborative

Skipping school around the world to push for action on climate change.

Environmental service projects can be simple, elaborate or just for fun. Check out the #trashtag challenge on social media, for example.

8. Start or work in a school garden.

Mairs Ryan teaches science at St. Gregory the Great Catholic School in San Diego. "The sixth-graders oversee the school garden, as well as our vermin composting bin, christened the 'Worm Hotel'. The garden is their lab and the students 'live and learn' soil carbon sequestration and regenerative agriculture. Our school's compost bin is evidence that alternatives exist to methane-producing landfills. In looking for more solutions to reduce methane, students debate food reuse practices around the world."

Check out ThePermacultureStudent.com for resources on building school gardens with rainwater capture and compost systems to regenerate the soil. There are local and regional resources such as the Collective School Garden Network in California and Growing Minds in North Carolina, which offer basic plans for a school garden as well as lesson plans that connect gardening to Common Core standards.

Here are some more resources

After the publication of our climate poll story on Monday, we heard from people all over the country with dozens more resources for climate education.

Alliance for Climate Education has a multimedia resource called Our Climate Our Future , plus more resources for educators and several action programs for youth.

The American Association of Geographers has free online professional development resources for teachers.

American Reading Co. sells an English Language Arts curriculum called ARCCore that includes climate change themes.

Biointeractive, created by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, has hundreds of free online education resources, including many on education and the environment , and it offers professional development for teachers.

Climate Generation offers professional development for educators nationwide and a youth network in Minnesota.

CLEAN (Climate Literacy and Energy Awareness Network) has a collection of resources organized in part by the Next Generation Science Standard it is aligned with.

Global Oneness Project offers lesson plans that come with films and videos of climate impacts around the world.

Google offers free online environmental sustainability lesson plans for grades 5-8.

The Morningside Center for Teaching Social Responsibility has a group of 19 lessons for K-12.

"We believe that the social and emotional skills we help strengthen in young people and adults are sorely needed to combat the fear and avoidance we and students experience around climate change," spokesperson Laura McClure told NPR.

The National Center for Science Education has free climate change lessons that focus on combating misinformation. They also have a "scientist in the classroom" program.

The National Science Teachers Association has a comprehensive curriculum .

The Paleontological Research Institution in Ithaca, N.Y., has a book called the Teacher-Friendly Guide to Climate Change.

Ripple Effect "creates STEM curriculum" for K-6 "about real people and places impacted by climate change," starting with New Orleans.

Ten Strands offers professional learning to educators in California in partnership with the state's recycling authority and an outdoor-education program, among others.

Think Earth offers 9 environmental education units from preschool through middle school.

The Zinn Education Project (based on the work of Howard Zinn, the author of A People's History Of The United States) has launched a group of 18 lessons aimed specifically at climate justice. Some are drawn from this book: A People's Curriculum For The Earth: Teaching Climate Change And The Environmental Crisis .

The Effects of Climate Change

The effects of human-caused global warming are happening now, are irreversible for people alive today, and will worsen as long as humans add greenhouse gases to the atmosphere.

• We already see effects scientists predicted, such as the loss of sea ice, melting glaciers and ice sheets, sea level rise, and more intense heat waves.
• Scientists predict global temperature increases from human-made greenhouse gases will continue. Severe weather damage will also increase and intensify.

Earth Will Continue to Warm and the Effects Will Be Profound

Global climate change is not a future problem. Changes to Earth’s climate driven by increased human emissions of heat-trapping greenhouse gases are already having widespread effects on the environment: glaciers and ice sheets are shrinking, river and lake ice is breaking up earlier, plant and animal geographic ranges are shifting, and plants and trees are blooming sooner.

Effects that scientists had long predicted would result from global climate change are now occurring, such as sea ice loss, accelerated sea level rise, and longer, more intense heat waves.

The magnitude and rate of climate change and associated risks depend strongly on near-term mitigation and adaptation actions, and projected adverse impacts and related losses and damages escalate with every increment of global warming.

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change

Some changes (such as droughts, wildfires, and extreme rainfall) are happening faster than scientists previously assessed. In fact, according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) — the United Nations body established to assess the science related to climate change — modern humans have never before seen the observed changes in our global climate, and some of these changes are irreversible over the next hundreds to thousands of years.

Scientists have high confidence that global temperatures will continue to rise for many decades, mainly due to greenhouse gases produced by human activities.

The IPCC’s Sixth Assessment report, published in 2021, found that human emissions of heat-trapping gases have already warmed the climate by nearly 2 degrees Fahrenheit (1.1 degrees Celsius) since 1850-1900. 1 The global average temperature is expected to reach or exceed 1.5 degrees C (about 3 degrees F) within the next few decades. These changes will affect all regions of Earth.

The severity of effects caused by climate change will depend on the path of future human activities. More greenhouse gas emissions will lead to more climate extremes and widespread damaging effects across our planet. However, those future effects depend on the total amount of carbon dioxide we emit. So, if we can reduce emissions, we may avoid some of the worst effects.

The scientific evidence is unequivocal: climate change is a threat to human wellbeing and the health of the planet. Any further delay in concerted global action will miss the brief, rapidly closing window to secure a liveable future.

Here are some of the expected effects of global climate change on the United States, according to the Third and Fourth National Climate Assessment Reports:

Future effects of global climate change in the United States:

U.S. Sea Level Likely to Rise 1 to 6.6 Feet by 2100

Global sea level has risen about 8 inches (0.2 meters) since reliable record-keeping began in 1880. By 2100, scientists project that it will rise at least another foot (0.3 meters), but possibly as high as 6.6 feet (2 meters) in a high-emissions scenario. Sea level is rising because of added water from melting land ice and the expansion of seawater as it warms. Image credit: Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0

Climate Changes Will Continue Through This Century and Beyond

Global climate is projected to continue warming over this century and beyond. Image credit: Khagani Hasanov, Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0

Hurricanes Will Become Stronger and More Intense

Scientists project that hurricane-associated storm intensity and rainfall rates will increase as the climate continues to warm. Image credit: NASA

More Droughts and Heat Waves

Droughts in the Southwest and heat waves (periods of abnormally hot weather lasting days to weeks) are projected to become more intense, and cold waves less intense and less frequent. Image credit: NOAA

Longer Wildfire Season

Warming temperatures have extended and intensified wildfire season in the West, where long-term drought in the region has heightened the risk of fires. Scientists estimate that human-caused climate change has already doubled the area of forest burned in recent decades. By around 2050, the amount of land consumed by wildfires in Western states is projected to further increase by two to six times. Even in traditionally rainy regions like the Southeast, wildfires are projected to increase by about 30%.

Changes in Precipitation Patterns

Climate change is having an uneven effect on precipitation (rain and snow) in the United States, with some locations experiencing increased precipitation and flooding, while others suffer from drought. On average, more winter and spring precipitation is projected for the northern United States, and less for the Southwest, over this century. Image credit: Marvin Nauman/FEMA

Frost-Free Season (and Growing Season) will Lengthen

The length of the frost-free season, and the corresponding growing season, has been increasing since the 1980s, with the largest increases occurring in the western United States. Across the United States, the growing season is projected to continue to lengthen, which will affect ecosystems and agriculture.

Global Temperatures Will Continue to Rise

Summer of 2023 was Earth's hottest summer on record, 0.41 degrees Fahrenheit (F) (0.23 degrees Celsius (C)) warmer than any other summer in NASA’s record and 2.1 degrees F (1.2 C) warmer than the average summer between 1951 and 1980. Image credit: NASA

Arctic Is Very Likely to Become Ice-Free

Sea ice cover in the Arctic Ocean is expected to continue decreasing, and the Arctic Ocean will very likely become essentially ice-free in late summer if current projections hold. This change is expected to occur before mid-century.

U.S. Regional Effects

Climate change is bringing different types of challenges to each region of the country. Some of the current and future impacts are summarized below. These findings are from the Third 3 and Fourth 4 National Climate Assessment Reports, released by the U.S. Global Change Research Program .

• Northeast. Heat waves, heavy downpours, and sea level rise pose increasing challenges to many aspects of life in the Northeast. Infrastructure, agriculture, fisheries, and ecosystems will be increasingly compromised. Farmers can explore new crop options, but these adaptations are not cost- or risk-free. Moreover, adaptive capacity , which varies throughout the region, could be overwhelmed by a changing climate. Many states and cities are beginning to incorporate climate change into their planning.
• Northwest. Changes in the timing of peak flows in rivers and streams are reducing water supplies and worsening competing demands for water. Sea level rise, erosion, flooding, risks to infrastructure, and increasing ocean acidity pose major threats. Increasing wildfire incidence and severity, heat waves, insect outbreaks, and tree diseases are causing widespread forest die-off.
• Southeast. Sea level rise poses widespread and continuing threats to the region’s economy and environment. Extreme heat will affect health, energy, agriculture, and more. Decreased water availability will have economic and environmental impacts.
• Midwest. Extreme heat, heavy downpours, and flooding will affect infrastructure, health, agriculture, forestry, transportation, air and water quality, and more. Climate change will also worsen a range of risks to the Great Lakes.
• Southwest. Climate change has caused increased heat, drought, and insect outbreaks. In turn, these changes have made wildfires more numerous and severe. The warming climate has also caused a decline in water supplies, reduced agricultural yields, and triggered heat-related health impacts in cities. In coastal areas, flooding and erosion are additional concerns.

1. IPCC 2021, Climate Change 2021: The Physical Science Basis , the Working Group I contribution to the Sixth Assessment Report, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK.

2. IPCC, 2013: Summary for Policymakers. In: Climate Change 2013: The Physical Science Basis. Contribution of Working Group I to the Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change [Stocker, T.F., D. Qin, G.-K. Plattner, M. Tignor, S.K. Allen, J. Boschung, A. Nauels, Y. Xia, V. Bex and P.M. Midgley (eds.)]. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, United Kingdom and New York, NY, USA.

3. USGCRP 2014, Third Climate Assessment .

4. USGCRP 2017, Fourth Climate Assessment .

Related Resources

A Degree of Difference

So, the Earth's average temperature has increased about 2 degrees Fahrenheit during the 20th century. What's the big deal?

What’s the difference between climate change and global warming?

“Global warming” refers to the long-term warming of the planet. “Climate change” encompasses global warming, but refers to the broader range of changes that are happening to our planet, including rising sea levels; shrinking mountain glaciers; accelerating ice melt in Greenland, Antarctica and the Arctic; and shifts in flower/plant blooming times.

Is it too late to prevent climate change?

Humans have caused major climate changes to happen already, and we have set in motion more changes still. However, if we stopped emitting greenhouse gases today, the rise in global temperatures would begin to flatten within a few years. Temperatures would then plateau but remain well-elevated for many, many centuries.

Discover More Topics From NASA

Explore Earth Science

Earth Science in Action

Earth Science Data

Facts About Earth

Climate change is already altering everything, from fertility choices to insuring our homes

Climate change is already changing the way many of us live or think. Image:  Unsplash/Alexander Tsang

.chakra .wef-1c7l3mo{-webkit-transition:all 0.15s ease-out;transition:all 0.15s ease-out;cursor:pointer;-webkit-text-decoration:none;text-decoration:none;outline:none;color:inherit;}.chakra .wef-1c7l3mo:hover,.chakra .wef-1c7l3mo[data-hover]{-webkit-text-decoration:underline;text-decoration:underline;}.chakra .wef-1c7l3mo:focus,.chakra .wef-1c7l3mo[data-focus]{box-shadow:0 0 0 3px rgba(168,203,251,0.5);} Stefan Ellerbeck

.chakra .wef-9dduvl{margin-top:16px;margin-bottom:16px;line-height:1.388;font-size:1.25rem;}@media screen and (min-width:56.5rem){.chakra .wef-9dduvl{font-size:1.125rem;}} Explore and monitor how .chakra .wef-15eoq1r{margin-top:16px;margin-bottom:16px;line-height:1.388;font-size:1.25rem;color:#F7DB5E;}@media screen and (min-width:56.5rem){.chakra .wef-15eoq1r{font-size:1.125rem;}} Pandemic Preparedness and Response is affecting economies, industries and global issues

.chakra .wef-1nk5u5d{margin-top:16px;margin-bottom:16px;line-height:1.388;color:#2846F8;font-size:1.25rem;}@media screen and (min-width:56.5rem){.chakra .wef-1nk5u5d{font-size:1.125rem;}} Get involved with our crowdsourced digital platform to deliver impact at scale

Stay up to date:, pandemic preparedness and response.

• Climate change is already affecting people’s lives in a variety of ways.
• Global warming is the biggest health threat facing humanity, the World Health Organization says.
• It’s also making people rethink family planning choices and putting properties at risk of becoming uninsurable.
• Disruptions to supply chains because of extreme weather are shaking the global economy.

How is climate change affecting you?

You may think the biggest impacts lie far away – in terms of time or geography. But global warming is already changing the way many of us live or think.

1. Health suffers because of climate change

Climate change is the biggest health threat facing humanity , the World Health Organization says, estimating that it will cause around a quarter of a million additional deaths each year in 2030-50. These will mainly be from malnutrition, malaria, diarrhoea and heat stress.

