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Are you wondering where Geography can take you as a career? The Royal Geographical Society has profiles of people working in a vast range of job roles who all studied Geography. Read some of these profiles and see if there's anything you might be interested in for your future.

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Become a member and discover where geography can take you.

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Routes: The Student Geography Journal is a brilliant resource, and you can contribute to it! The journal publishes essays by student geographers. Go to the website and read some of the essays that have been written previously, including several by former TSFA Geography students. Can you think of a topic you might want to write about? Once you have an idea, plan out some initial ideas then talk to your Geography teacher about how to write the essay.

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Routes is a peer-reviewed digital journal for sixth form and undergraduate geographers looking to read and publish geographical knowledge.

We publish work from all areas of geographical scholarship, including both human and physical geography.

We are a free, open-access journal with no pay-walls or subscriptions.

It is free to submit, read our current issue and review work for Routes and there are no deadlines for submission.

Search for articles

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Routes is a peer-reviewed digital journal for sixth form and undergraduate geographers looking to read and publish geographical knowledge. We publish work from all areas of geographical scholarship, including both human and physical geography. We are a free, open-access journal with no pay-walls or subscriptions. It is free to submit, read our current issue and...

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Our World in Data is a superb, data-informed resource that will allow you to learn about all sorts of different aspects of our world. Read a range of articles about topic areas that interest you. Can you find ways to discuss interesting facts or ideas you learn from this reading in your Geography lessons?

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Research and data to make progress against the world's largest problems

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AQA A Level Geography exam specification

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AQA A Level Geography exam specification

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The exam specification tells you the content that you have to study, so reading over this information will help you understand what the course will be like.

At TSFA, we study the following topics:

Paper 1

Water and Carbon cycles

Coastal systems and landscapes

Hazards

Paper 2

Global systems and global governance

Changing Places

Contemporary urban environments

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This qualification is linear. Linear means that students will sit all their exams and submit all their non-exam assessment at the end of the course.

2.1 Subject content

Physical geography

Human geography

Geography fieldwork investigation

Geographical skills

2.2 Assessments

What's assessed

Section A: Water and carbon cycles

Section B: either Hot desert systems and landscapes or Coastal systems and landscapes or Glacial systems and landscapes

Section C: either Hazards or Ecosystems under stress

Questions

Section A: answer all questions (36 marks)

Section B: answer either question 2 or question 3 or question 4 (36 marks)

Section C: answer either question 5 or question 6 (48 marks)

Question types: short answer, levels of response and extended prose

What's assessed

Section A: Global systems and global governance

Section B: Changing places

Section C: either Contemporary urban environments or Population and the environment or Resource security

Questions

Section A: answer all questions (36 marks)

Section B: answer all questions (36 marks)

Section C: answer either question 3 or question 4 or question 5 (48 marks)

Question types: short answer, levels of response, extended prose

Component 3: Geography fieldwork investigation
What's assessed

Students complete an individual investigation which must include data collected in the field. The individual investigation must be based on a question or issue defined and developed by the student relating to any part of the specification content.

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AQA | Geography | A-level | A-level Geography

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This qualification is linear. Linear means that students will sit all their exams and submit all their non-exam assessment at the end of the course.

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One thing you might have seen out of your window last week was clouds. They only exist because of the water cycle and associated systems. Read the information at this link and make a mind map on systems in the water and carbon cycle. When you're done play the games at the bottom of the web page to see what you can remember.

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Systems in Geography
A systems approach is hugely important in Geography and can be applied to many of the human and physical geography concepts that we investigate. For example, from a human geography perspective, cities can be seen to operate as a system as they have inputs of energy and matter coming from outside of the city (such as electricity, raw materials), processes and stores within the city (such as manufacturing or the construction of new buildings) and then outputs of matter and energy (such as pollution, products and waste).

Indeed, when looking at systems, we must consider the TYPE of system, then its inputs, processes/stores and outputs.

* Open Systems - these are any system which has external inputs and external outputs of both energy AND matter. E.g. a drainage basin

* Isolated systems - these have no interactions with anything outside of the system boundary. There is no input or output of energy or matter. These are rare in reality and tend only to exist in scientific experiments
* Closed systems - these have transfers of energy both into and beyond the system boundary but NOT transfer of matter. Planet Earth is generally considered a closed system, with energy coming from the sun, balanced by radiant energy lost from the Earth.

* Cascading system - the transfer of mass and energy along a chain of component subsystems, such that the output from one subsystem becomes the input for the adjacent subsystem. River sediment cascades into the coastal zone for example.

Characteristics of systems in Geography
Most systems in Geography share the same common characteristics. These common characteristics include the following:
1. Systems are a generalisation of reality - they give us an idea of what is happening in the system but the reality is often more complex and requires detailed study
2. They have a structure that is defined by its parts and processes.
3. Systems tend to function in the same way. This involves the inputs and outputs of material (energy and/or matter) that is then processed causing it to change in some way.
4. The various parts of a system have relationships between each other. They are often Connected and integrated together.
5. The fact that functional relationships exist between the parts suggests the flow and transfer of some type of energy and/or matter.
6. SOME systems often exchange energy and/or matter beyond their defined boundary with the outside environment, and other systems, through various input and output processes.
7. Functional relationships can only occur because of the presence of a driving force.
SOURCE - Adapted from http://www.physicalgeography.net/fundamentals/4b.html (this website is thoroughly recommended, it is an amazing Geographical resource)

FEEDBACK in SYSTEMS
Within systems we also get different types of feedback.

Positive feedback - enhances or amplifies an effect by it having an influence on the process which gave rise to it. Often, this means that the consequences of the change are ironically more severe.

Negative feedback - dampens or reduces an effect by it having an influence on the process that gave rise to it. This often means that the consequences of a change are less severe.

Most systems are said to be in dynamic equilibrium - lack of change in a system as inputs and outputs remain in balance over periods of time. A good example of this would be a river system, rivers are generally in balance between the inputs of energy and outputs. Water and sediment budgets will balance out over years. However, at times big storms might disrupt this balance for a short period of time, resulting in flooding and huge changes to sediment budgets. Eventually, after a flood event, rivers will return to their normal functions, and dynamic equilibrium will be restored.

The Earth's major systems
Our planet has 4 major systems, which are all interconnected. There are also subsystems in those 4 systems - the lithosphere contains soil and rock systems for example.
1. Atmospheric system - the inputs, flows and outputs all associated with the layer of gasses surrounding our planet
2. Lithospheric system - the inputs, flows and outputs all associated with the cold, hard solid land of the planet's crust (surface)
3. Hydrospheric system - the inputs, flows and outputs all associated with the water on our planet
4. Biospheric system - the inputs, flows and outputs all associated with the biology and ecosystems of our planet

NEXT TOPIC - Global distribution & size major stores of water

Michael Pidwirny (2014). Introduction to Systems Theory. PhysicalGeography.net FUNDAMENTALS eBOOK. Retrieved from http://www.cotf.edu/ete/ess/essspheres.html

Written 23/9/2018 - by Robert Gamesby

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Systems in Geography A systems approach is hugely important in Geography and can be applied to many of the human and physical geography concepts that we investigate.

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This document provides a summary of the content that Geography students will study in year 12.

