What is climate change?
Our activity is influencing the Earth’s climate. Burning fossil fuels to produce energy, cutting down forests, farming crops and livestock, producing chemicals: in the course of all these activities, and many others, greenhouse gases such as the carbon dioxide (CO2) are released. They trap heat in the atmosphere and amplify the ‘greenhouse effect’, which results in a temperature rise and major changes to the Earth’s climate.
The more we disturb the climate, the greater the risks to our society and environment.
Without action on climate change, in the lifetime of our children the EU could see:
- 96,000 excess deaths per year from extreme heat
- €1 trillion in annual economic losses from coastal floods alone
- 50-year heatwaves occurring almost every year in some European countries
- 40 million hectares of land lost or severely damaged
Source: European Climate Risk Assessment 2024, European Environment Agency
These are sobering figures but the EU is taking action. Learn more about the causes and consequences of climate change, and what the EU is doing to fight it.
What can we do?
The first step is to understand climate change and its impacts. The next is to take action.
It is up to governments, industry and other stakeholders to lead the green transition of our economy and societies, but we can push for change and do our part. The European Climate Pact champions individual and collective climate action on the ground.
Our everyday choices matter, from the way we move around to what we eat or how we heat and cool our houses. Whether we are re-thinking the way we get to work each day or organising group climate activities in our communities, no action is too small!