However, climate change is already having more subtle effects on health and wellbeing. Spring is beginning earlier in many places, meaning there’s a higher pollen count. This is bad news for allergy sufferers. Higher temperatures in the United States made the pollen season 11-27 days longer between 1995 and 2011, the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America says.

Rising temperatures also contribute to worsening air quality, which can increase the risk and severity of asthma attacks .

2. Climate change is raising the cost of living

COVID-19 has received most of the blame for recent global supply chain problems, but climate change is also having an impact. When supply chains are shaken, this impacts the availability and cost of goods.

Freezing weather in Texas in February 2021 triggered the United States’ most severe energy blackout of all time, leading to shutdowns at three major semiconductor plants and adding to the global shortage of microchips.

The cost of living is also soaring because of the global surge in energy prices. While Russia’s war on Ukraine is driving much of this now, climate change is also a factor.

“ Companies face up to $120 billion in costs from environmental risks in their supply chains by 2026,” according to research published in 2021 by CDP, a nonprofit that runs the world's largest environmental disclosure system. This will include increased costs for raw materials, and because of regulatory changes such as carbon pricing as the world addresses environmental crises, the report says.

In 2021, more than 20% of American adults lived in households unable to pay their utility bills .

3. Warming oceans are threatening our way of life

Sea level rises could pose the biggest threat to global supply chains , potentially putting ports and coastal infrastructure out of action. Higher sea temperatures may also cause more severe storms in tropical parts of the world, posing a threat to life and infrastructure.

The sea is home to most of our biodiversity, and 3 billion people globally rely on it for their livelihoods, according to the UN. However, carbon emissions from human activity are causing ocean warming, acidification and oxygen loss , putting large numbers of marine-related jobs at risk, it says.

Climate change poses an urgent threat demanding decisive action. Communities around the world are already experiencing increased climate impacts, from droughts to floods to rising seas. The World Economic Forum's Global Risks Report continues to rank these environmental threats at the top of the list.

To limit global temperature rise to well below 2°C and as close as possible to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels, it is essential that businesses, policy-makers, and civil society advance comprehensive near- and long-term climate actions in line with the goals of the Paris Agreement on climate change.

The World Economic Forum's Climate Initiative supports the scaling and acceleration of global climate action through public and private-sector collaboration. The Initiative works across several workstreams to develop and implement inclusive and ambitious solutions.

This includes the Alliance of CEO Climate Leaders, a global network of business leaders from various industries developing cost-effective solutions to transitioning to a low-carbon, climate-resilient economy. CEOs use their position and influence with policy-makers and corporate partners to accelerate the transition and realize the economic benefits of delivering a safer climate.

Contact us to get involved.

4. People might have fewer babies

People are increasingly citing the climate crisis as a major reason why they may decide to have fewer or even no children. According to a study in the United States, a third of women said they will reduce their anticipated family size because of it.

However a similar number of the more than 2,800 American women surveyed by Modernfertility.com said the issue has made them decide to have children sooner . The study says this is because it’s either made them focus more on what’s important to them or given them a sense of urgency.

5. Your property could become uninsurable

Insurance is something that nearly everyone has, but climate change poses a “systemic risk” to the sector, according to professional services company Grant Thornton.

Extreme weather events led to insured losses of $105 billion in 2021 , the fourth-highest level since 1970, according to preliminary estimates by Swiss Re, one of the world's leading providers of reinsurance and insurance.

This not only potentially makes insurance more expensive for everyone, but it also means some assets could become uninsurable . One in 25 Australian homes could be uninsurable by 2030 , according to the Climate Council.

6. Increased chance of another pandemic

Climate change makes new pandemics more likely, because as temperatures increase, wild animals will be forced to change habitats. This could lead to them living nearer to human populations, increasing the chances of a virus jumping between species and causing the next pandemic, according to a report published by the scientific journal Nature.

“Geographic range shifts” will mean mammals encounter each other for the first time, and in doing so will share thousands of viruses, the report says. Even keeping global warming under 2°C this century “will not reduce future viral sharing”, the scientists note.

What is the World Economic Forum doing about fighting pandemics?

The first human trial of a COVID-19 vaccine was administered this week.

CEPI, launched at the World Economic Forum, provided funding support for the Phase 1 study. The organization this week announced their seventh COVID-19 vaccine project in the fight against the pandemic.

The Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) was launched in 2017 at the Forum's Annual Meeting – bringing together experts from government, business, health, academia and civil society to accelerate the development of vaccines against emerging infectious diseases and to enable access to these vaccines during outbreaks.

Coalitions like CEPI are made possible through public-private partnerships. The World Economic Forum is the trusted global platform for stakeholder engagement, bringing together a range of multistakeholders from business, government and civil society to improve the state of the world.

Organizations can partner with the Forum to contribute to global health solutions. Contact us to find out how.

The World Economic Forum is committed to helping limit global warming to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels to stave off catastrophe. It aims to work with leaders to increase climate commitments, collaborate with partners to develop private initiatives, and provide a platform for innovators to realize their ambition and contribute solutions.

Have you read?

A ticking clock: are our health systems prepared to address the impacts of climate change, this is how climate change could impact the global economy, global risks report 2022: what you need to know, don't miss any update on this topic.

Create a free account and access your personalized content collection with our latest publications and analyses.

License and Republishing

World Economic Forum articles may be republished in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International Public License, and in accordance with our Terms of Use.

The views expressed in this article are those of the author alone and not the World Economic Forum.

Related topics:

The agenda .chakra .wef-n7bacu{margin-top:16px;margin-bottom:16px;line-height:1.388;font-weight:400;} weekly.

A weekly update of the most important issues driving the global agenda

.chakra .wef-1dtnjt5{display:-webkit-box;display:-webkit-flex;display:-ms-flexbox;display:flex;-webkit-align-items:center;-webkit-box-align:center;-ms-flex-align:center;align-items:center;-webkit-flex-wrap:wrap;-ms-flex-wrap:wrap;flex-wrap:wrap;} More on Climate Action .chakra .wef-17xejub{-webkit-flex:1;-ms-flex:1;flex:1;justify-self:stretch;-webkit-align-self:stretch;-ms-flex-item-align:stretch;align-self:stretch;} .chakra .wef-nr1rr4{display:-webkit-inline-box;display:-webkit-inline-flex;display:-ms-inline-flexbox;display:inline-flex;white-space:normal;vertical-align:middle;text-transform:uppercase;font-size:0.75rem;border-radius:0.25rem;font-weight:700;-webkit-align-items:center;-webkit-box-align:center;-ms-flex-align:center;align-items:center;line-height:1.2;-webkit-letter-spacing:1.25px;-moz-letter-spacing:1.25px;-ms-letter-spacing:1.25px;letter-spacing:1.25px;background:none;padding:0px;color:#B3B3B3;-webkit-box-decoration-break:clone;box-decoration-break:clone;-webkit-box-decoration-break:clone;}@media screen and (min-width:37.5rem){.chakra .wef-nr1rr4{font-size:0.875rem;}}@media screen and (min-width:56.5rem){.chakra .wef-nr1rr4{font-size:1rem;}} See all

Climate crisis costs the world 12% in GDP for every 1°C temperature rise, and other nature and climate stories you need to read this week

Michael Purton

June 6, 2024

Why climate finance is pivotal to alleviating harm from South Asia's extreme heat

Aarti Lila Ram

June 5, 2024

7 energy and climate good-news stories to give you hope

Johnny Wood

Why investment in water is crucial to tackling the climate crisis

Kate Whiting

Why investing in nature makes ecological and economic sense

Razan Al Mubarak

How the First Movers Coalition is working to decarbonize the aluminium, steel and cement and concrete sectors

Jelena Aleksić and Daniel Boero Vargas

June 4, 2024

Global Warming Speech for Students and Children

3 minutes speech on global warming.

Global Warming is definitely the single greatest environmental challenge that the planet earth is facing at present. It is essential to understand the gravity of the situation. The fuel which you use in order to power your homes, cars, businesses and more is heating up the planet faster than expected. We are recording the hottest days and decades ever. What’s alarming is that the temperature of the earth has climbed to the highest point it has ever been in the past 12,000 years. It only gets worse from here if we don’t stop it now.

Impact of Global Warming

As the planet is getting hotter, we need to collectively act right now instead of waiting for more. The primary cause of global warming is fossil fuels. Human beings are addicted to burning them which produces coal, oil, greenhouse gases and more.

The power plants, cards, and industries produce Carbon dioxide which stays in the atmosphere for 5 decades or more. This is the reason why the temperature of the earth rises.

Due to this rise in temperature, the oceans are rising and the coral reefs are dying. Many aquatic species are going extinct while the glaciers are melting. You will be surprised to know that Greenland is losing 20% more mass than it receives from new snowfall.

Thus, it will keep shrinking as the earth warms. Moreover, extreme weather patterns are for everyone to see. The heatwaves, droughts, floods, are now taking place with greater intensity and frequency.

The hurricanes are doubling up in nature in terms of occurrence and the Katrina Hurricane is enough to prove this point. Further, the Greenland and Western Antarctic ice sheets are at great risk of melting completely. Please note that these two ice sheets presently hold around 20% of the Earth’s freshwater. The rise in sea levels will damage the coastal areas globally. Moreover, the regularity of hurricanes, tornadoes, and others may become more volatile spreading malaria and other deadly diseases.

Get the Huge list of 100+ Speech Topics here

Ways to Tackle Global Warming

The time is now to do something to prevent global warming, otherwise, it will be irreversible. Electricity and transportation contribute largely to global warming, so we must begin there. It is important to note that there is no silver bullet and we must all come together to tackle global warming as a whole. Every home, business, industry, individual effort is required to tackle this crisis.

As coal produces tons of Carbon dioxide annually, we need to find ways to clean up coal. We can also tackle global warming by beginning with putting agriculture in the system. We must encourage farmers to adapt to greener farming practices. For instance, they must till land less often, and plant trees on vacant land.

Moreover, the same regime needs to be applied to other industrial producers of carbon dioxide. For instance, the transportation industry of cars, trucks, planes and more produce 28% of the carbon dioxide emissions. Thus, we must reduce these emissions by enhancing the fuel efficiency of the vehicles. Also, it is high time we got rid of oil and gasoline-based fuels and opt for greener alternatives.

On an individual level also, we must work to adopt a greener and healthier lifestyle. Try to drive less and walk more or take public transport. Get into the habit of recycling and avoid unnecessary wastage of goods. Save electricity by switching off appliances when not in use.  Most importantly, plant a tree as a single tree can absorb one ton of carbon dioxide in its lifetime. Thus, remember, the change begins with you.

Read Essays for Students and Children here

Customize your course in 30 seconds

Which class are you in.

Speech for Students

• Speech on India for Students and Children
• Speech on Mother for Students and Children
• Speech on Air Pollution for Students and Children
• Speech about Life for Students and Children
• Speech on Disaster Management for Students and Children
• Speech on Internet for Students and Children
• Speech on Generation Gap for Students and Children
• Speech on Indian Culture for Students and Children
• Speech on Sports for Students and Children
• Speech on Water for Students and Children

16 responses to “Speech on Water for Students and Children”

this was very helpful it saved my life i got this at the correct time very nice and helpful

This Helped Me With My Speech!!!

I can give it 100 stars for the speech it is amazing i love it.

Its amazing!!

Great !!!! It is an advanced definition and detail about Pollution. The word limit is also sufficient. It helped me a lot.

This is very good

Very helpful in my speech

Oh my god, this saved my life. You can just copy and paste it and change a few words. I would give this 4 out of 5 stars, because I had to research a few words. But my teacher didn’t know about this website, so amazing.

Tomorrow is my exam . This is Very helpfull

It’s really very helpful

yah it’s is very cool and helpful for me… a lot of 👍👍👍

Very much helpful and its well crafted and expressed. Thumb’s up!!!

wow so amazing it helped me that one of environment infact i was given a certificate

check it out travel and tourism voucher

thank you very much

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Download the App

Never Miss A Post: Subscribe

Four Powerful Climate Change Speeches to Inspire You

To support the running costs of Moral Fibres, this post may contain affiliate links. This means Moral Fibres may earn a small commission, at no extra cost to readers, on items purchased through these links.

Looking to be inspired to take action on climate change? Watch these four powerful climate change speeches, and get ready to change the world.

Climate change is the most pressing concern facing us and our planet. As such, we need powerful action, and fast, from both global leaders and global corporations, right down to individuals.

I’ve got over 70 climate change and sustainability quotes to motivate people and inspire climate action. But if it is more than quotes you need then watch these four impassioned climate change speeches. These speeches are particularly good if you are looking for even more inspiration to inspire others to take climate action.

The Sustainability Speeches To Motivate You

Here are the speeches to know – I’ve included a video of each speech plus a transcript to make it easy to get all the information you need. Use the quick links to jump to a specific speech or keep scrolling to see all the speeches.