This document is an outline only - there may be some differences depending on how teachers approach the teaching of the content with their classes.

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Time for Geography is a brilliant platform that allows you to watch up to date videos about a range of geographical topics, and also provides useful careers and further study information as well.

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We support the next generation of geographers, by creating inspiring geography educational videos for secondary school students and teachers. Our geography videos are developed with links to various specifications including Geography GCSE, Geography IGCSE, Geography AS-level, Geography A-level, Geography IA-level, Geography National 5, Geography Higher.

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This document provides a summary of the content that Geography students will study in year 13.

This document is an outline only - there may be some differences depending on how teachers approach the teaching of the content with their classes.

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A key part of the Earth system is our changing climate. Read this document and make a mind map or detailed notes on the causes of climate change

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Greenhouse gases affect Earth's energy balance and climate

The Sun serves as the primary energy source for Earth's climate. Some of the incoming sunlight is reflected directly back into space, especially by bright surfaces such as ice and clouds, and the rest is absorbed by the surface and the atmosphere. Much of this absorbed solar energy is re-emitted as heat (longwave or infrared radiation). The atmosphere in turn absorbs and re-radiates heat, some of which escapes to space. Any disturbance to this balance of incoming and outgoing energy will affect the climate. For example, small changes in the output of energy from the Sun will affect this balance directly.

If all heat energy emitted from the surface passed through the atmosphere directly into space, Earth's average surface temperature would be tens of degrees colder than today. Greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, including water vapour, carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide, act to make the surface much warmer than this because they absorb and emit heat energy in all directions (including downwards), keeping Earth's surface and lower atmosphere warm [Figure B1]. Without this greenhouse effect, life as we know it could not have evolved on our planet. Adding more greenhouse gases to the atmosphere makes it even more effective at preventing heat from escaping into space. When the energy leaving is less than the energy entering, Earth warms until a new balance is established.

Greenhouse gases emitted by human activities alter Earth's energy balance and thus its climate. Humans also affect climate by changing the nature of the land surfaces (for example by clearing forests for farming) and through the emission of pollutants that affect the amount and type of particles in the atmosphere.

Scientists have determined that, when all human and natural factors are considered, Earth's climate balance has been altered towards warming, with the biggest contributor being increases in CO ₂.

Human activities have added greenhouse gases to the atmosphere

The atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide have increased significantly since the Industrial Revolution began. In the case of carbon dioxide, the average concentration measured at the Mauna Loa Observatory in Hawaii has risen from 316 parts per million (ppm) in 1959 (the first full year of data available) to more than 411 ppm in 2019 [Figure B2]. The same rates of increase have since been recorded at numerous other stations worldwide. Since preindustrial times, the atmospheric concentration of CO ₂ has increased by over 40%, methane has increased by more than 150%, and nitrous oxide has increased by roughly 20%. More than half of the increase in CO ₂ has occurred since 1970. Increases in all three gases contribute to warming of Earth, with the increase in CO ₂ playing the largest role. See page B3 to learn about the sources of human emitted greenhouse gases. Learn about the sources of human emitted greenhouse gases.

Scientists have examined greenhouse gases in the context of the past. Analysis of air trapped inside ice that has been accumulating over time in Antarctica shows that the CO ₂ concentration began to increase significantly in the 19th century [Figure B3], after staying in the range of 260 to 280 ppm for the previous 10,000 years. Ice core records extending back 800,000 years show that during that time, CO ₂ concentrations remained within the range of 170 to 300 ppm throughout many "ice age" cycles - learn about the ice ages - and no concentration above 300 ppm is seen in ice core records until the past 200 years.

Measurements of the forms (isotopes) of carbon in the modern atmosphere show a clear fingerprint of the addition of "old" carbon (depleted in natural radioactive ¹⁴C) coming from the combustion of fossil fuels (as opposed to "newer" carbon coming from living systems). In addition, it is known that human activities (excluding land use changes) currently emit an estimated 10 billion tonnes of carbon each year, mostly by burning fossil fuels, which is more than enough to explain the observed increase in concentration. These and other lines of evidence point conclusively to the fact that the elevated CO ₂ concentration in our atmosphere is the result of human activities.

Climate records show a warming trend

Estimating global average surface air temperature increase requires careful analysis of millions of measurements from around the world, including from land stations, ships, and satellites. Despite the many complications of synthesising such data, multiple independent teams have concluded separately and unanimously that global average surface air temperature has risen by about 1 °C (1.8 °F) since 1900 [Figure B4]. Although the record shows several pauses and accelerations in the increasing trend, each of the last four decades has been warmer than any other decade in the instrumental record since 1850.

Going further back in time before accurate thermometers were widely available, temperatures can be reconstructed using climate-sensitive indicators "proxies" in materials such as tree rings, ice cores, and marine sediments. Comparisons of the thermometer record with these proxy measurements suggest that the time since the early 1980s has been the warmest 40-year period in at least eight centuries, and that global temperature is rising towards peak temperatures last seen 5,000 to 10,000 years ago in the warmest part of our current interglacial period.

Many other impacts associated with the warming trend have become evident in recent years. Arctic summer sea ice cover has shrunk dramatically. The heat content of the ocean has increased. Global average sea level has risen by approximately 16 cm (6 inches) since 1901, due both to the expansion of warmer ocean water and to the addition of melt waters from glaciers and ice sheets on land. Warming and precipitation changes are altering the geographical ranges of many plant and animal species and the timing of their life cycles. In addition to the effects on climate, some of the excess CO ₂ in the atmosphere is being taken up by the ocean, changing its chemical composition (causing ocean acidification).

Many complex processes shape our climate

Based just on the physics of the amount of energy that CO ₂ absorbs and emits, a doubling of atmospheric CO ₂ concentration from pre-industrial levels (up to about 560 ppm) would by itself cause a global average temperature increase of about 1 °C (1.8 °F). In the overall climate system, however, things are more complex; warming leads to further effects (feedbacks) that either amplify or diminish the initial warming.

The most important feedbacks involve various forms of water. A warmer atmosphere generally contains more water vapour. Water vapour is a potent greenhouse gas, thus causing more warming; its short lifetime in the atmosphere keeps its increase largely in step with warming. Thus, water vapour is treated as an amplifier, and not a driver, of climate change. Higher temperatures in the polar regions melt sea ice and reduce seasonal snow cover, exposing a darker ocean and land surface that can absorb more heat, causing further warming. Another important but uncertain feedback concerns changes in clouds. Warming and increases in water vapour together may cause cloud cover to increase or decrease which can either amplify or dampen temperature change depending on the changes in the horizontal extent, altitude, and properties of clouds. The latest assessment of the science indicates that the overall net global effect of cloud changes is likely to be to amplify warming.

The ocean moderates climate change. The ocean is a huge heat reservoir, but it is difficult to heat its full depth because warm water tends to stay near the surface. The rate at which heat is transferred to the deep ocean is therefore slow; it varies from year to year and from decade to decade, and it helps to determine the pace of warming at the surface. Observations of the sub-surface ocean are limited prior to about 1970, but since then, warming of the upper 700 m (2,300 feet) is readily apparent, and deeper warming is also clearly observed since about 1990.

