Q&A

Q.  What is Seal the Deal!?

Seal the Deal! is a major campaign led by the United Nations to encourage governments to seal the deal on a fair, balanced and effective climate agreement when they meet for a crucial climate change conference in Copenhagen, Denmark, in December 2009.  People and organizations around the world are urged to get involved in the Seal the Deal! campaign to call for urgent and united action on climate change.

Q.    What is climate change?

Essentially, climate change refers to a change of climate that can be attributed to human activity. This has changed the composition of the atmosphere and the functioning of the earth's climate system.

A natural blanket of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere keeps the planet warm enough for life as we know it - at a comfortable 15°C today. However, human-caused emissions of greenhouse gases have made the blanket thicker, trapping heat and leading to a global warming.

It is true the earth’s climate has always changed. However since the 1800s, the average temperature of the earth's surface has risen by 0.74 degrees Celsius.  Under a business-as-usual scenario, scientists expect the average temperature to increase by another 1.8°C to 4°C by the year 2100.  

Q.  How did it occur?

The main reason for climate change is more than 150 years of industrialization: the burning of ever-greater quantities of oil, gasoline and coal; the logging of forests, and some farming methods.

When we burn coal, oil and natural gas, we release billions of tonnes of carbon every year that would otherwise have remained in the earth’s crust, as well as large amounts of methane and nitrous oxide. More carbon dioxide is released when trees are cut down and not replaced.

Meanwhile, massive herds of livestock also emit methane, as do rice farms and waste dumps. The use of fertilizers produces nitrous oxide, and long-lived gases such as chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) and perfluorocarbons (PFCs), used in air conditioning and refrigeration, also eventually enter the atmosphere. Many of these greenhouse gas-emitting activities are now perceived as essential to the global economy and are part of modern life.

Q.  What is the basic science behind climate change?

Human activities have increased the amount of "greenhouse gases" in the atmosphere, especially carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide. Such gases occur naturally and are critical for life on earth. They keep some of the sun's warmth from reflecting back into space, and without them, the world would be a cold and barren place. However, in increasing quantities, they push the global temperature to dangerously high levels and alter the climate. This is leading to rising sea levels, increased incidences of drought and more frequent and severe storms.

Q.  Why is climate change a concern?

The problem we now face is that since the start of the industrial revolution, some 250 years ago, our emissions of greenhouse gases have been making the natural blanket of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere thicker at an unprecedented speed. This has caused the most dramatic change in the atmosphere’s composition for at least 650,000 years. Unless we make significant efforts to reduce our emissions, the climate will continue to warm rapidly over the coming decades and beyond.

The Nobel-prize winning Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has warned that global emissions need to peak by 2015 and decline thereafter if we hope to keep global average temperature increase within 2.0 Degrees Celsius, which scientists say is the tipping point to avoid catastrophic damage from climate change.  

Q.  What are the details of the UN Climate Convention meeting in Copenhagen?

Approximately 190 governments of the world will meet in Copenhagen for a crucial conference on climate change from 7-18 December 2009.  The aim of the meeting is to negotiate a comprehensive Post-Kyoto global climate deal for the period after 2012, when the first commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol expires.

Not all details need to be resolved in Copenhagen, but the outcome must provide clarity on mid-term emission reduction targets for industrialised countries, while ensuring that developing countries also take action to reduce their emissions, supported by adequate finance and technology from the developed world.