Greta Thunberg’s Climate Change Speech at the 2019 UN Climate Action Summit

Leonardo dicaprio’s climate change speech at the 2014 un climate summit, yeb sano’s climate change speech at the united nations climate summit in warsaw, greta thunberg’s speech at houses of parliament.

In September 2019 climate activist Greta Thunberg addressed the U.N.’s Climate Action Summit in New York City with this inspiring climate change speech:

Here’s the full transcript of Greta Thunberg’s climate change speech. It begins with Greta’s response to a question about the message she has for world leaders.

My message is that we’ll be watching you.

This is all wrong. I shouldn’t be up here. I should be back in school on the other side of the ocean. Yet you all come to us young people for hope. How dare you!

You have stolen my dreams and my childhood with your empty words. And yet I’m one of the lucky ones. People are suffering. People are dying. Entire ecosystems are collapsing. We are in the beginning of a mass extinction, and all you can talk about is money and fairy tales of eternal economic growth. How dare you!

For more than 30 years, the science has been crystal clear. How dare you continue to look away and come here saying that you’re doing enough when the politics and solutions needed are still nowhere in sight.

You say you hear us and that you understand the urgency. But no matter how sad and angry I am, I do not want to believe that. Because if you really understood the situation and still kept on failing to act, then you would be evil. And that I refuse to believe.

The popular idea of cutting our emissions in half in 10 years only gives us a 50% chance of staying below 1.5°C, and the risk of setting off irreversible chain reactions beyond human control.

Fifty per cent may be acceptable to you. But those numbers do not include tipping points, most feedback loops, additional warming hidden by toxic air pollution or the aspects of equity and climate justice. They also rely on my generation sucking hundreds of billions of tons of your CO 2 out of the air with technologies that barely exist.

So a 50% risk is simply not acceptable to us — we who have to live with the consequences.

To have a 67% chance of staying below a 1.5°C global temperature rise – the best odds given by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change – the world had 420 gigatons of CO 2 left to emit back on January 1st, 2018. Today that figure is already down to less than 350 gigatons.

How dare you pretend that this can be solved with just ‘business as usual’ and some technical solutions? With today’s emissions levels, that remaining CO 2 budget will be entirely gone within less than 8 and a half years.

There will not be any solutions or plans presented in line with these figures here today, because these numbers are too uncomfortable. And you are still not mature enough to tell it like it is.

You are failing us. But the young people are starting to understand your betrayal. The eyes of all future generations are upon you. And if you choose to fail us, I say: We will never forgive you.

We will not let you get away with this. Right here, right now is where we draw the line. The world is waking up. And change is coming, whether you like it or not.

Leonardo DiCaprio gave an impassioned climate change speech at the 2014 UN Climate Summit. Watch it now:

Here’s a transcript of Leonardo DiCaprio’s climate change speech in case you’re looking to quote any part of it.

Thank you, Mr Secretary General, your excellencies, ladies and gentleman, and distinguished guests. I’m honoured to be here today, I stand before you not as an expert but as a concerned citizen. One of the 400,000 people who marched in the streets of New York on Sunday, and the billions of others around the world who want to solve our climate crisis.

As an actor, I pretend for a living. I play fictitious characters often solving fictitious problems.

I believe humankind has looked at climate change in that same way. As if it were fiction, happening to someone else’s planet, as if pretending that climate change wasn’t real would somehow make it go away.

But I think we know better than that. Every week, we’re seeing new and undeniable climate events, evidence that accelerated climate change is here now .  We know that droughts are intensifying.  Our oceans are warming and acidifying, with methane plumes rising up from beneath the ocean floor. We are seeing extreme weather events, increased temperatures, and the West Antarctic and Greenland ice sheets melting at unprecedented rates, decades ahead of scientific projections.

None of this is rhetoric, and none of it is hysteria. It is fact. The scientific community knows it. Industry and governments know it. Even the United States military knows it. The chief of the US Navy’s Pacific Command, Admiral Samuel Locklear, recently said that climate change is our single greatest security threat.

My friends, this body – perhaps more than any other gathering in human history – now faces that difficult task. You can make history or be vilified by it.

To be clear, this is not about just telling people to change their light bulbs or to buy a hybrid car. This disaster has grown BEYOND the choices that individuals make. This is now about our industries, and governments around the world taking decisive, large-scale action.

I am not a scientist, but I don’t need to be. Because the world’s scientific community has spoken, and they have given us our prognosis. If we do not act together, we will surely perish.

Now is our moment for action.

We need to put a price tag on carbon emissions and eliminate government subsidies for coal, gas, and oil companies. We need to end the free ride that industrial polluters have been given in the name of a free-market economy. They don’t deserve our tax dollars, they deserve our scrutiny. For the economy itself will die if our ecosystems collapse.

The good news is that renewable energy is not only achievable but good economic policy. New research shows that by 2050 clean, renewable energy could supply 100% of the world’s energy needs using existing technologies, and it would create millions of jobs.

This is not a partisan debate; it is a human one. Clean air and water, and a livable climate are inalienable human rights. And solving this crisis is not a question of politics. It is our moral obligation – if, admittedly, a daunting one.

We only get one planet. Humankind must become accountable on a massive scale for the wanton destruction of our collective home. Protecting our future on this planet depends on the conscious evolution of our species.

This is the most urgent of times, and the most urgent of messages.

Honoured delegates, leaders of the world, I pretend for a living. But you do not. The people made their voices heard on Sunday around the world and the momentum will not stop. And now it’s YOUR turn, the time to answer the greatest challenge of our existence on this planet is now.

I beg you to face it with courage. And honesty. Thank you.

The Philippines’ lead negotiator  Yeb Sano  addressed the opening session of the UN climate summit in Warsaw in November 2013. In this emotional and powerful climate change speech he called for urgent action to prevent a repeat of the devastating storm that hit parts of the Philippines:

Transcript of Yeb’s Climate Change Speech

Here’s a transcript of Yeb’s climate change speech:

Mr President, I have the honour to speak on behalf of the resilient people of the Republic of the Philippines.

At the onset, allow me to fully associate my delegation with the statement made by the distinguished Ambassador of the Republic of Fiji, on behalf of G77 and China as well as the statement made by Nicaragua on behalf of the Like-Minded Developing Countries.

First and foremost, the people of the Philippines, and our delegation here for the United Nations Climate Change Convention’s 19 th  Conference of the Parties here in Warsaw, from the bottom of our hearts, thank you for your expression of sympathy to my country in the face of this national difficulty.

In the midst of this tragedy, the delegation of the Philippines is comforted by the warm hospitality of Poland, with your people offering us warm smiles everywhere we go. Hotel staff and people on the streets, volunteers and personnel within the National Stadium have warmly offered us kind words of sympathy. So, thank you Poland.

The arrangements you have made for this COP is also most excellent and we highly appreciate the tremendous effort you have put into the preparations for this important gathering.

We also thank all of you, friends and colleagues in this hall and from all corners of the world as you stand beside us in this difficult time.

I thank all countries and governments who have extended your solidarity and for offering assistance to the Philippines.

I thank the youth present here and the billions of young people around the world who stand steadfastly behind my delegation and who are watching us shape their future.

I thank civil society, both who are working on the ground as we race against time in the hardest-hit areas, and those who are here in Warsaw prodding us to have a sense of urgency and ambition.

We are deeply moved by this manifestation of human solidarity. This outpouring of support proves to us that as a human race, we can unite; that as a species, we care.

It was barely 11 months ago in Doha when my delegation appealed to the world… to open our eyes to the stark reality that we face… as then we confronted a catastrophic storm that resulted in the costliest disaster in Philippine history.

Less than a year hence, we cannot imagine that a disaster much bigger would come. With an apparent cruel twist of fate, my country is being tested by this hellstorm called Super Typhoon Haiyan, which has been described by experts as the strongest typhoon that has ever made landfall in the course of recorded human history.

It was so strong that if there was a Category 6, it would have fallen squarely in that box. Up to this hour, we remain uncertain as to the full extent of the devastation, as information trickles in an agonisingly slow manner because electricity lines and communication lines have been cut off and may take a while before these are restored.

The initial assessment shows that Haiyan left a wake of massive devastation that is unprecedented, unthinkable, and horrific, affecting 2/3 of the Philippines, with about half a million people now rendered homeless, and with scenes reminiscent of the aftermath of a tsunami, with a vast wasteland of mud and debris and dead bodies.

According to satellite estimates, the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration also estimated that Haiyan achieved a minimum pressure between around 860 mbar (hPa; 25.34 inHg) and the Joint Typhoon Warning Center estimated Haiyan to have attained one-minute sustained winds of 315 km/h (195 mph) and gusts up to 378 km/h (235 mph) making it the strongest typhoon in modern recorded history.

Despite the massive efforts that my country had exerted in preparing for the onslaught of this monster of a storm, it was just a force too powerful, and even as a nation familiar with storms, Super Typhoon Haiyan was nothing we have ever experienced before, or perhaps nothing that any country has every experienced before.

The picture in the aftermath is ever so slowly coming into clearer focus. The devastation is colossal. And as if this is not enough, another storm is brewing again in the warm waters of the western Pacific. I shudder at the thought of another typhoon hitting the same places where people have not yet even managed to begin standing up.

To anyone who continues to deny the reality that is climate change, I dare you to get off your ivory tower and away from the comfort of your armchair.

I dare you to go to the islands of the Pacific, the islands of the Caribbean and the islands of the Indian Ocean and see the impacts of rising sea levels; to the mountainous regions of the Himalayas and the Andes to see communities confronting glacial floods, to the Arctic where communities grapple with the fast dwindling polar ice caps, to the large deltas of the Mekong, the Ganges, the Amazon, and the Nile where lives and livelihoods are drowned, to the hills of Central America that confront similar monstrous hurricanes, to the vast savannahs of Africa where climate change has likewise become a matter of life and death as food and water becomes scarce.

Not to forget the massive hurricanes in the Gulf of Mexico and the eastern seaboard of North America. And if that is not enough, you may want to pay a visit to the Philippines right now.

The science has given us a picture that has become much more in focus. The IPCC report on climate change and extreme events underscored the risks associated with changes in the patterns as well as the frequency of extreme weather events.

Science tells us that simply, climate change will mean more intense tropical storms. As the Earth warms up, that would include the oceans. The energy that is stored in the waters off the Philippines will increase the intensity of typhoons and the trend we now see is that more destructive storms will be the new norm.

This will have profound implications on many of our communities, especially who struggle against the twin challenges of the development crisis and the climate change crisis. Typhoons such as Yolanda (Haiyan) and its impacts represent a sobering reminder to the international community that we cannot afford to procrastinate on climate action. Warsaw must deliver on enhancing ambition and should muster the political will to address climate change.

In Doha, we asked, “If not us then who? If not now, then when? If not here, then where?” (borrowed from Philippine student leader Ditto Sarmiento during Martial Law). It may have fell on deaf ears. But here in Warsaw, we may very well ask these same forthright questions. “If not us, then who? If not now, then when? If not here in Warsaw, where?”

What my country is going through as a result of this extreme climate event is madness. The climate crisis is madness.

We can stop this madness. Right here in Warsaw.

It is the 19 th  COP, but we might as well stop counting because my country refuses to accept that a COP30 or a COP40 will be needed to solve climate change.

And because it seems that despite the significant gains we have had since the UNFCCC was born, 20 years hence we continue to fail in fulfilling the ultimate objective of the Convention. 

Now, we find ourselves in a situation where we have to ask ourselves – can we ever attain the objective set out in Article 2 – which is to prevent dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system? By failing to meet the objective of the Convention, we may have ratified the doom of vulnerable countries.

And if we have failed to meet the objective of the Convention, we have to confront the issue of loss and damage.

Loss and damage from climate change is a reality today across the world. Developed country emissions reduction targets are dangerously low and must be raised immediately. But even if they were in line with the demand of reducing 40-50% below 1990 levels, we would still have locked-in climate change and would still need to address the issue of loss and damage.

We find ourselves at a critical juncture and the situation is such that even the most ambitious emissions reductions by developed countries, who should have been taking the lead in combatting climate change in the past two decades, will not be enough to avert the crisis.

It is now too late, too late to talk about the world being able to rely on Annex I countries to solve the climate crisis. We have entered a new era that demands global solidarity in order to fight climate change and ensure that the pursuit of sustainable human development remains at the fore of the global community’s efforts. This is why means of implementation for developing countries is ever more crucial.

It was the Secretary-general of the UN Conference on Environment and Development, Earth Summit, Rio de Janeiro, 1992, Maurice Strong who said that “History reminds us that what is not possible today, may be inevitable tomorrow.”

We cannot sit and stay helpless staring at this international climate stalemate. It is now time to take action. We need an emergency climate pathway.

I speak for my delegation. But more than that, I speak for the countless people who will no longer be able to speak for themselves after perishing from the storm. I also speak for those who have been orphaned by this tragedy. I also speak for the people now racing against time to save survivors and alleviate the suffering of the people affected by the disaster.