Surface temperatures and rainfall in most regions vary greatly from the global average because of geographical location, in particular latitude and continental position. Both the average values of temperature, rainfall, and their extremes (which generally have the largest impacts on natural systems and human infrastructure), are also strongly affected by local patterns of winds.

Estimating the effects of feedback processes, the pace of the warming, and regional climate change requires the use of mathematical models of the atmosphere, ocean, land, and ice (the cryosphere) built upon established laws of physics and the latest understanding of the physical, chemical and biological processes affecting climate, and run on powerful computers. Models vary in their projections of how much additional warming to expect (depending on the type of model and on assumptions used in simulating certain climate processes, particularly cloud formation and ocean mixing), but all such models agree that the overall net effect of feedbacks is to amplify warming.

Human activities are changing the climate

Rigorous analysis of all data and lines of evidence shows that most of the observed global warming over the past 50 years or so cannot be explained by natural causes and instead requires a significant role for the influence of human activities.

In order to discern the human influence on climate, scientists must consider many natural variations that affect temperature, precipitation, and other aspects of climate from local to global scale, on timescales from days to decades and longer. One natural variation is the El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO), an irregular alternation between warming and cooling (lasting about two to seven years) in the equatorial Pacific Ocean that causes significant year-to-year regional and global shifts in temperature and rainfall patterns. Volcanic eruptions also alter climate, in part increasing the amount of small (aerosol) particles in the stratosphere that reflect or absorb sunlight, leading to a short-term surface cooling lasting typically about two to three years. Over hundreds of thousands of years, slow, recurring variations in Earth's orbit around the Sun, which alter the distribution of solar energy received by Earth, have been enough to trigger the ice age cycles of the past 800,000 years.

Fingerprinting is a powerful way of studying the causes of climate change. Different influences on climate lead to different patterns seen in climate records. This becomes obvious when scientists probe beyond changes in the average temperature of the planet and look more closely at geographical and temporal patterns of climate change. For example, an increase in the Sun's energy output will lead to a very different pattern of temperature change (across Earth's surface and vertically in the atmosphere) compared to that induced by an increase in CO ₂ concentration. Observed atmospheric temperature changes show a fingerprint much closer to that of a long-term CO ₂ increase than to that of a fluctuating Sun alone. Scientists routinely test whether purely natural changes in the Sun, volcanic activity, or internal climate variability could plausibly explain the patterns of change they have observed in many different aspects of the climate system. These analyses have shown that the observed climate changes of the past several decades cannot be explained just by natural factors.

How will climate change in the future?

Scientists have made major advances in the observations, theory, and modelling of Earth's climate system, and these advances have enabled them to project future climate change with increasing confidence. Nevertheless, several major issues make it impossible to give precise estimates of how global or regional temperature trends will evolve decade by decade into the future. Firstly, we cannot predict how much CO ₂ human activities will emit, as this depends on factors such as how the global economy develops and how society's production and consumption of energy changes in the coming decades. Secondly, with current understanding of the complexities of how climate feedbacks operate, there is a range of possible outcomes, even for a particular scenario of CO ₂ emissions. Finally, over timescales of a decade or so, natural variability can modulate the effects of an underlying trend in temperature. Taken together, all model projections indicate that Earth will continue to warm considerably more over the next few decades to centuries. If there were no technological or policy changes to reduce emission trends from their current trajectory, then further globally-averaged warming of 2.6 to 4.8 °C (4.7 to 8.6 °F) in addition to that which has already occurred would be expected during the 21st century [Figure B5]. Projecting what those ranges will mean for the climate experienced at any particular location is a challenging scientific problem, but estimates are continuing to improve as regional and local-scale models advance.

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Climate change: evidence and causes | Royal Society

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Supplementary information for the project 'Climate Change: Evidence and causes'.

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Ofsted, 2021

Leaders and governors foster a culture of exceptionally high expectations for students' academic success

Ofsted, 2021

Students enjoy their lessons, which are taught by skilled, enthusiastic and knowledgeable teachers

You're treated as an individual... Everything is geared towards getting you ready for life and the staff really help prepare you for your exams

Ofsted, 2021

Leaders and staff create an exceptionally safe and welcoming culture

Ofsted, 2021

Students participate in an extensive range of activities and projects that develop their confidence and broaden their interests

Ofsted, 2021

There exists an ambitious curriculum that equips students exceptionally well with the knowledge and skills that they need to progress

Ofsted, 2021

Students thrive in the academy's calm and harmonious environment

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Trinity Sixth Form Academy - Outstanding Sixth Form in Halifax

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Ofsted, 2021 Leaders and governors foster a culture of exceptionally high expectations for students' academic success Ofsted, 2021 Students enjoy their lessons, which are taught by skilled, enthusiastic and knowledgeable teachers You're treated as an individual...

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Introduction to water and carbon cycling

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Introduction to water and carbon cycling

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If you want an excellent introduction to the first topic we will be studying, the water and carbon cycles, then have a read of this document. It is strongly recommended you take notes or make mind maps as you go.

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Activity 3: what is special about the Arctic?

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Activity 3: what is special about the Arctic?

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One of the places most likely to be affected by this is the Arctic. Listen to this podcast about what makes the Arctic special and make a mind map whilst you listen.

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Royal Geographical Society (with IBG) Schools

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What makes the Arctic unique? Dr Ingrid A. Medby by Royal Geographical Society (with IBG) Schools

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The Arctic is a unique landscape experiencing physical, social, and political change. How is this governed, and how does this impact place identity? We discuss with Dr Ingrid A. Medby, Lecturer in Political Geography at Oxford Brookes University.

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Want to know more about the subject you’ll be studying next year? Read about it here from the National Geographic magazine. Once you’ve read it, try making a poster to show what Geography means for you

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What is geography, why is it important, and what can you do to learn or teach more about it?

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Activity 4: how does climate change affect people?

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Activity 4: how does climate change affect people?

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We have looked at the science of climate change so far, but it also changes how people experience the places that they live in. Read this article from National Geographic and then try to write three diary entries from the perspective of climate refugees in Bangladesh

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This article was created in partnership with the National Geographic Society.

Golam Mostafa Sarder starts every day before dawn, rising from a thin reed mat in the shed that he shares with fifteen roommates. Each has just enough space to lie flat. He dresses in gym shorts and t-shirt by the light of a single dangling bulb.

Outside the shed's open doorway, in the outskirts of Dhaka, the sprawling megacity capital of Bangladesh, is the brick factory where Golam and his neighbors work for fifteen hours a day, seven days a week, at least six months a year. His home in Gabura, a remote village on the country's southwestern coast, is more than a day's journey from the city by bus, rickshaw, and ferry.

Golam's job is to push wheelbarrows of mud down the production line. Waist-high rows of drying bricks spiral off from a towering kiln that belches smoke over an area the size of a city block. By 6 p.m. his lanky frame is spattered in gray mud. The evening air swims with mosquitoes. He has just enough strength left to clean his bare feet and angular face, inhale a dinner of lentils and rice, and collapse back onto his mat.

Golam has never heard of global warming. But he says he knows one thing for sure: "If the river didn't take our land, I wouldn't need to be here."