We can take drastic action now to ensure that we prevent a future where super typhoons are a way of life. Because we refuse, as a nation, to accept a future where super typhoons like Haiyan become a fact of life. We refuse to accept that running away from storms, evacuating our families, suffering the devastation and misery, having to count our dead, become a way of life. We simply refuse to.

We must stop calling events like these as natural disasters. It is not natural when people continue to struggle to eradicate poverty and pursue development and get battered by the onslaught of a monster storm now considered as the strongest storm ever to hit land. It is not natural when science already tells us that global warming will induce more intense storms. It is not natural when the human species has already profoundly changed the climate.

Disasters are never natural. They are the intersection of factors other than physical. They are the accumulation of the constant breach of economic, social, and environmental thresholds.

Most of the time disasters are a result of inequity and the poorest people of the world are at greatest risk because of their vulnerability and decades of maldevelopment, which I must assert is connected to the kind of pursuit of economic growth that dominates the world. The same kind of pursuit of so-called economic growth and unsustainable consumption that has altered the climate system.

Now, if you will allow me, to speak on a more personal note.

Super Typhoon Haiyan made landfall in my family’s hometown and the devastation is staggering. I struggle to find words even for the images that we see from the news coverage. I struggle to find words to describe how I feel about the losses and damages we have suffered from this cataclysm.

Up to this hour, I agonize while waiting for word as to the fate of my very own relatives. What gives me renewed strength and great relief was when my brother succeeded in communicating with us that he has survived the onslaught. In the last two days, he has been gathering bodies of the dead with his own two hands. He is hungry and weary as food supplies find it difficult to arrive in the hardest-hit areas.

We call on this COP to pursue work until the most meaningful outcome is in sight. Until concrete pledges have been made to ensure mobilisation of resources for the Green Climate Fund. Until the promise of the establishment of a loss and damage mechanism has been fulfilled. Until there is assurance on finance for adaptation. Until concrete pathways for reaching the committed 100 billion dollars have been made. Until we see real ambition on stabilizing greenhouse gas concentrations. We must put the money where our mouths are.

This process under the UNFCCC has been called many names. It has been called a farce. It has been called an annual carbon-intensive gathering of useless frequent flyers. It has been called many names. But it has also been called “The Project To Save The Planet”. It has been called “Saving Tomorrow Today”. We can fix this. We can stop this madness. Right now. Right here, in the middle of this football field.

I call on you to lead us. And let Poland be forever known as the place we truly cared to stop this madness. Can humanity rise to the occasion? I still believe we can.

Finally, in April 2019, Greta spoke at the Houses of Parliament in the UK. Here she gave this powerful climate change speech to the UK’s political leaders:

Transcript of Greta’s Climate Change Speech

Here is the full transcript of Greta’s climate change speech:

My name is Greta Thunberg. I am 16 years old. I come from Sweden. And I speak on behalf of future generations.

I know many of you don’t want to listen to us – you say we are just children. But we’re only repeating the message of the united climate science.

Many of you appear concerned that we are wasting valuable lesson time, but I assure you we will go back to school the moment you start listening to science and give us a future. Is that really too much to ask?

In the year 2030, I will be 26 years old. My little sister Beata will be 23. Just like many of your own children or grandchildren. That is a great age, we have been told. When you have all of your life ahead of you. But I am not so sure it will be that great for us.

I was fortunate to be born in a time and place where everyone told us to dream big. I could become whatever I wanted to. I could live wherever I wanted to. People like me had everything we needed and more. Things our grandparents could not even dream of. We had everything we could ever wish for and yet now we may have nothing.

Now we probably don’t even have a future anymore.

Because that future was sold so that a small number of people could make unimaginable amounts of money. It was stolen from us every time you said that the sky was the limit and that you only live once.

You lied to us. You gave us false hope. You told us that the future was something to look forward to. And the saddest thing is that most children are not even aware of the fate that awaits us. We will not understand it until it’s too late. And yet we are the lucky ones. Those who will be affected the hardest are already suffering the consequences. But their voices are not heard.

Is my microphone on? Can you hear me?

Around the year 2030, 10 years 252 days and 10 hours away from now, we will be in a position where we set off an irreversible chain reaction beyond human control, that will most likely lead to the end of our civilisation as we know it. That is unless, in that time, permanent and unprecedented changes in all aspects of society have taken place, including a reduction of CO 2 emissions by at least 50%.

And please note that these calculations are depending on inventions that have not yet been invented at scale, inventions that are supposed to clear the atmosphere of astronomical amounts of carbon dioxide.

Furthermore, these calculations do not include unforeseen tipping points and feedback loops like the extremely powerful methane gas escaping from rapidly thawing arctic permafrost.

Nor do these scientific calculations include already locked-in warming hidden by toxic air pollution. Nor the aspect of equity – or climate justice – clearly stated throughout the Paris Agreement, which is absolutely necessary to make it work on a global scale.

We must also bear in mind that these are just calculations. Estimations. That means that these “points of no return” may occur a bit sooner or later than 2030. No one can know for sure. We can, however, be certain that they will occur approximately in these timeframes because these calculations are not opinions or wild guesses.

These projections are backed up by scientific facts, concluded by all nations through the IPCC. Nearly every single major national scientific body around the world unreservedly supports the work and findings of the IPCC.

Did you hear what I just said? Is my English OK? Is the microphone on? Because I’m beginning to wonder.

During the last six months, I have travelled around Europe for hundreds of hours in trains, electric cars, and buses, repeating these life-changing words over and over again. But no one seems to be talking about it, and nothing has changed. In fact, the emissions are still rising.

When I have been travelling around to speak in different countries, I am always offered help to write about the specific climate policies in specific countries. But that is not really necessary. Because the basic problem is the same everywhere. And the basic problem is that basically nothing is being done to halt – or even slow – climate and ecological breakdown, despite all the beautiful words and promises.

The UK is, however, very special. Not only for its mind-blowing historical carbon debt but also for its current, very creative, carbon accounting.

Since 1990 the UK has achieved a 37% reduction of its territorial CO 2 emissions, according to the Global Carbon Project. And that does sound very impressive. But these numbers do not include emissions from aviation, shipping, and those associated with imports and exports. If these numbers are included the reduction is around 10% since 1990 – or an average of 0.4% a year, according to Tyndall Manchester. And the main reason for this reduction is not a consequence of climate policies, but rather a 2001 EU directive on air quality that essentially forced the UK to close down its very old and extremely dirty coal power plants and replace them with less dirty gas power stations. And switching from one disastrous energy source to a slightly less disastrous one will of course result in a lowering of emissions.

But perhaps the most dangerous misconception about the climate crisis is that we have to “lower” our emissions. Because that is far from enough.

Our emissions have to stop if we are to stay below 1.5-2 ° C of warming. The “lowering of emissions” is of course necessary but it is only the beginning of a fast process that must lead to a stop within a couple of decades or less. And by “stop” I mean net-zero – and then quickly on to negative figures. That rules out most of today’s politics.

The fact that we are speaking of “lowering” instead of “stopping” emissions is perhaps the greatest force behind the continuing business as usual. The UK’s active current support of new exploitation of fossil fuels – for example, the UK shale gas fracking industry, the expansion of its North Sea oil and gas fields, the expansion of airports as well as the planning permission for a brand new coal mine – is beyond absurd.

This ongoing irresponsible behaviour will no doubt be remembered in history as one of the greatest failures of humankind.

People always tell me and the other millions of school strikers that we should be proud of ourselves for what we have accomplished. But the only thing that we need to look at is the emission curve. And I’m sorry, but it’s still rising. That curve is the only thing we should look at.

Every time we make a decision we should ask ourselves; how will this decision affect that curve? We should no longer measure our wealth and success in the graph that shows economic growth, but in the curve that shows the emissions of greenhouse gases. We should no longer only ask: “Have we got enough money to go through with this?” but also: “Have we got enough of the carbon budget to spare to go through with this?” That should and must become the centre of our new currency.

Many people say that we don’t have any solutions to the climate crisis. And they are right. Because how could we? How do you “solve” the greatest crisis that humanity has ever faced? How do you “solve” a war? How do you “solve” going to the moon for the first time? How do you “solve” inventing new inventions?

The climate crisis is both the easiest and the hardest issue we have ever faced. The easiest because we know what we must do. We must stop the emissions of greenhouse gases. The hardest because our current economics are still totally dependent on burning fossil fuels, and thereby destroying ecosystems in order to create everlasting economic growth.

“So, exactly how do we solve that?” you ask us – the schoolchildren striking for the climate.

And we say: “No one knows for sure. But we have to stop burning fossil fuels and restore nature and many other things that we may not have quite figured out yet.”

Then you say: “That’s not an answer!”

So we say: “We have to start treating the crisis like a crisis – and act even if we don’t have all the solutions.”

“That’s still not an answer,” you say.

Then we start talking about circular economy and rewilding nature and the need for a just transition. Then you don’t understand what we are talking about.

We say that all those solutions needed are not known to anyone and therefore we must unite behind the science and find them together along the way. But you do not listen to that. Because those answers are for solving a crisis that most of you don’t even fully understand. Or don’t want to understand.

You don’t listen to the science because you are only interested in solutions that will enable you to carry on like before. Like now. And those answers don’t exist anymore. Because you did not act in time.

Avoiding climate breakdown will require cathedral thinking. We must lay the foundation while we may not know exactly how to build the ceiling.

Sometimes we just simply have to find a way. The moment we decide to fulfil something, we can do anything. And I’m sure that the moment we start behaving as if we were in an emergency, we can avoid climate and ecological catastrophe. Humans are very adaptable: we can still fix this. But the opportunity to do so will not last for long. We must start today. We have no more excuses.

We children are not sacrificing our education and our childhood for you to tell us what you consider is politically possible in the society that you have created. We have not taken to the streets for you to take selfies with us, and tell us that you really admire what we do.

We children are doing this to wake the adults up. We children are doing this for you to put your differences aside and start acting as you would in a crisis. We children are doing this because we want our hopes and dreams back.

I hope my microphone was on. I hope you could all hear me.

Hopefully, these climate change speeches will encourage you to take action in your local community. If you need more inspiration then head to my post on the best TED Talks on climate change , my guide to the best YouTube videos on climate change , and the sustainability poems to inspire you.

Found this post useful? Please consider buying me a virtual coffee to help support the site’s running costs.

Join The Mailing List

Be part of the community and get all the latest articles, news and tips on green living from Moral Fibres straight to your inbox, once a month, free of charge.

Wendy Graham is a sustainability expert and the founder of Moral Fibres, where's she's written hundreds of articles on since starting the site in 2013. She's dedicated to bringing you sustainability advice you can trust.

Wendy holds a BSc (Hons) in Environmental Geography and an MSc (with Distinction) in Environmental Sustainability - specialising in environmental education.

As well as this, Wendy brings 17 years of professional experience working in the sustainability sector to the blog.

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

I am researching Greta Thunberg for a school project and this has helped me greatly! It has inspired me to do my part.

Dearest fellow climate activists, I might not be famous, but I love my planet. Our planet needs to survive. Our planet deserves to survive. Our planet did nothing wrong. What went wrong? We went wrong. We did this. So let’s change this. Let’s make a difference.

Dear Wendy, Thank you for these amazing speeches! It is inspirational for us all! I whish I had the confidence to do the same! I have written many attempts and failed each. But please continue with these amazing blog. I love it!

Elina and I are in agreement here!

Hi, we found this very helpful for our articles and resources. We would like to thank you a lot for putting this website together. Regards, the Wikipedia team.

Thank you for putting together these powerful words of leaders, champions, role models and action takers who have inspired me to do more for the planate and the people.

My pleasure Madhav!

Latest Posts

How To Use Marseille Soap All Around The Home

What To Do With Old Books In The UK – Your Eco Options

How To Wash A Baseball Cap Without Ruining It

My Favourite UK Eco-Friendly Stationery Brands

Search the United Nations

New york city, 05 june 2024, secretary-general's special address on climate action "a moment of truth" , antónio guterres.

We do have a choice: Creating tipping points for climate progress – or careening to tipping points for climate disaster. This is an all-in moment. The United Nations is all-in – working to build trust, find solutions, and inspire the cooperation our world so desperately needs. It’s We the Peoples versus the polluters and the profiteers. Together, we can win.  But it’s time for leaders to decide whose side they’re on. Tomorrow is too late. Now is the time to mobilise, now is the time to act, now is the time to deliver. 

Dear friends of the planet,

Today is World Environment Day.

It is also the day that the European Commission’s Copernicus Climate Change Service officially reports May 2024 as the hottest May in recorded history.   

This marks twelve straight months of the hottest months ever. 

For the past year, every turn of the calendar has turned up the heat.

Our planet is trying to tell us something.  But we don't seem to be listening.

Dear Friends,

The American Museum of Natural History is the ideal place to make the point.

This great Museum tells the amazing story of our natural world. Of the vast forces that have shaped life on earth over billions of years. 

Humanity is just one small blip on the radar.

But like the meteor that wiped out the dinosaurs, we’re having an outsized impact.

In the case of climate, we are not the dinosaurs.

We are the meteor.