Bangladesh, a densely populated, riverine South Asian nation, has always survived its share of tropical storms, flooding, and other natural disasters. But today, climate change is accelerating old forces of destruction, creating new patterns of displacement, and fueling an explosion of rapid, chaotic urbanization.A report last week from the U.S. Government Accountability Office found that the State Department and other foreign aid agencies have not done enough to combat climate change-induced migration in developing countries, and highlighted Bangladesh as particularly vulnerable. And as climate change drives the migration of up to 200 million people worldwide by 2050, Dhaka offers a cautionary tale for refuge cities around the globe.

Interviews with dozens of migrant families, scientists, urban planners, human rights advocates, and government officials across Bangladesh reveal that while the country is keenly aware of its vulnerability to climate change, not enough has been done to match the pace and scale of the resultant displacement and urbanization, toppling any prospect of a humane life for one of the world's largest populations of climate migrants.

"Right now the government's vision is to have no vision," says Tasneem Siddiqui, a political scientist who leads the Refugee and Migratory Movements Research Unit at the University of Dhaka. "It's just that everything is in Dhaka, and people are all coming to Dhaka. And Dhaka is collapsing."

Climate-driven displacement

Bangladesh holds 165 million people in an area smaller than Illinois. One-third of them live along the southern coast, a lush honeycomb of island villages, farms, and fish ponds linked by protective embankments. Most of the country's land area is no higher above sea level than New York City, and during the rainy season more than one-fifth of the country can be flooded at once.

For tens of thousands of years, people living in the vast Ganges Delta accepted a volatile, dangerous landscape of floods and tropical storms as the cost of access to rich agricultural soil and lucrative maritime trade routes.

"People have always coped with flooding, and they learned how to cope with death," Siddiqui says. "But with climate change, many of the damages are permanent. So you have to adapt to a new way of life." ( Learn about Bangladesh's floating hospital.)

Climate change is disrupting traditional rain patterns-droughts in some areas, unexpected deluges in others-and boosting silt-heavy runoff from glaciers in the Himalaya Mountains upstream, leading to an increase in flooding and riverbank erosion. Every year, an area larger than Manhattan washes away. Meanwhile, sea-level rise is pushing saltwater into coastal agricultural areas and promising to permanently submerge large swaths.

Over the last decade, nearly 700,000 Bangladeshis were displaced on average each year by natural disasters, according to the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre. That number spikes in years with catastrophic cyclones, like 2009's Aila, which displaced millions of people and killed more than 200. But even in relatively calm years, there is a rising drumbeat of displacement as sea-level rise, erosion, salinity intrusion, crop failures, and repeat inundation make life along the coast untenable.

Overall, the number of Bangladeshis displaced by the varied impacts of climate change could reach 13.3 million by 2050, making it the country's number-one driver of internal migration, according to a March 2018 World Bank report.

"On the coast, we can predict with great certainty that many people living there now will simply not be able to continue there, because their livelihoods will be lost," says Saleemul Huq, director of the Dhaka-based International Centre for Climate Change and Development and one of the country's leading climate scientists.

As people flee vulnerable coastal areas, most are arriving in urban slums-particularly in Dhaka, one of the world's fastest-growing and most densely populated megacities. The city is perceived as the country's bastion of economic opportunity, but it is also fraught with extreme poverty, public health hazards, human trafficking, and other risks, including its own vulnerability to floods. Already, up to 400,000 low-income migrants arrive in Dhaka every year.

"Dhaka is filled with people who fled their village because it was swallowed by the sea or the rivers," Huq says. "The coming millions will be impossible to absorb."

Today, city planners, policymakers, scientists, and farmers are reinforcing embankments, innovating home design, rebuilding communities, building shelters, and cultivating salt-tolerant rice seeds, among other actions. But they're moving too slowly to help many people like Golam, who survived a series of catastrophic storms only to find that migration was the only viable path remaining.

Golam was a child the first time his family's house was destroyed. He was too young to remember the wind ripping out his father's fruit trees, floodwaters carrying off tea and rice from the family's small shop, the mud walls crumbling, him taking shelter with his mother in a neighbor's house and then, when that too washed away, falling into an empty grave as they ran from the raging riverbank in the dark.

A second storm several years later took their next house. And a third, after that: CycloneAila washed away not only the latest house and everything in it, but also the land on which it stood, the family's last piece of property.

After Aila, Golam's family was homeless, landless, with almost no possessions, and awash in high-salinity water that would silently sabotage fishing and agriculture for the next decade. For a young man with a third-grade education, the brick factory and its promise of hard cash became the only way to feed his family.

"In my childhood, no one used to come out here for work," he says. "But now, from my village, nearly every family sends at least one person."

Golam's family sent two: A couple years ago, his younger brother joined him. Each earns just shy of $1,500 in six months, his total income for the year.

Their only time off is when it rains. On those days, they take a bus to the international airport and stand outside the perimeter fence to watch planes fly in and out, and imagine where they might be going.

"I hope God will look at me kindly," Golam says, "and change my luck." ( Learn about Bangladesh's shipbreakers.)

A city of climate change slums

For climate migrants who arrive in Dhaka, life is seldom easy. Men and boys work in brick factories, drive rickshaws, and build skyscrapers. Women and girls clean houses, stitch Western fashions, and raise families-often fending off sexual violence at multiple steps along the way. Education is a luxury; rent is preposterous. Eviction can come as suddenly as a collapsing riverbank. Home feels very far away.

Sahela Begum, 34, lost her husband to a heart attack in February. She managed to support their four daughters off his life savings for a few months in a town called Naria, on the banks of the Padma River. Then she lost their house. On a sticky evening in August, the riverbank it was on crumbled, sending it downstream along with a dozen of her neighbors' houses.

"When my house was going in the water, I felt like I was having a stroke and might die," she says. "When we lost the house, we ran out of options."

Within a week, she left with her daughters for Dhaka, several hours upstream. They managed to find a room in a slum called Kamrangirchar, near the city center, in a dead-end alleyway behind a cacophonous fabric market built over an old trash dump. She pays around $40 a month, seventy percent of the salary she earns doing domestic work every day, for a darkened, ten-by-ten-foot concrete room under a stairway. Her oldest daughter, 13, also does domestic work, while the 11-year-old stays home to care for the 6- and 9-year-olds. They share three toilets and one four-burner stove with twelve other families living in the alley.

Forty percent of the city's residents live in slums like this, hundreds of which are spread across the city. According to the International Organization for Migration, up to seventy percent of the slums' residents moved there due to environmental challenges.

Slums emerge unplanned and unsanctioned in the backyards of glassy skyscrapers, straddling railroad tracks, on stilts above water-logged floodplains, on the fringes of construction sites. Single beds are frequently shared by five or more family members. Sewage runs freely. Structure fires spread easily. Most electricity, when it's working at all, is tapped illegally from the grid. Insect infestations are inescapable. Skin and gastrointestinal diseases transmitted by dirty water are routine, and the infant mortality rate is twice that of rural areas. Rent money flows into a real estate black market controlled by corrupt local officials and businessmen.

"It's very hard to get a living here," Begum says. "But my life is my childrens' life. If I can make a good future for them, that's the best thing I can hope for." ( Read about Bangladesh's Rohingya refugee crisis, which also has roots in environmental degradation.)

Cities for climate migrants

When Bangladesh gained independence in 1971, the population was 91 percent rural. But as the country began to pivot from an agricultural economy to one diversified into manufacturing and other urban industries, Dhaka exploded. Today, nearly one-third of the population lives in cities, and Dhaka's population is nearly triple that of the country's next three biggest cities combined. The city holds 47,500 people per square kilometer, nearly twice the population density of Manhattan.

Throughout that process of growth, "low-income people were totally left out of the development framework of the city," says A.Q.M. Mahbub, an urban studies researcher at the University of Dhaka. Affordable housing, and public transit connecting the city center to suburbs as is common in megacities in India and China, were never priorities.

Local officials still tend to view slum dwellers as illegal squatters, rather than residents with a right to basic services. Tariq bin Yousuf, a senior official at the Dhaka City Corporation, a government agency that manages the city's infrastructure, says that while the city has plans to build more affordable housing, it prefers to leave slum residents reliant on aid from local and international non-governmental organizations.

"If we invest money directly in slum areas, or give them an electricity supply, they will start to think, 'O.K., we have these facilities, so we have the ownership of this land,'" he says. "Once we give them improved services, they become permanent."

Many of the country's leading public policy experts think that attitude-that climate migrants are a regrettable burden-is short-sighted.

"Climate change and migration you cannot stop," the University of Dhaka's Siddiqui says. "But you can turn them into an opportunity for development."

Mongla, a booming port town on the country's south-central coast, is testing that theory by embarking on an urban overhaul that aims to turn it into a magnet for climate migrants. It's one of several emerging "secondary cities," models of climate-savvy urban planning where investments in sea walls and other adaptive infrastructure are being paired with factories and other blue-collar job opportunities, as well as public services like affordable housing, schools, and hospitals.

"There's no way to stop people coming to Dhaka unless we can attract them to other places," Huq says. "The next ten million could go to these secondary towns. The girls and boys of today, the next generation of citizens."

Mongla has the right ingredients, planners hope. It has a well-established deepwater port, surrounded by a sprawling industrial area with cement factories, diesel fuel mass storage facilities, and two dozen factories with jobs for 4,300 workers producing everything from luggage and electronics to packaged snacks and mannequins. Located in the center of the country's coastal belt, it's big enough to offer opportunities but small enough that there's room to grow.

"We have a master plan for making the city more functional and beautiful," says Mohammed Alauddin, Mongla's deputy mayor. "People used to have to leave Mongla to find work. Now they're coming to work in industry, and staying because of the good living conditions."

So far, local officials have invested in two flood-controlgates; a freshwater treatment and distribution system that Alauddin says has increased the number of houses with running water from one-third of the city's total to one-half; eleven kilometers of pedestrian-friendly riverside brick pathways; two dozen closed-circuit security cameras; a citywide loudspeaker system that can announce inclement weather and broadcast motivational pop music; and four thousand shade trees. Several new apartment towers are under construction, as well as a watchtower from which tourists can peer into the nearby Sundarban mangrove forest.

The investments appear to be paying off. In the last five years, the population has jumped nearly sixty percent to 110,000, and the price of land has skyrocketed. The industrial area is across a river from the town center, and every evening at rush hour the river is jammed with ferries on which passengers stand shoulder to shoulder. And the town's reputation is spreading.

"Because of salinity and flooding, there's not much opportunity in my village. But here, I can make good money," says Mohammed Kabir Hossain, who drives a rickshaw from the industrial area to the ferry station. He came to Mongla a few years ago from Koyra on the southwestern coast. "A lot of people are coming here from across southern Bangladesh, especially those who are unwilling to go to Dhaka."

'Only Allah can save us'

At Golam's family home in Gabura, two low wooden buildings frame a courtyard that opens onto a constellation of rectangular shrimp ponds stretching to the horizon. Immediately behind it is a crumbling ten-foot embankment, no more than three feet across, paved with the same gray bricks that Golam and men from every family here labor far from home to produce. Behind the embankment, a river divides civilization from the uninhabitable Sundarbans, the world's largest mangrove forest. The family lives in fear that their house-on a tiny wedge rented from the village-will again wash away.

Forida Khatun, Golam's mother, shares her son's angular face. She crouches against the exterior wall of the house wrapped in a purple sari with yellow flowers, her arms shimmering in silvery bracelets, shooing away a nosy chicken. In a high, thin voice she recalls how Golam was an energetic, devious child, always in trouble. He loved boats, and once took a canoe out into the mangroves for so long that he was too exhausted to row himself home. That time, Khatun was able to dispatch a few older boys from the neighborhood to rescue him. Now, she worries that he's slipped away from her for good.

"If we had the land still, if the salinity was less, our sons could have managed to stay," she says. "Only Allah can save us. We don't have any power to save our children."

Here, land is wealth, and the family has none left. At the same time, salinity has poisoned the job market as much as it has the water and soil: Many wealthier farmers have converted their rice paddies-a reliable opportunity for paid labor-into salt-tolerant shrimp ponds, which essentially care for themselves.

The corrosive effect of salinity on local agricultural economies could displace up to 200,000 people from coastal Bangladesh, a November study from the International Food Policy Research Institute found. That exodus is already well underway in Gabura.

"Because of climate change, the job opportunities are reducing," says Isharat Jahan Mintu, the chairman of the village government. "And the huge risk of natural disasters makes people want to go to safer areas."

Mintu estimates that the high tide is rising by one foot per year on average, and that one-third of the village's farmable acres have been rendered useless by salinity. Farmers are reluctant to bring more than a fraction of their useable acres into cultivation, for fear of seeing their entire nest egg washed away at once and local banks, seeing the same risk, are stingy with loans. As a result, up to two-thirds of the village's men, including Golam, have left to find work in Dhaka and other cities either temporarily or for good.

As a generation of young people loses faith in what was once one of the most richly productive regions of South Asia, those who remain worry that the village's social fabric will be irreparably damaged. Families are fragmented, children grow up without fathers, and lifelong neighbors turn against one another over land. Parts of the embankment resemble ghost towns, lined with boarded-up shops. No one wants to leave, but many see no way to stay.

"Migration is very emotional," Mintu says. "It makes an emptiness in the heart of the village."

Tim McDonnell's reporting was supported by a National Geographic Storytelling grant. Tim is a former Fulbright-National Geographic fellow and environmental journalist. Follow him on Twitter @timmcdonnell and Instagram@timothy.m.mcdonnell.

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Climate change creates a new migration crisis for Bangladesh

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This article was created in partnership with the National Geographic Society. Golam Mostafa Sarder starts every day before dawn, rising from a thin reed mat in the shed that he shares with fifteen roommates. Each has just enough space to lie flat. He dresses in gym shorts and t-shirt by the light of a single dangling bulb.

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Activity 5: tropical storms and climate change

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Activity 5: tropical storms and climate change

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Studying hazards is an important part of A Level Geography. This week you will look at the way that climate change is altering the tropical storm hazard. First, read this NASA report and make notes or a mind map. Then, do some extra research on the internet and write down extra points to add to your understanding.