We are not only in danger.

We are the danger.

But we are also the solution.

So, dear friends,

We are at a moment of truth.

The truth is … almost ten years since the Paris Agreement was adopted, the target of limiting long-term global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius is hanging by a thread.

The truth is … the world is spewing emissions so fast that by 2030, a far higher temperature rise would be all but guaranteed.

Brand new data from leading climate scientists released today show the remaining carbon budget to limit long-term warming to 1.5 degrees is now around 200 billion tonnes.  

That is the maximum amount of carbon dioxide that the earth’s atmosphere can take if we are to have a fighting chance of staying within the limit.

The truth is… we are burning through the budget at reckless speed – spewing out around 40 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide a year.

We can all do the math.

At this rate, the entire carbon budget will be busted before 2030.

The truth is … global emissions need to fall nine per cent every year until 2030 to keep the 1.5 degree limit alive. 

But they are heading in the wrong direction. 

Last year they rose by one per cent.   The truth is… we already face incursions into 1.5-degree territory.

The World Meteorological Organisation reports today that there is an eighty per cent chance the global annual average temperature will exceed the 1.5 degree limit in at least one of the next five years.

In 2015, the chance of such a breach was near zero.

And there’s a fifty-fifty chance that the average temperature for the entire next five-year period will be 1.5 degrees higher than pre-industrial times.

We are playing Russian roulette with our planet.

We need an exit ramp off the highway to climate hell. 

And the truth is… we have control of the wheel.

The 1.5 degree limit is still just about possible.

Let’s remember – it’s a limit for the long-term – measured over decades, not months or years.

So, stepping over the threshold 1.5 for a short time does not mean the long-term goal is shot.

It means we need to fight harder.

The truth is… the battle for 1.5 degrees will be won or lost in the 2020s – under the watch of leaders today. 

All depends on the decisions those leaders take – or fail to take – especially in the next eighteen months.

It’s climate crunch time. 

The need for action is unprecedented but so is the opportunity – not just to deliver on climate, but on economic prosperity and sustainable development.

Climate action cannot be captive to geo-political divisions.

So, as the world meets in Bonn for climate talks, and gears up for the G7 and G20 Summits, the United Nations General Assembly, and COP29, we need maximum ambition, maximum acceleration, maximum cooperation - in a word maximum action.

So dear friends,

Why all this fuss about 1.5 degrees?

Because our planet is a mass of complex, connected systems.  And every fraction of a degree of global heating counts. 

The difference between 1.5 and two degrees could be the difference between extinction and survival for some small island states and coastal communities.

The difference between minimizing climate chaos or crossing dangerous tipping points.

1.5 degrees is not a target.  It is not a goal.  It is a physical limit.

Scientists have alerted us that temperatures rising higher would likely mean:

The collapse of the Greenland Ice Sheet and the West Antarctic Ice Sheet with catastrophic sea level rise;

The destruction of tropical coral reef systems and the livelihoods of 300 million people;

The collapse of the Labrador Sea Current that would further disrupt weather patterns in Europe;

And widespread permafrost melt that would release devastating levels of methane, one of the most potent heat-trapping gasses.

Even today, we’re pushing planetary boundaries to the brink – shattering global temperature records and reaping the whirlwind.    

And it is a travesty of climate justice that those least responsible for the crisis are hardest hit: the poorest people; the most vulnerable countries; Indigenous Peoples; women and girls.

The richest one per cent emit as much as two-thirds of humanity. 

And extreme events turbocharged by climate chaos are piling up:

Destroying lives, pummelling economies, and hammering health;

Wrecking sustainable development; forcing people from their homes; and rocking the foundations of peace and security – as people are displaced and vital resources depleted. 

Already this year, a brutal heatwave has baked Asia with record temperatures – shrivelling crops, closing schools, and killing people.   

Cities from New Delhi, to Bamako, to Mexico City are scorching.  

Here in the US, savage storms have destroyed communities and lives.

We’ve seen drought disasters declared across southern Africa;

Extreme rains flood the Arabian Peninsula, East Africa and Brazil;

And a mass global coral bleaching caused by unprecedented ocean temperatures, soaring past the worst predictions of scientists.

The cost of all this chaos is hitting people where it hurts:

From supply-chains severed, to rising prices, mounting food insecurity, and uninsurable homes and businesses. 

That bill will keep growing.  Even if emissions hit zero tomorrow, a recent study found that climate chaos will still cost at least $38 trillion a year by 2050.

Climate change is the mother of all stealth taxes paid by everyday people and vulnerable countries and communities. 

Meanwhile, the Godfathers of climate chaos – the fossil fuel industry – rake in record profits and feast off trillions in taxpayer-funded subsidies.

Dear friends,

We have what we need to save ourselves. 

Our forests, our wetlands, and our oceans absorb carbon from the atmosphere.  They are vital to keeping 1.5 alive, or pulling us back if we do overshoot that limit.  We must protect them. 

And we have the technologies we need to slash emissions. 

Renewables are booming as costs plummet and governments realise the benefits of cleaner air, good jobs, energy security, and increased access to power.

Onshore wind and solar are the cheapest source of new electricity in most of the world – and have been for years.

Renewables already make up thirty percent of the world’s electricity supply.

And clean energy investments reached a record high last year – almost doubling in the last ten [years].

Wind and solar are now growing faster than any electricity source in history.

Economic logic makes the end of the fossil fuel age inevitable.

The only questions are:  Will that end come in time?  And will the transition be just? 

We must ensure the answer to both questions is: yes.

And we must secure the safest possible future for people and planet.

That means taking urgent action, particularly over the next eighteen months:

To slash emissions;

To protect people and nature from climate extremes;

To boost climate finance;

And to clamp down on the fossil fuel industry.

Let me take each element in turn. 

First, huge cuts in emissions.  Led by the huge emitters.   The G20 countries produce eighty percent of global emissions – they have the responsibility, and the capacity, to be out in front.

Advanced G20 economies should go furthest, fastest;

And show climate solidarity by providing technological and financial support to emerging G20 economies and other developing countries. 

Next year, governments must submit so-called nationally determined contributions – in other words, national climate action plans.  And these will determine emissions for the coming years.

At COP28, countries agreed to align those plans with the 1.5 degree limit. 

These national plans must include absolute emission reduction targets for 2030 and 2035.

They must cover all sectors, all greenhouse gases, and the whole economy.

And they must show how countries will contribute to the global transitions essential to 1.5 degrees – putting us on a path to global net zero by 2050; to phase out fossil fuels; and to hit global milestones along the way, year after year, and decade after decade.   That includes, by 2030, contributing to cutting global production and consumption of all fossil fuels by at least thirty percent; and making good on commitments made at COP28 – on ending deforestation, doubling energy efficiency and tripling renewables.

Every country must deliver and play their rightful part.

That means that G20 leaders working in solidarity to accelerate a just global energy transition aligned with the 1.5 degree limit.  They must assume their responsibilities.

We need cooperation, not finger-pointing.

It means the G20 aligning their national climate action plans, their energy strategies, and their plans for fossil fuel production and consumption, within a 1.5 degree future.

It means the G20 pledging to reallocate subsidies from fossil fuels to renewables, storage, and grid modernisation, and support for vulnerable communities.

It means the G7 and other OECD countries committing: to end coal by 2030; and to create fossil-fuel free power systems, and reduce oil and gas supply and demand by sixty percent – by 2035.   It means all countries ending new coal projects – now.  Particularly in Asia, home to ninety-five percent of planned new coal power capacity.

It means non-OECD countries creating climate action plans to put them on a path to ending coal power by 2040. 

And it means developing countries creating national climate action plans that double as investment plans, spurring sustainable development, and meeting soaring energy demand with renewables.

The United Nations is mobilizing our entire system to help developing countries to achieve this through our Climate Promise initiative.

Every city, region, industry, financial institution, and company must also be part of the solution.

They must present robust transition plans by COP30 next year in Brazil – at the latest:

Plans aligned with 1.5 degrees, and the recommendations of the UN High-Level Expert Group on Net Zero.

Plans that cover emissions across the entire value chain;

That include interim targets and transparent verification processes;

And that steer clear of the dubious carbon offsets that erode public trust while doing little or nothing to help the climate.

We can’t fool nature.  False solutions will backfire.  We need high integrity carbon markets that are credible and with rules consistent with limiting warming to 1.5 degrees.   

I also encourage scientists and engineers to focus urgently on carbon dioxide removal and storage – to deal safely and sustainably with final emissions from the heavy industries hardest to clean.  

And I urge governments to support them.

But let me be clear: These technologies are not a silver bullet; they cannot be a substitute for drastic emissions cuts or an excuse to delay fossil fuel phase-out.

But we need to act on every front.

The second area for action is ramping up protection from the climate chaos of today and tomorrow.

It is a disgrace that the most vulnerable are being left stranded, struggling desperately to deal with a climate crisis they did nothing to create.

We cannot accept a future where the rich are protected in air-conditioned bubbles, while the rest of humanity is lashed by lethal weather in unliveable lands.

We must safeguard people and economies. 

Every person on Earth must be protected by an early warning system by 2027. I urge all partners to boost support for the United Nations Early Warnings for All action plan.

In April, the G7 launched the Adaptation Accelerator Hub.

By COP29, this initiative must be translated into concrete action – to support developing countries in creating adaptation investment plans, and putting them into practice.

And I urge all countries to set out their adaptation and investment needs clearly in their new national climate plans.

But change on the ground depends on money on the table.

For every dollar needed to adapt to extreme weather, only about five cents is available.

As a first step, all developed countries must honour their commitment to double adaptation finance to at least $40 billion a year by 2025.

And they must set out a clear plan to close the adaptation finance gap by COP29 in November. 

But we also need more fundamental reform.

That leads me onto my third point: finance.

If money makes the world go round, today’s unequal financial flows are sending us spinning towards disaster.

The global financial system must be part of the climate solution.

Eye-watering debt repayments are drying up funds for climate action.

Extortion-level capital costs are putting renewables virtually out of reach for most developing and emerging economies.

Astoundingly – and despite the renewables boom of recent years – clean energy investments in developing and emerging economies outside of China have been stuck at the same levels since 2015.

Last year, just fifteen per cent of new clean energy investment went to emerging markets and developing economies outside China – countries representing nearly two-thirds of the world’s population.

And Africa was home to less than one percent of last year’s renewables installations, despite its wealth of natural resources and vast renewables potential. 

The International Energy Agency reports that clean energy investments in developing and emerging economies beyond China need to reach up to $1.7 trillion a year by the early 2030s.

In short, we need a massive expansion of affordable public and private finance to fuel ambitious new climate plans and deliver clean, affordable energy for all.

This September’s Summit of the Future is an opportunity to push reform of the international financial architecture and action on debt. I urge countries to take it.

And I urge the G7 and G20 Summits to commit to using their influence within Multilateral Development Banks to make them better, bigger, and bolder. And able to leverage far more private finance at reasonable cost.

Countries must make significant contributions to the new Loss and Damage Fund. And ensure that it is open for business by COP29.

And they must come together to secure a strong finance outcome from COP this year – one that builds trust and confidence, catalyses the trillions needed, and generates momentum for reform of the international financial architecture.

But none of this will be enough without new, innovative sources of funds.

It is [high] time to put an effective price on carbon and tax the windfall profits of fossil fuel companies.

By COP29, we need early movers to go from exploring to implementing solidarity levies on sectors such as shipping, aviation, and fossil fuel extraction – to help fund climate action.

These should be scalable, fair, and easy to collect and administer. 

None of this is charity.

It is enlightened self-interest.

Climate finance is not a favour. It is fundamental element to a liveable future for all.

Dear friends,   Fourth and finally, we must directly confront those in the fossil fuel industry who have shown relentless zeal for obstructing progress – over decades. 

Billions of dollars have been thrown at distorting the truth, deceiving the public, and sowing doubt.

I thank the academics and the activists, the journalists and the whistleblowers, who have exposed those tactics – often at great personal and professional risk.

I call on leaders in the fossil fuel industry to understand that if you are not in the fast lane to clean energy transformation, you are driving your business into a dead end – and taking us all with you.

Last year, the oil and gas industry invested a measly 2.5 percent of its total capital spending on clean energy.

Doubling down on fossil fuels in the twenty-first century, is like doubling down on horse-shoes and carriage-wheels in the nineteenth.

So, to fossil fuel executives, I say: your massive profits give you the chance to lead the energy transition. Don’t miss it.

Financial institutions are also critical because money talks.

It must be a voice for change.

I urge financial institutions to stop bankrolling fossil fuel destruction and start investing in a global renewables revolution;

To present public, credible and detailed plans to transition [funding] from fossil fuels to clean energy with clear targets for 2025 and 2030;

And to disclose your climate risks – both physical and transitional – to your shareholders and regulators. Ultimately such disclosure should be mandatory.

Many in the fossil fuel industry have shamelessly greenwashed, even as they have sought to delay climate action – with lobbying, legal threats, and massive ad campaigns. 

They have been aided and abetted by advertising and PR companies – Mad Men – remember the TV series - fuelling the madness.

I call on these companies to stop acting as enablers to planetary destruction. 

Stop taking on new fossil fuel clients, from today, and set out plans to drop your existing ones.

Fossil fuels are not only poisoning our planet – they’re toxic for your brand.

Your sector is full of creative minds who are already mobilising around this cause. 

They are gravitating towards companies that are fighting for our planet – not trashing it.

I also call on countries to act.

Many governments restrict or prohibit advertising for products that harm human health – like tobacco. 

Some are now doing the same with fossil fuels.

I urge every country to ban advertising from fossil fuel companies.  

And I urge news media and tech companies to stop taking fossil fuel advertising.

We must all deal aso with the demand side.  All of us can make a difference, by embracing clean technologies, phasing down fossil fuels in our own lives, and using our power as citizens to push for systemic change. 

In the fight for a liveable future, people everywhere are far ahead of politicians.

Make your voices heard and your choices count. 

We do have a choice. 

Creating tipping points for climate progress – or careening to tipping points for climate disaster. 

No country can solve the climate crisis in isolation.

This is an all-in moment.

The United Nations is all-in – working to build trust, find solutions, and inspire the cooperation our world so desperately needs.

And to young people, to civil society, to cities, regions, businesses and others who have been leading the charge towards a safer, cleaner world, I say: Thank you.

You are on the right side of history.

You speak for the majority.

Keep it up.  

Don’t lose courage. Don’t lose hope.

It is we the Peoples versus the polluters and the profiteers. Together, we can win.  

But it’s time for leaders to decide whose side they’re on.

Tomorrow it will be too late.

Now is the time to mobilise, now is the time to act, now is the time to deliver.

This is our moment of truth.

And I thank you.

• United States of America
• Daily Schedule
• Appointment Process
• Role of the Secretary-General
• Former Secretaries-General
• Official Travels
• Deputy Secretary-General
• Senior Management Group
• Global Leadership
• Messengers of Peace
• Annual Report on the Work of the Organization
• Coordinator for Multilingualism
• Public Disclosure
• Opinion pieces/Op-eds
• Secretariat
• Department of Global Communications
• Spokesperson's Office
• Scientific Advisory Board

UN News special coverage: Guterres issues hard-hitting call for climate action

Facebook Twitter Print Email

That's a wrap for our live coverage of one of the most important speeches on climate change that António Guterres has made since becoming Secretary-General. Declaring that now is a "moment on truth" for climate action to keep the 1.5 degree limit in sight, he said it was time to mobilise and deliver, calling on countries to ban advertising by fossil fuel companies. 

• climate change

What Are the Causes of Climate Change?

We can’t fight climate change without understanding what drives it.

Low water levels at Shasta Lake, California, following a historic drought in October 2021

Andrew Innerarity/California Department of Water Resources

• Share this page block

At the root of climate change is the phenomenon known as the greenhouse effect , the term scientists use to describe the way that certain atmospheric gases “trap” heat that would otherwise radiate upward, from the planet’s surface, into outer space. On the one hand, we have the greenhouse effect to thank for the presence of life on earth; without it, our planet would be cold and unlivable.

But beginning in the mid- to late-19th century, human activity began pushing the greenhouse effect to new levels. The result? A planet that’s warmer right now than at any other point in human history, and getting ever warmer. This global warming has, in turn, dramatically altered natural cycles and weather patterns, with impacts that include extreme heat, protracted drought, increased flooding, more intense storms, and rising sea levels. Taken together, these miserable and sometimes deadly effects are what have come to be known as climate change .

Detailing and discussing the human causes of climate change isn’t about shaming people, or trying to make them feel guilty for their choices. It’s about defining the problem so that we can arrive at effective solutions. And we must honestly address its origins—even though it can sometimes be difficult, or even uncomfortable, to do so. Human civilization has made extraordinary productivity leaps, some of which have led to our currently overheated planet. But by harnessing that same ability to innovate and attaching it to a renewed sense of shared responsibility, we can find ways to cool the planet down, fight climate change , and chart a course toward a more just, equitable, and sustainable future.

Here’s a rough breakdown of the factors that are driving climate change.

Natural causes of climate change

Human-driven causes of climate change, transportation, electricity generation, industry & manufacturing, agriculture, oil & gas development, deforestation, our lifestyle choices.

Some amount of climate change can be attributed to natural phenomena. Over the course of Earth’s existence, volcanic eruptions , fluctuations in solar radiation , tectonic shifts , and even small changes in our orbit have all had observable effects on planetary warming and cooling patterns.

But climate records are able to show that today’s global warming—particularly what has occured since the start of the industrial revolution—is happening much, much faster than ever before. According to NASA , “[t]hese natural causes are still in play today, but their influence is too small or they occur too slowly to explain the rapid warming seen in recent decades.” And the records refute the misinformation that natural causes are the main culprits behind climate change, as some in the fossil fuel industry and conservative think tanks would like us to believe.

Chemical manufacturing plants emit fumes along Onondaga Lake in Solvay, New York, in the late-19th century. Over time, industrial development severely polluted the local area.

Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, Detroit Publishing Company Collection

Scientists agree that human activity is the primary driver of what we’re seeing now worldwide. (This type of climate change is sometimes referred to as anthropogenic , which is just a way of saying “caused by human beings.”) The unchecked burning of fossil fuels over the past 150 years has drastically increased the presence of atmospheric greenhouse gases, most notably carbon dioxide . At the same time, logging and development have led to the widespread destruction of forests, wetlands, and other carbon sinks —natural resources that store carbon dioxide and prevent it from being released into the atmosphere.

Right now, atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide, methane , and nitrous oxide are the highest they’ve been in the last 800,000 years . Some greenhouse gases, like hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HFCs) , do not even exist in nature. By continuously pumping these gases into the air, we helped raise the earth’s average temperature by about 1.9 degrees Fahrenheit during the 20th century—which has brought us to our current era of deadly, and increasingly routine, weather extremes. And it’s important to note that while climate change affects everyone in some way, it doesn’t do so equally: All over the world, people of color and those living in economically disadvantaged or politically marginalized communities bear a much larger burden , despite the fact that these communities play a much smaller role in warming the planet.

Our ways of generating power for electricity, heat, and transportation, our built environment and industries, our ways of interacting with the land, and our consumption habits together serve as the primary drivers of climate change. While the percentages of greenhouse gases stemming from each source may fluctuate, the sources themselves remain relatively consistent.

Traffic on Interstate 25 in Denver

David Parsons/iStock

The cars, trucks, ships, and planes that we use to transport ourselves and our goods are a major source of global greenhouse gas emissions. (In the United States, they actually constitute the single-largest source.) Burning petroleum-based fuel in combustion engines releases massive amounts of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. Passenger cars account for 41 percent of those emissions, with the typical passenger vehicle emitting about 4.6 metric tons of carbon dioxide per year. And trucks are by far the worst polluters on the road. They run almost constantly and largely burn diesel fuel, which is why, despite accounting for just 4 percent of U.S. vehicles, trucks emit 23 percent of all greenhouse gas emissions from transportation.

We can get these numbers down, but we need large-scale investments to get more zero-emission vehicles on the road and increase access to reliable public transit .

As of 2021, nearly 60 percent of the electricity used in the United States comes from the burning of coal, natural gas , and other fossil fuels . Because of the electricity sector’s historical investment in these dirty energy sources, it accounts for roughly a quarter of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions, including carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide.

That history is undergoing a major change, however: As renewable energy sources like wind and solar become cheaper and easier to develop, utilities are turning to them more frequently. The percentage of clean, renewable energy is growing every year—and with that growth comes a corresponding decrease in pollutants.

But while things are moving in the right direction, they’re not moving fast enough. If we’re to keep the earth’s average temperature from rising more than 1.5 degrees Celsius, which scientists say we must do in order to avoid the very worst impacts of climate change, we have to take every available opportunity to speed up the shift from fossil fuels to renewables in the electricity sector.

The factories and facilities that produce our goods are significant sources of greenhouse gases; in 2020, they were responsible for fully 24 percent of U.S. emissions. Most industrial emissions come from the production of a small set of carbon-intensive products, including basic chemicals, iron and steel, cement and concrete, aluminum, glass, and paper. To manufacture the building blocks of our infrastructure and the vast array of products demanded by consumers, producers must burn through massive amounts of energy. In addition, older facilities in need of efficiency upgrades frequently leak these gases, along with other harmful forms of air pollution .

One way to reduce the industrial sector’s carbon footprint is to increase efficiency through improved technology and stronger enforcement of pollution regulations. Another way is to rethink our attitudes toward consumption (particularly when it comes to plastics ), recycling , and reuse —so that we don’t need to be producing so many things in the first place. And, since major infrastructure projects rely heavily on industries like cement manufacturing (responsible for 7 percent of annual global greenhouse gas), policy mandates must leverage the government’s purchasing power to grow markets for cleaner alternatives, and ensure that state and federal agencies procure more sustainably produced materials for these projects. Hastening the switch from fossil fuels to renewables will also go a long way toward cleaning up this energy-intensive sector.

The advent of modern, industrialized agriculture has significantly altered the vital but delicate relationship between soil and the climate—so much so that agriculture accounted for 11 percent of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions in 2020. This sector is especially notorious for giving off large amounts of nitrous oxide and methane, powerful gases that are highly effective at trapping heat. The widespread adoption of chemical fertilizers , combined with certain crop-management practices that prioritize high yields over soil health, means that agriculture accounts for nearly three-quarters of the nitrous oxide found in our atmosphere. Meanwhile, large-scale industrialized livestock production continues to be a significant source of atmospheric methane, which is emitted as a function of the digestive processes of cattle and other ruminants.

Stephen McComber holds a squash harvested from the community garden in Kahnawà:ke Mohawk Territory, a First Nations reserve of the Mohawks of Kahnawà:ke, in Quebec.

Stephanie Foden for NRDC

But farmers and ranchers—especially Indigenous farmers, who have been tending the land according to sustainable principles —are reminding us that there’s more than one way to feed the world. By adopting the philosophies and methods associated with regenerative agriculture , we can slash emissions from this sector while boosting our soil’s capacity for sequestering carbon from the atmosphere, and producing healthier foods.

A decades-old, plugged and abandoned oil well at a cattle ranch in Crane County, Texas, in June 2021, when it was found to be leaking brine water

Matthew Busch/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Oil and gas lead to emissions at every stage of their production and consumption—not only when they’re burned as fuel, but just as soon as we drill a hole in the ground to begin extracting them. Fossil fuel development is a major source of methane, which invariably leaks from oil and gas operations : drilling, fracking , transporting, and refining. And while methane isn’t as prevalent a greenhouse gas as carbon dioxide, it’s many times more potent at trapping heat during the first 20 years of its release into the atmosphere. Even abandoned and inoperative wells—sometimes known as “orphaned” wells —leak methane. More than 3 million of these old, defunct wells are spread across the country and were responsible for emitting more than 280,000 metric tons of methane in 2018.

Unsurprisingly, given how much time we spend inside of them, our buildings—both residential and commercial—emit a lot of greenhouse gases. Heating, cooling, cooking, running appliances, and maintaining other building-wide systems accounted for 13 percent of U.S. emissions overall in 2020. And even worse, some 30 percent of the energy used in U.S. buildings goes to waste, on average.

Every day, great strides are being made in energy efficiency , allowing us to achieve the same (or even better) results with less energy expended. By requiring all new buildings to employ the highest efficiency standards—and by retrofitting existing buildings with the most up-to-date technologies—we’ll reduce emissions in this sector while simultaneously making it easier and cheaper for people in all communities to heat, cool, and power their homes: a top goal of the environmental justice movement.

An aerial view of clearcut sections of boreal forest near Dryden in Northwestern Ontario, Canada, in June 2019

River Jordan for NRDC

Another way we’re injecting more greenhouse gas into the atmosphere is through the clearcutting of the world’s forests and the degradation of its wetlands . Vegetation and soil store carbon by keeping it at ground level or underground. Through logging and other forms of development, we’re cutting down or digging up vegetative biomass and releasing all of its stored carbon into the air. In Canada’s boreal forest alone, clearcutting is responsible for releasing more than 25 million metric tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere each year—the emissions equivalent of 5.5 million vehicles.

Government policies that emphasize sustainable practices, combined with shifts in consumer behavior , are needed to offset this dynamic and restore the planet’s carbon sinks .

The Yellow Line Metro train crossing over the Potomac River from Washington, DC, to Virginia on June 24, 2022

Sarah Baker

The decisions we make every day as individuals—which products we purchase, how much electricity we consume, how we get around, what we eat (and what we don’t—food waste makes up 4 percent of total U.S. greenhouse gas emissions)—add up to our single, unique carbon footprints . Put all of them together and you end up with humanity’s collective carbon footprint. The first step in reducing it is for us to acknowledge the uneven distribution of climate change’s causes and effects, and for those who bear the greatest responsibility for global greenhouse gas emissions to slash them without bringing further harm to those who are least responsible .