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Climate Change: Vital Signs of the Planet

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How Climate Change May Be Impacting Storms Over Earth’s Tropical Oceans – Climate Change: Vital Signs of the Planet

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Vital Signs of the Planet: Global Climate Change and Global Warming. Current news and data streams about global warming and climate change from NASA.

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Activity 6: sea levels and climate change

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Activity 6: sea levels and climate change

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Changes to Earth’s climate system are one important contributor to sea level changes. But sea level change is actually linked to a variety of processes. Visit this link and use the information to make a poster about sea level change

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News stories often link climate change to rising sea levels.

Throughout Earth's history sea level has constantly changed and, indeed, it is these very changes that generate most of the geological record!

Geology has left us many clues to how the environment has changed over time and whether the sea was higher or lower than it is today.

Maybe the place where you live was once below sea level!

What do we mean by sea level?

Sea level, or 'mean sea level' as it is sometimes known, is the average height of the ocean's surface between high and low tide.

Scientists refer to it as the equipotential surface of the world's oceans, which means that its level is affected by the strength of gravity (or, more technically, 'gravitational acceleration') around the Earth.

Variations in the gravitational acceleration are themselves caused by variations in the internal density of the Earth.

Changes in tides and wave conditions over time are averaged out to determine a 'still water level' that can be used to identify whether the sea level has changed and also the height of the land above sea level.

In the UK, height above sea level is measured from the ' Ordnance Datum', which is the mean sea level at the .
More about the UK Tide Gauge Network.

What is sea level change?

Because the surface of the land also moves up and down over long periods of time, sea level changes may be described as 'relative' or 'absolute'.

Relative changes may be observed even though the absolute height of the oceans remains the same.

It is important to realise that when earth scientists talk about a rise in mean global sea level (what we call 'eustatic' sea level), local changes may be quite different. This is why local studies of sea level rise and fall are so important.

How much has sea level changed over geological time?

During the last ice age, lots of sea water was stored in ice sheets and glaciers and sea level was, on average, more than 130 metres lower than it is today.

But these sea level changes, related to the growth and melting of ice sheets, happen relatively quickly, taking tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands of years.

Sea levels also rise and fall more slowly, over time spans of millions of years. And these gradual changes have generated the enormously thick sequences of sedimentary rocks that record the long history of geological time.

We would have very little if any of our sedimentary rocks were it not for the fact that sea levels rise and fall!

Why does sea level change?

Sea levels change for many reasons and over timescales that are very different. Sea levels are rising today not only because significant parts of the land-based ice is melting, but also because ocean waters are warming and therefore expanding.

Note that there is no direct effect on sea level when sea-based ice melts, because sea-ice is already part of the ocean system. Ice floats because it is less dense than water and because it displaces an equivalent mass of water there is no increase in sea level as it melts - in just the same way a cold drink does not overflow the glass as the ice cubes it contains melt.

There is, however, a significant indirect effect of Arctic ice melting, which is that the albedo changes.

Albedo is the ability of a surface to reflect sunlight, and ice and snow are very good at reflecting the warming rays of the sun.

As the Arctic ice melts, polar regions will warm even more quickly because the Arctic ocean will now absorb the incoming energy. Thus, warming leads to Arctic ice melting which leads to more warming.

This is a classic positive feedback in the climate.

A eustatic sea level change occurs when there is a global change in the amount of water stored in the oceans, or a change in the geometry of the ocean basins which alters the volume of water they can hold.

When the sea level changes in response to the amount of water stored in ice caps this is called glacial-eustasy.

If the two main ice caps - Greenland and Antarctica - melted, then it is calculated that the oceans would rise by 66 metres.

During glacial periods areas of land are covered with thick layers of ice.

The weight of the ice causes the surface of the Earth's crust to deflect downwards.

At the end of the glacial period the ice melts and the crust can rebound. This is known as an isostatic sea level change and it causes a relative sea level change as it is the land rising, not the amount of water increasing.

A change in the temperature of sea water also contributes to a change in sea level because sea water expands at higher temperatures.

As the atmosphere becomes warmer, the oceans will absorb some of the heat and increase in volume, which in turn leads to higher sea levels.

Orogeny or mountain building, can decrease sea level by changing the size of the oceans.

The most famous of these is the collision of the Indian and Eurasian plates that formed the Himalaya Mountains.

One relevant consequence of the collision is that a lot of continental crust was inserted under Tibet, leaving a larger ocean basin and therefore lower global sea-levels.

How are changes in sea level linked to the climate?

The Earth's climate and global sea levels are closely linked.

During cold periods some of the ocean's water is evaporated and stored in ice caps or mountain glaciers, meaning a lower sea level.

During warmer periods sea levels rise as the ice melts and once again is added to the volume of the oceans.

Over the past 100 years the Earth's climate has warmed a little less than 1°C, and as temperatures rise thermal expansion of water will add to sea level rise.

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British Geological Survey 1998 - 2017 (c)NERC mailto:www-bgs@bgs.ac.uk

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News stories often link climate change to rising sea levels. Throughout Earth's history sea level has constantly changed and, indeed, it is these very changes that generate most of the geological record! Geology has left us many clues to how the environment has changed over time and whether the sea was higher or lower than it is today.

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The Conversation is a brilliant website that provides summary articles by academic researchers. This link will take you to their specialist Geography page, so that you can read widely about our subject.

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Geography News, Research and Analysis - The Conversation

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Browse Geography news, research and analysis from The Conversation

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One of the lesser known impacts of having increased greenhouse gases in the atmosphere is ocean acidification. Read and watch the video at the link, then make a mind map to learn more

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The chief UK scientist was reported, this week, expressing serious concern about the the impacts of climate change and carbon emissions on the state of the planet's oceans. Whilst increased air temperatures have generated most discussion, there are significant changes occurring in the seas which, covering 70% of the planet, could be having a widespread impact on complex marine ecosystems that we're only just starting to explore.

The oceans are changing, and changing pretty fast. Increased atmospheric temperatures impact upon surface waters of the seas causing them to be warmer. We know this can lead to more rapid melting of Arctic ice but what is less widely known is that warmer oceans absorb more carbon dioxide. And there's more of the gas in the atmosphere to be absorbed. Put the two together and the result is the oceans are becoming more acidic. Water and carbon dioxide form carbonic acid. In the atmosphere this displays as Acid Rain, in sea water it results in Ocean Acidification. The variation in pH may not seem a lot - but it's enough for life to become harder for some marine organisms. Whilst vegetation such as seaweed may benefit from warmer, more acidic oceans, creatures that produce calcite to build a shell or protective body find it harder to generate the material under more acidic conditions. As many of these smaller crustaceans form the basis of food chains for the feeding habits of larger marine creatures the impacts upon ocean life are considerable.

One of the more immediate impacts is the bleaching of coral. There are now real concerns that the Great Barrier Reef off the NE coast of Australia is already suffering coral die-back over 40% of its extent as a result of increased ocean acidity and there are fears the world's warm-water corals will face a tougher future unless carbon emissions are significantly reduced. Some reports suggest they could be destroyed as early as 2050.

Environmental impacts are just one of the implications; there are economic effects too. Oyster farmers and fish farms are being affected with smaller yields and reduced disease-resistance. With a growing world population needing increased food supplies, this could be an issue with reduced production falling further from the needs of increased demand.