The big, climate-affecting decisions made by utilities, industries, and governments are shaped, in the end, by us : our needs, our demands, our priorities. Winning the fight against climate change will require us to rethink those needs, ramp up those demands , and reset those priorities. Short-term thinking of the sort that enriches corporations must give way to long-term planning that strengthens communities and secures the health and safety of all people. And our definition of climate advocacy must go beyond slogans and move, swiftly, into the realm of collective action—fueled by righteous anger, perhaps, but guided by faith in science and in our ability to change the world for the better.

If our activity has brought us to this dangerous point in human history, breaking old patterns can help us find a way out.

This NRDC.org story is available for online republication by news media outlets or nonprofits under these conditions: The writer(s) must be credited with a byline; you must note prominently that the story was originally published by NRDC.org and link to the original; the story cannot be edited (beyond simple things such as grammar); you can’t resell the story in any form or grant republishing rights to other outlets; you can’t republish our material wholesale or automatically—you need to select stories individually; you can’t republish the photos or graphics on our site without specific permission; you should drop us a note to let us know when you’ve used one of our stories.

We need climate action to be a top priority in Washington!

Tell President Biden and Congress to slash climate pollution and reduce our dependence on fossil fuels.

Urge President Biden and Congress to make equitable climate action a top priority in 2024

Related stories.

Greenhouse Effect 101

What Are the Solutions to Climate Change?

Failing to Meet Our Climate Goals Is Not an Option

When you sign up, you’ll become a member of NRDC’s Activist Network. We will keep you informed with the latest alerts and progress reports.

Knowledge is power

Stay in the know about climate impacts and solutions. Subscribe to our weekly newsletter.

By clicking submit, you agree to share your email address with the site owner and Mailchimp to receive emails from the site owner. Use the unsubscribe link in those emails to opt out at any time.

Yale Climate Connections

What’s the deal with terms like “greenhouse effect,” “global warming,” “climate change,” and “the climate emergency”?

Share this:

• Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
• Click to share on X (Opens in new window)

Almost two decades ago, Al Gore’s 2006 documentary “ An Inconvenient Truth ” raised awareness of the problems associated with what was then commonly called “global warming.” Although most people had moved away from referring to the heating of our planet as the “greenhouse effect,” we were still a few years from adopting the term “climate change,” a more accurate though less evocative label, as the leading descriptor of our profound environmental challenges.

The words we use to characterize our climate concerns can influence how we view the issue, and as a consequence, the actions we take. As data scientists, we recently studied the evolution in terminology by examining 79,134 articles that mentioned key climate terms in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, and USA Today between 1980 and 2023. This review allows us to not only understand the terms most commonly used in the media but also to see whether their usage tracks the terminology favored by scientific experts and the general public.

We were struck by the long-term evolution in the relative prominence of “greenhouse effect,” “global warming,” and “climate change.” But what really stood out was the sudden emergence in late 2018 of more dramatic language like “climate crisis,” “climate emergency,” and even “climate apocalypse.” Looking beyond the media, we found that this surge of alarmist language parallels the framing of environmental issues by experts but has not yet become commonplace among the broader public — at least not as measured by internet search data.

How terms changed over time

Although the first mention of “global warming” was in a 1975 scientific study , throughout the 1980s, “greenhouse effect” was still more commonly used by the four newspapers we analyzed. It wasn’t until 1989 that “global warming” became the term of choice in these mainstream outlets, as illustrated in the graphic below.

By 2009, “climate change” had surpassed “global warming” in the four newspapers. This terminological transition was championed as early as 2005 by the National Academy of Sciences as a more accurate way to describe the phenomenon. It may also have reflected the increasingly politicized nature of climate issues, driven in part by the oil and gas industry’s intensive campaigning . A 2011 study demonstrated that using the term “climate change” rather than “global warming” at the time resulted in a 16% increase in Republicans endorsing the phenomenon as real.

Interestingly, it wasn’t until the summer of 2015 that Google searches for “climate change” outpaced those for “global warming,” as shown in the graphic below. This suggests that the media do not have an immediate, overwhelming effect on the terms used by the public. Indeed, it can take years for a new term to seep into public consciousness and be reflected in everyday language.

The sudden rise of “climate crisis”

The media is much quicker to adopt new terminology. In late 2018, “climate crisis” and related terms, including “climate emergency,” “climate catastrophe,” “climate apocalypse,” “climate breakdown,” and “planetary emergency,” suddenly appeared in the media. These emotive terms are qualitatively different from the phrases used since the 1980s. Why did they break through at that time?

Global activism likely contributed to this sharp rise. In August 2018, Greta Thunberg launched her Fridays for Future campaign. In the U.S., organizations such as the Sunrise Movement grabbed headlines through high-profile protests that drew sustained attention. They helped to frame the issue as an emergency requiring immediate action. As Thunberg said in her December 2018 COP24 speech, “We cannot solve a crisis without treating it as a crisis.”

She was not alone in this view. In February 2019, climate journalist David Wallace-Wells penned an opinion piece for the New York Times entitled, “Time to Panic,” in which he argued that “climate change is a crisis precisely because it is a looming catastrophe that demands an aggressive global response, now.” Other journalists also embraced this perspective, especially in the U.K., where the Guardian changed its house style guide in May 2019 to favor terms like “climate crisis.”

This rapid evolution in newspaper language closely tracks expert discourse. In addition to global environmental movements, late 2018 saw the publication of a special U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report that, for the first time, quantified the time we have left to act to avoid catastrophic damage. Scopus , a prominent database containing a diverse array of scientific studies, shows a year-on-year doubling between 2018 and 2019 in scholarship that used “climate crisis” and “climate emergency,” and then a quadrupling of such terms between 2019 and 2020.

The convergence of a push from activists and a shift in expert views turned awareness of what seemed to be distant consequences into a time-sensitive crisis. But that doesn’t mean that the public has adopted these terms as their own. Google searches for “climate change” still outpace those for “global warming” by a significant degree. As the graphic below shows, even when comparing the relatively less common “global warming” to “climate crisis,” there are strikingly few people searching for the more urgent term.

If the lag in general usage of “climate change” compared to “global warming” is any indication, we may simply have to wait a few more years for “climate crisis” and its analogues to become common search terms. Use of these more dire words will likely affect public perception of the issue and the resulting sentiment on climate policy. The question is how.

Climate communications scholars are divided on the impact. Some studies point to the use of terms like “crisis” and “emergency” leading to distrust of news sources. Other studies, however, find no impact of the terms on a person’s willingness to engage in climate action. Alternatively, framing climate concerns as an existential threat has also been shown to generate strong emotions that motivate people to act on behalf of the environment.

This is critical because by any tangible metric, the planet is indeed experiencing a climate crisis. Carbon dioxide levels are unprecedented in the modern era, dozens of species are going extinct every day, and damages from increasingly common weather disasters are rising. The 10 hottest years on record all occurred in the last decade.

In ancient Greek, a “crisis” meant a turning point — one that might spur people to action. By embracing the “climate crisis” in this spirit, we just might provide an impetus that leads us to a better future.

Erik Bleich is the Charles A. Dana Professor of Political Science at Middlebury College, where he directs the Media Portrayals of Minorities Project lab that uses data science techniques to analyze contemporary issues. Eli Richardson is a 2024 Middlebury College graduate who specializes in climate topics. Noah Rizika is a 2024 Middlebury College graduate with experience in conservation research and carbon footprint analysis. Both recent graduates are members of the Media Portrayals of Minorities Project lab.

Tom Toro  is a cartoonist and writer who has published over 200 cartoons in The New Yorker since 2010.

We help millions of people understand climate change and what to do about it. Help us reach even more people like you.

more like this

Resources for debunking common solar and wind myths 

Venezuelan-American journalist brings climate change awareness to both Spanish- and English-speaking audiences

How to talk to a climate doomer (even if that doomer is you)

June 6, 2024

We’re Approaching 1.5 Degrees C of Warming, but There’s Still Time to Prevent Disaster

Scientists say it’s likely that at least one of the next five years will exceed an average increase of 1.5 degrees Celsius above preindustrial temperatures

By Chelsea Harvey & E&E News

The sun sets behind smoke from a distant wildfire as drought conditions worsen on July 12, 2021 near Glennville, California.

David McNew/Getty Images

CLIMATEWIRE | The world is careening toward a major planetary milestone, leading meteorological organizations said Wednesday. Nations are striving to halt global warming at 1.5 degrees Celsius — yet global temperatures already are nudging temporarily above that threshold.

A new report from the European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service warns that the last 11 months in a row have all seen global average temperatures above the 1.5 C threshold. And the last 12 have all been characterized by record-breaking monthly heat; temperatures last month hovered about 1.52 degrees above Earth’s preindustrial average.

Meanwhile, the World Meteorological Organization said Wednesday that there's an 80 percent chance at least one of the next five calendar years will exceed a 1.5 C average. Nearly a decade ago — in 2015 — that chance was nearly zero.

On supporting science journalism

If you're enjoying this article, consider supporting our award-winning journalism by subscribing . By purchasing a subscription you are helping to ensure the future of impactful stories about the discoveries and ideas shaping our world today.

It wouldn’t be the first time a 12-month span has crossed 1.5 C. Copernicus reported earlier this year that the yearlong period between February 2023 and January 2024 averaged 1.52 C above preindustrial levels, marking it the hottest 12 months on record at the time.

Temperatures have continued to inch higher since then. The yearlong period that just ended in May saw global temperatures average about 1.63 C above preindustrial levels, making it the new hottest 12-month span.

Still, temporary fluctuations into 1.5 C territory don’t suggest the threshold has yet been permanently crossed.

The Paris climate agreement doesn’t explicitly outline the definition of when a temperature threshold has passed. But most scientists agree that the 1.5 C target refers to a long-term average. The exact amount of time that defines “long term” is also debatable, but it generally refers to years or even decades.

It's even possible the world could cross the 1.5 C threshold without realizing it for years .

For now, even a whole year above the 1.5 C threshold wouldn’t push the long-term average over the red line. If scientists look back at the average over the past 10 years, they'll find that it’s still below the threshold.

It’s a point that United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres raised in a passionate speech in New York on Wednesday for World Environment Day.

“The 1.5 degree limit is still just about possible,” he said. “Let’s remember, it’s a limit for the long term, measured over decades, not months or years. Stepping over the threshold for a short time does not mean the long-term goal is shot — it means we need to fight harder.”

But even if the Paris Agreement’s most ambitious target remains technically feasible, experts are increasingly skeptical the world can achieve it. According to the U.N.’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, global emissions would need to peak by 2025 — next year — and then fall 42 percent by 2030 in order to keep warming below 1.5 C.

The world then would need to hit net-zero emissions around 2050.

Meanwhile, recent research has suggested the world likely can burn only about 200 billion metric tons of additional carbon dioxide before the threshold is out of reach. Global emissions are still rising, and nations worldwide currently are spewing nearly 40 billion tons of CO2 annually from the burning of fossil fuels alone.

That means the odds of overshooting the 1.5 C target are rapidly rising . And scientists are growing more candid about those risks.

“It is almost inevitable that we will at least temporarily overshoot 1.5,” said Jim Skea, an energy expert at Imperial College London, at a presentation of the third and final installment of the IPCC’s most recent major assessment report in April 2022. Skea was a co-chair of the working group that prepared the report.

In December 2023, leading international researchers presented an annual climate science report to the U.N. warning that overshooting the 1.5 C target is “becoming inevitable.”

It’s possible that world leaders could lower the planet’s temperatures back below a 1.5 C threshold even if they temporarily overshoot, using various technological means to suck CO2 back out of the atmosphere.

But that’s not a guarantee — and some climate impacts are virtually irreversible once they’ve occurred, such as sea-level rise or plant and animal extinctions, making it crucial for world leaders to limit warming as much as possible while they still can.

That means even if an overshoot becomes inevitable, keeping global temperatures as close to 1.5 C is the next step. And that still means reducing global emissions as rapidly as possible.

“Why all the fuss about 1.5 degrees?” Guterres said in Wednesday’s speech. “The difference between 1.5 and 2 degrees could be the difference between extinction and survival for some small island states and coastal communities. The difference between minimizing climate chaos or crossing dangerous tipping points.

"One-and-a-half degrees is not a target. It is not a goal. It is a physical limit.”

Reprinted from E&E News with permission from POLITICO, LLC. Copyright 2024. E&E News provides essential news for energy and environment professionals.

Advertisement

Supported by

‘Hanging by a Thread’: U.N. Chief Warns of Missing a Key Climate Target

His comments came as the world body’s weather agency said it expected Earth to soon surpass the record high temperatures experienced in 2023.

• Share full article

By Raymond Zhong

With the planet in the grips of its highest temperatures in more than 100,000 years, scientists with the United Nations weather agency have crunched the numbers and come to a stark conclusion: More record-hot years are all but inevitable.

In the next five years, there’s a nearly 90 percent chance Earth will set yet another record for its warmest year, surpassing the scorching highs experienced in 2023, the World Meteorological Organization said in a report Wednesday .

The chances are almost as great that, in at least one of these five calendar years, the average global temperature will be 1.5 degrees Celsius, or 2.7 degrees Fahrenheit, higher than it was at the dawn of the industrial age. That’s the level of warming that countries set out to avoid under the 2015 Paris Agreement.

“The target of limiting long-term global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius is hanging by a thread,” the United Nations secretary general, António Guterres, said in a speech on Wednesday at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City. He called for urgent action in a number of areas, including slashing carbon dioxide emissions and adopting renewable energy, helping poor countries finance their climate plans, and clamping down on the fossil fuel industry.

On the last subject, Mr. Guterres reiterated past exhortations to end taxpayer subsidies for oil and gas . But he also turned his attention to a new target: He urged governments to ban advertising by fossil-fuel companies, comparing oil and coal producers to the tobacco industry, which faces advertising restrictions worldwide. And he urged the news media and tech companies to stop displaying their ads.

“Fossil fuels are not only poisoning our planet; they’re toxic for your brand,” Mr. Guterres said, referring to advertising and public-relations agencies. “I call on these companies to stop acting as enablers to planetary destruction.”

Several publications, including the Guardian newspaper, have stopped accepting fossil fuel advertising. The New York Times accepts ads from oil and gas companies with some restrictions, including prohibiting sponsorship of its climate newsletter and climate events, a company spokesman said. The Times also doesn’t allow fossil fuel companies to buy all of the ad spots on individual episodes of its podcast “The Daily.”

Earth’s latest streak of record-shattering warmth began in the middle of last year and has not let up as another summer approaches in the Northern Hemisphere.

Last month was the planet’s warmest May on the books, the European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service announced on Wednesday. That made it the 12th-straight month in which the average temperature worldwide exceeded all past records for the time of year. Across that 12-month stretch, the mercury was 1.63 degrees Celsius warmer on average than it was during preindustrial times, according to Copernicus.

The Paris Agreement says the 1.5-degree target is a “long-term” goal. Technically speaking, this means the world will have failed to uphold the pact only if temperatures exceed the threshold for many years, even decades, not just a single year.

“Temporary breaches do not mean that the 1.5 goal is permanently lost,” Ko Barrett, the deputy secretary general of the World Meteorological Organization, said at a news conference. Still, what now seems clear, she added, is that such breaches are going to be more and more common.

The effects of the abnormal warmth have been felt across the globe. In India and other parts of South Asia , temperatures have climbed well past 110 degrees Fahrenheit in recent weeks, pushing many people to the brink. Millions of Americans in California, Nevada and Arizona are experiencing their first intense heat wave of the season this week.

Recent flooding in Brazil caused widespread death and destruction, and could become the country’s costliest disaster on record. The torrential, multiday rains that caused the deluges were made twice as likely by extra heat energy added to the atmosphere by human activity, scientists said this week .

Throughout the world’s oceans, coral reefs are suffering the most widespread bleaching ever observed, in large part because of how hot the water has been. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration expects this year’s Atlantic hurricane season to be exceptionally stormy, with 17 to 25 named tropical cyclones. Record ocean temperatures, which provide the thermodynamic fuel for storms to form and intensify, are a major factor.

As global warming continues, “this string of hottest months will be remembered as comparatively cold,” said Carlo Buontempo, the Copernicus director. By quickly cutting emissions of greenhouse gases, Earth might be able to cool back down to today’s temperatures by century’s end, he said.

There’s at least one reason to believe some temporary relief is on its way. El Niño, the natural climate phenomenon, is fading. During periodic El Niño events, tremendous amounts of heat are redistributed in the Pacific Ocean, leading to shifts in global weather patterns that typically cause the planet as a whole to be warmer. This contributed at least in part to 2023’s record temperatures.

Other contributors might stick around for longer. In a study published last week, a team of scientists led by Tianle Yuan, a geophysicist at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, estimated that the planet could be experiencing additional warming right now for a counterintuitive reason: recent regulations that slashed air pollution from ships.

The burning of fuel oil releases planet-warming carbon dioxide, but it also releases sulfur compounds that can have a modest opposing effect. Once they’re in the atmosphere, these compounds transform into particles that help cool the globe, either by reflecting sunlight back to space or encouraging more clouds to form.

These pollutants still harm human health and ecosystems, which is why the International Maritime Organization set new limits on sulfur emissions from ships starting in 2020. But, in doing so, the agency might inadvertently have helped make Earth somewhat warmer today than it would otherwise have been, Dr. Yuan and his colleagues estimated.

To scientists, the foremost driver of warming remains clear: Atmospheric levels of carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide, the three most important human-caused heat-trapping gases, have continued their steady upward climb . At current rates of emissions, it might only be five or so more years before humans have altered the atmosphere’s chemistry so significantly that it becomes extremely difficult to stop warming from surpassing 1.5 degrees Celsius, scientists have estimated .

Raymond Zhong reports on climate and environmental issues for The Times. More about Raymond Zhong

Our Coverage of Climate and the Environment

News and Analysis

With the planet in the grips of its highest temperatures in more than 100,000 years, scientists with the U.N. weather agency have crunched the numbers and come to a stark conclusion: More record-hot years are all but inevitable .

Leaders in Alameda, Calif., voted to stop scientists from testing a cloud-brightening device that might one day be used to artificially cool the planet , overruling city staff members who had found the experiment posed no danger.

Human-caused warming has doubled the chances that southern Brazil will experience extreme, multiday downpours  like the ones that recently caused disastrous flooding there, a team of scientists said.

Adopting Orphaned Oil Wells:  Students, nonprofit groups and others are fund-raising to cap highly polluting oil and gas wells  abandoned by industry.

Struggling N.Y.C. Neighborhoods:  New data projects are linking social issues with global warming. Here’s what that means for five communities in New York .

Biden Environmental Rules:  The Biden administration has rushed to finalize 10 major environmental regulations  to meet its self-imposed spring deadline.

F.A.Q.:  Have questions about climate change? We’ve got answers .

• My View My View
• Following Following
• Saved Saved

World hits streak of record temperatures as UN warns of 'climate hell'

• Medium Text
• Month of May caps 12 months of record temperatures
• UN's Guterres warns of 'highway to climate hell'
• Urges countries to cut CO2 emissions faster
• Scientists say even warmer years ahead

'WAY OFF TRACK'

Sign up here.

Reporting by Kate Abnett in Brussels, Gabrielle Tétrault-Farber in Geneva, and Valerie Volcovici in Washington, D.C.; Editing by Katy Daigle, Alexander Smith, Alexandra Hudson

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles. New Tab , opens new tab

Thomson Reuters

Kate Abnett covers EU climate and energy policy in Brussels, reporting on Europe’s green transition and how climate change is affecting people and ecosystems across the EU. Other areas of coverage include international climate diplomacy. Before joining Reuters, Kate covered emissions and energy markets for Argus Media in London. She is part of the teams whose reporting on Europe’s energy crisis won two Reuters journalist of the year awards in 2022.

Sustainability Chevron

US lawmakers call to add China's CATL, Gotion to import ban list, WSJ reports

Chinese battery companies CATL and Gotion High Tech should be added immediately to a U.S. import ban list, a group of Republican lawmakers said, alleging their supply chains use forced labour, the Wall Street Journal reported.

• Election 2024
• Entertainment
• Newsletters
• Photography
• Personal Finance
• AP Investigations
• AP Buyline Personal Finance
• AP Buyline Shopping
• Press Releases
• Israel-Hamas War
• Russia-Ukraine War
• Global elections
• Asia Pacific
• Latin America
• Middle East
• Election Results
• Delegate Tracker
• AP & Elections
• Auto Racing
• 2024 Paris Olympic Games
• Movie reviews
• Book reviews
• Personal finance
• Financial Markets
• Business Highlights
• Financial wellness
• Artificial Intelligence
• Social Media

UN chief wants a tax on profits of fossil fuel companies, calling them ‘godfathers of climate chaos’

U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres called Wednesday for a “windfall” tax on profits of fossil fuel companies to help pay for the fight against global warming, decrying them as the “godfathers of climate chaos.”

FILE - United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres speak during a Security Council meeting at the United Nations headquarters, April 18, 2024. U.N. Secretary General António Guterres called Wednesday, June 5, 2024, for a “windfall” tax on profits of fossil fuel companies to help pay for the fight against global warming, decrying them as the “godfathers of climate chaos.” (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura, File)

• Copy Link copied

FILE - A woman is silhouetted against the setting sun as triple-digit heat indexes continue in the Midwest, Aug. 20, 2023, in Kansas City, Mo. The rate Earth is warming hit an all-time high in 2023 with 92% of last year’s surprising record-shattering heat caused by humans, top scientists calculated. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel, File)

GENEVA (AP) — U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres called Wednesday for a “windfall” tax on profits of fossil fuel companies to help pay for the fight against global warming, calling them the “godfathers of climate chaos.”

Guterres spoke in a bid to revive the world’s focus on climate change at a time when elections, inflation and conflict in places like Ukraine, Gaza and Sudan have seized the spotlight.

In a speech timed for World Environment Day, the U.N. chief drew on new data and projections to make a case against Big Oil. The European Union’s Copernicus service, a global reference for tracking world temperatures, said that last month was the hottest May ever, marking the 12th straight monthly record high.

The service cited an average surface air temperature of 15.9 degrees Celsius (60.6 degrees Fahrenheit) last month — 1.52 degrees Celsius higher than the estimated May average before industrial times.

The burning of fossil fuels — oil, gas and coal — is the main contributor to global warming caused by human activity.

The World Meteorological Organization said the global mean near-surface temperature for each year from 2024 to 2028 is expected to range between 1.1 and 1.9 degrees Celsius hotter than at the start of the industrial era. The landmark Paris climate accord of 2015 set a target of keeping the rise below 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit).

“Beyond the predictions and statistics is the stark reality that we risk trillions of dollars in economic losses, millions of lives upended and destruction of fragile and precious ecosystems and the biodiversity that exists there,” Ko Barrett, the WMO’s deputy secretary-general, told a news conference in Geneva.

“What is clear is that the Paris agreement target of 1.5 degrees Celsius is hanging on a thread. It’s not yet dead, but it’s hanging by a thread,” she added.

“This forecast is affirmation that the world has entered a climate where years that are as hot as 2023 should no longer be a surprise,” Noah Diffenbaugh, a professor at Stanford’s Doerr School of Sustainability, said in an email.

A study released Tuesday by 57 scientists said that as the world keeps burning fossil fuels, Earth is likely to reach the 1.5 degrees Celsius limit in four-and-a-half years.

U.N. experts and academics have repeatedly highlighted how rising temperatures can upend climate patterns and cause drought, flooding and forest fires. That can lead to climate migration, higher costs for farm products or insurance and greater public health risks linked to high heat or water scarcity.

“While some individuals may escape direct consequences, we will all be affected,” said Waleed Abdalati, who heads an environmental sciences institute at the University of Colorado Boulder.

Guterres appealed to media and technology companies to stop taking advertising from the fossil fuel industry’s biggest players, as has been done in some places with Big Tobacco.

He also repeated concerns about subsidies paid in many countries for fossil fuels, which help keep prices low for consumers.

“Climate change is the mother of all stealth taxes paid by everyday people and vulnerable countries and communities,” he said. “Meanwhile, the godfathers of climate chaos — the fossil fuel industry — rake in record profits and feast off trillions in taxpayer-funded subsidies.”

Guterres said global emissions of carbon dioxide must fall 9% each year to 2030 for the 1.5-degree Celsius target under the Paris climate accords to be kept alive.

“We need an exit ramp off the highway to climate hell,” Guterres said, while adding: “The truth is, we have control of the wheel.”

He called on the Group of 20 countries — which are holding a summit in Brazil next month and are responsible for about 80% of all carbon dioxide emissions — to lead. The richest 1% of people on Earth emit as much as two-thirds of all humanity, he said.

“We cannot accept a future where the rich are protected in air-conditioned bubbles, while the rest of humanity is lashed by lethal weather in unlivable lands,” Guterres said.

He appealed to “global finance,” alluding to banks and international financial institutions, to help contribute, saying “innovative sources of funds” are needed.

“It’s time to put an effective price on carbon and tax the windfall profits of fossil fuel companies,” Guterres said.

But all countries must join the fight, he said, including the developing world, such as by ending deforestation and meeting targets to double energy efficiency and triple the use of renewable energy by 2030.

For the first time, a promise of $100 billion a year in climate finance agreed in 2009 was fulfilled, according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development . Still, experts say that’s well below what’s needed to fill the finance gap, with estimates of the annual cost of the global energy transition in the trillions.

Some experts said Guterres’ alarmist rhetoric, including a reference to “playing Russian roulette” with the planet, could turn off some people.

“A phrase like this that conjures images of holding a gun to our head risks shifting the conversation away from the science and solutions and more toward the emotion,” Abdalati said, adding that “phrases like this serve as fodder for critics, who will claim this is hyperbole.”

U.N. officials acknowledge that the secretary-general has little power beyond the “bully pulpit” — his perch at the head of the world body — to encourage change.