The more we study it, the more integrated the planet's system are seen to be. Burn the stored carbon from millions of years' accumulation in just a few centuries - as we do with coal, oil and gas supplies - and we impact upon not just the atmosphere, but the oceans too. Understanding the connections, systems, cycles and interactions is key if we are to check our impacts and make wise decisions for a sustainable future.

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Ocean Acidification: Dipping a toe in changing waters. | Geography | tutor2u

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The chief UK scientist was reported, this week, expressing serious concern about the the impacts of climate change and carbon emissions on the state of the planet's oceans. Whilst increased air temperatures have generated most discussion, there are significant changes occurring in the seas which, covering 70% of the planet, could be having a widespread impact on complex marine ecosystems that we're only just starting to explore.

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One of the major impacts of ocean acidification is coral bleaching. Read this document to learn more about the threats facing coral reefs. Answer the questions at the end once you have read through the information.

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There has never been a more important time to study geography. Humanity needs geographers to help us tackle the big issues, from climate breakdown to global conflict, from natural hazards to economic crises. Alastair Bonnett has described Geography as one of humanity’s ‘big ideas’, and through an Earth systems approach you will gain the knowledge and critical understanding necessary to help you better engage with the world around you.

contactus@sixth.trinitymat.org

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In previous weeks we have been thinking about climate change. It is essential that we end by considering the data about climate change. As you read the information make a mind map. After you’ve done that, make a list of what you think are the 5 most important facts you’ve read here. Write them down and learn them until you memorise them. You may want to turn them into flash cards.

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You can download our complete Our World in Data CO ₂ and Greenhouse Gas Emissions database.

CO₂ and Greenhouse Gas Emissions Country Profiles

How are emissions changing in each country? Is your country making progress on reducing emissions? We built 207 country profiles which allow you to explore the statistics for every country in the world.

Each profile includes interactive visualizations, explanations of the presented metrics, and the details on the sources of the data.

See emissions in your country and how it compares to others:

Our 12 most visited country profiles

Every profile includes five sections

Why do greenhouse gas emissions matter?

Global average temperatures have increased by more than 1℃ since pre-industrial times

Human emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases - are a primary driver of climate change - and present one of the world's most pressing challenges.¹ This link between global temperatures and greenhouse gas concentrations - especially CO ₂ - has been true throughout Earth's history.²

To set the scene, let's look at how the planet has warmed. In the chart, we see the global average temperature relative to the average of the period between 1961 and 1990.

The red line represents the average annual temperature trend through time, with upper and lower confidence intervals shown in light grey.

We see that over the last few decades, global temperatures have risen sharply - to approximately 0.7℃ higher than our 1961-1990 baseline. When extended back to 1850, we see that temperatures then were a further 0.4℃ colder than they were in our baseline. Overall, this would amount to an average temperature rise of 1.1℃.

Because there are small year-to-year fluctuations in temperature, the specific temperature increase depends on what year we assume to be 'pre-industrial' and the end year we're measuring from. But overall, this temperature rise is in the range of 1 to 1.2℃.³

Greenhouse gas emissions from human activities are the main driver of this warming

How much of the warming since 1850 can be attributed to human emissions? Almost all of it. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) states clearly in its AR5 assessment report⁴:

"Anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions have increased since the pre-industrial era, driven largely by economic and population growth, and are now higher than ever. This has led to atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide that are unprecedented in at least the last 800,000 years. Their effects, together with those of other anthropogenic drivers, have been detected throughout the climate system and are extremely likely to have been the dominant cause of the observed warming since the mid-20th century. "

Aerosols have played a slight cooling role in global climate, and natural variability has played a very minor role. This article from the Carbon Brief, with interactive graphics showing the relative contributions of different forcings on the climate, explains this very well.

A changing climate has a range of potential ecological, physical, and health impacts, including extreme weather events (such as floods, droughts, storms, and heatwaves); sea-level rise; altered crop growth; and disrupted water systems. The most extensive source of analysis on the potential impacts of climatic change can be found in the 5th Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report.⁵

In some regions, warming has - and will continue to be - much greater than the global average

Local temperatures in 2019 relative to the average temperature in 1951-1980.⁶

When we think about the problem of global warming, a temperature rise of 1℃ can seem small and insignificant.

Not only is it true that 1℃ of rapid warming itself can have significant impacts on climate and natural systems, but also that this 1℃ figure masks the large variations in warming across the world.

In the map shown - taken from the Berkeley Earth global temperature report - we see the global distribution of temperature changes in 2019 relative to the period 1951 - 1980.⁷ This period from 1951 to 1980 is similar to the period global average time series shown in the section above.

There are a couple of key points that stand out.

Firstly, the global average temperature rise is usually given as the combined temperature change across both land and the sea surface. But it's important to note that land areas change temperature, both warming and cooling much more than oceanic areas.⁸ Overall, global average temperatures over land have increased around twice as much as the ocean. Compared to the 1951 - 1980 average, temperatures over land increased by 1.32 ± 0.04 °C. Whereas, the ocean surface temperature (excluding areas of sea ice) increased by only 0.59 ± 0.06 °C.

Since the Northern Hemisphere has more land mass, this also means that the change in average temperature north of the equator has been higher than in the south.

Secondly, from the map shown, we see that in some regions the temperature change has been much more extreme. At very high latitudes - especially near the Poles - warming has been upwards of 3°C, and in some cases exceeding 5°C. These are, unfortunately, often the regions that could experience the largest impacts such as sea ice, permafrost, and glacial melt.

Monitoring the average global temperature change is important, but we should also be aware of how differently this warming is distributed across the world. In some regions, warming is much more extreme.

How are greenhouse gas emissions and concentrations changing?

Atmospheric concentrations of CO₂ continue to rise

To slow down - with the eventual aim of halting - rising global temperatures, we need to stabilize concentrations of CO ₂ and other greenhouse gases in Earth's atmosphere.⁹ This link between global temperatures and greenhouse gas concentrations - especially CO ₂ - has been true throughout Earth's history.¹⁰ It's important to note that there is a 'lag' between atmospheric concentrations and final temperature rise - this means that when we do finally manage to stabilize atmospheric concentrations, temperatures will continue to slowly rise for years to decades.¹¹,¹²

But, far from stabilizing concentrations, greenhouse gases continue to accumulate.

In the chart here we see global average concentrations of CO ₂ in the atmosphere over the past 800,000 years. Over this period we see consistent fluctuations in CO ₂ concentrations; these periods of rising and falling CO ₂ coincide with the onset of ice ages (low CO ₂) and interglacials (high CO ₂).¹³ These periodic fluctuations are caused by changes in the Earth's orbit around the sun - called Milankovitch cycles.

Over this long period, atmospheric concentrations of CO ₂ did not exceed 300 parts per million (ppm). This changed with the Industrial Revolution and the rise of human emissions of CO ₂ from burning fossil fuels. We see a rapid rise in global CO ₂ concentrations over the past few centuries, and in recent decades in particular. For the first time in over 800,000 years, concentrations did not only rise above 300ppm but are now well over 400ppm.

It's not only the level of change CO ₂ in the atmosphere that matters, but also the rate that this has changed. Historical changes in CO2 concentrations tended to occur over centuries or even thousands of years. It took us a matter of decades to achieve even larger changes. This gives species, planetary systems, and ecosystems much less time to adapt.

Global emissions have not yet peaked

To stabilize (or even reduce) concentrations of CO ₂ in the atmosphere, the world needs to reach net-zero emissions. This requires large and fast reductions in emissions.

Are we making progress towards this? How far are we from this target?

At a time when global emissions need to be falling, they are in fact still rising, as the chart here shows. The world has not yet peaked.

Current climate policies will reduce emissions, but not quickly enough to reach international targets

Related charts

Current policies to reduce, or at least slow down growth, in CO ₂ and other greenhouse gas emissions will have some impact on reducing future warming.

As we see in the chart shown here, current implemented climate and energy policies would reduce warming relative to a world with no climate policies in place. This chart maps out future greenhouse gas emissions scenarios under a range of assumptions: if no climate policies were implemented; if current policies continued; if all countries achieved their current future pledges for emissions reductions; and necessary pathways which are compatible with limiting warming to 1.5 °C or 2 °C of warming this century.¹⁴

If countries achieved their current 'Pledges' (also shown on the chart), this would be an even further improvement. In this regard, the world is making some progress.

But if our aim is to limit warming to "well below 2°C" - as is laid out in the Paris Agreement - we are clearly far off track.

Robbie Andrew, a senior researcher at the Center for International Climate Research (CICERO), mapped out the global emissions reduction scenarios necessary to limit global average warming to 1.5°C and 2°C. Based on the IPCC's Special Report on 1.5°C and Michael Raupach's work, published in Nature Climate Change, these mitigation curves show that urgent and rapid reductions in emissions would be needed to achieve either target.¹⁵,¹⁶,¹⁷ And the longer we delay a peak in emissions, the more drastic these reductions would need to be.

We may be making slow progress relative to a world without any climate policies, but we are still far from the rates of progress we'd need to achieve international targets.

Which countries have set net-zero emissions targets?

Whilst current climate policies fall well short of what's needed to keep temperatures below 1.5 °C or 2 °C, countries have set more ambitious targets to reach net-zero emissions.

These interactive maps show the status of net-zero emissions targets across the world. This is based on the latest data from the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit's Net Zero Scorecard.¹⁸

The target year to reach net zero varies by country - you can see the target year for each country by hovering over it on the map.

Note that the inclusion criteria may vary from country to country. For example, some countries may include international aviation and shipping in their net-zero commitment, while others do not. Or, some may allow for carbon offsets while others will not accept them. You can dig deeper into the specifics of each country's criteria here.

Can we make progress in reducing emissions?

Some countries reduced emissions whilst increasing GDP - even when we take into account outsourced production

There is a strong link between CO ₂ emissions, prosperity, and standards of living.

Therefore, if we're to ask the question: "Have any countries demonstrated that we can make progress in reducing emissions?", they would have to achieve both:

1. High standards of living;

2. Low levels of emissions, or at least large reductions in emissions to maintain that standard of living.

There are many countries that meet one criterion: rich countries that have high standards of living, but also high levels of emissions; and poor countries that have low levels of emissions but poor standards of living.

But, some countries have shown signs of progress. A number of countries have shown in recent years that it is possible to increase GDP whilst also reducing emissions. We see this in the chart which shows the change in GDP and annual CO ₂ emissions. Both production- and consumption-based CO ₂ emissions are shown - consumption-based emissions are corrected for traded goods and services, so we can see whether emissions reductions were only achieved by "offshoring" production to other countries.

A number of countries - such as the USA, UK, France, Spain, Italy, and many others - have managed to reduce emissions (even when we correct for trade) whilst increasing GDP.

The more important question is "Can we make progress fast enough?"

So we can see numerous examples of countries, with high standards of living, which have been successful in reducing emissions. This is a clear signal that it is possible to make progress.

But the key question here is probably less: "can we make progress?", but rather "can we make progress fast enough?".

As we explored earlier in this article, the world is currently far off-track from our 2 ° C target. If this is our definition of "fast enough" then we have little historical evidence to suggest that most, or even some, countries can reduce emissions (whilst maintaining high living standards) at the speed needed to achieve this.

We can make progress, but it's currently too slow. We need a large-scale acceleration of these efforts across the world.

How do we make progress in reducing emissions?

To make progress in reducing greenhouse gas emissions, there are two fundamental areas we need to focus on: energy (this encapsulates electricity, heat, transport, and industrial activities) and food and agriculture (which includes agriculture and land use change, since agriculture dominates global land use).

Below we've listed some of the key actions we need to make progress in each area. At a very basic level they can be summarised by two core concepts: improving efficiency (using less energy to produce a given output; and using less land, fertilizer, and other inputs for food production, and reducing food waste); and transitioning to low-carbon alternatives (in energy, this means shifting to renewables and nuclear; for food, this means substituting carbon-intensive products for those with a lower carbon footprint).

How can we decarbonize our energy systems?

1. Shift towards low-carbon electricity (reduce carbon intensity - carbon per unit energy)
- Renewables
- Nuclear energy
- Shift from coal to gas (which emits less CO₂ per unit of energy) as an interim step
→ Explore our work on energy.
→ Explore our data on CO2 emissions by fuel type.

2. Shift sectors such as transport, towards electricity. Some energy sectors are harder to decarbonize - for example, transport. We, therefore, need to shift these forms towards electricity where we have viable low-carbon technologies.
→ Explore our data on greenhouse gas emissions by sector.

3. Develop low-cost low-carbon energy and battery technologies. To do this quickly, and allow lower-income countries to avoid high-carbon development pathways, low-carbon energy needs to be cost-effective and the default choice.

4. Improve energy efficiency - energy per unit GDP.
→ Explore our data on energy intensity.

How can we reduce emissions from food production and agriculture?

1. Reduce meat and dairy consumption, especially in higher-income countries. Shift dietary patterns towards lower-carbon food products. This includes eating less meat and dairy generally but also substituting high-impact meats (e.g. beef and lamb) for chicken, fish, or eggs. Innovation in meat substitutes could also play a large role here.
→ Read our article on the carbon footprint of meat and dairy versus alternative foods.
→ Explore our work on meat and dairy production.

2. Promote lower-carbon meat and dairy production. We are not going to cut out meat and dairy products completely any time soon (and doing so is unnecessary - large reductions would be sufficient). This makes the promotion of lower-carbon production methods essential.
→ Read our article on the large differences in carbon footprint for specific meat and dairy products.

3. Improve crop yields. Sustainable intensification of agriculture allows us to grow more food on less land. This could help to prevent deforestation from agricultural expansion, and frees up land for replanting, or giving back to natural ecosystems.
→ Explore our work on crop yields.

4. Reduce food waste. Around one-third of food emissions come from food that is lost in supply chains or wasted by consumers. Improving harvesting techniques, refrigeration, transport, and packaging in supply chains; and reducing consumer waste can reduce emissions significantly.
→ Read our article on GHG emissions from food waste.

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Who is emitting greenhouse gases? Which countries and which sectors? And what needs to happen to reduce emissions?

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Teaching Resources - Geographical Association

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Browse hundreds of Teaching Resources including case studies, videos, activities and content units on a range of geography topics.