FAQs

Weather is the day-to-day conditions of the atmosphere at a particular place. It includes temperature, precipitation, cloud cover and wind speed. Climate is the average weather conditions of a place taken over a long period of time, typically 30 years.

Climate change refers to long-term shifts in temperatures and weather patterns. Such shifts can be natural, due to changes in the sun’s activity or large volcanic eruptions. But since the 1800s, human activities have been the main driver of climate change, primarily due to the burning of fossil fuels like coal, oil and gas. 

Burning fossil fuels generates greenhouse gas emissions that act like a blanket wrapped around the Earth, trapping the sun’s heat and raising temperatures. The main greenhouse gases that are causing climate change include carbon dioxide and methane.

Mitigation:

Actions taken to reduce or prevent the release of greenhouse gas emissions into the atmosphere, or to enhance carbon sinks that remove them, thereby minimising the impacts of climate change.

Adaptation:

In the context of climate change, adaptation refers to adjustments in ecological, social, or economic systems in response to actual or expected climatic stimuli or their effects. It involves actions to reduce vulnerability to the impacts of climate change and build resilience towards these impacts. 

Traditional understandings of resilience focus on coping and bouncing back from a change, or critical event. It supports hard engineering approaches that keep the threat away (i.e. with concrete flood defences). This understanding works on the principle of maintaining ‘normality’ and ‘business as usual’. 

However, as the causes of climate change and its subsequent consequences are related to, or directly due to the current business as usual, a more radical resilience is required. Building resilience to climate change therefore includes changing our behaviours and systems to work with the nature and the changes occurring. 

A flexible bounce forward approach that realises that the norm is no longer acceptable, and change is crucial for social, environmental, and economic vitality.

Maladaptation refers to a situation where an action intended to help, particularly in the context of adaptation to climate change, increases vulnerability or diminishes well-being. It's essentially when an adaptation strategy backfires and does more harm than good. 

This tends to occur when changes are made to solve a singular issue without regard for interconnected concerns and knock on effects. Whole system change, taking account of as many variables as possible will ultimately be required for successful adaptation.

Retrofit refers to any improvement work on an existing building to improve its energy efficiency, making them easier to heat, able to retain that heat for longer, and replacing fossil fuels with renewable energy. In the UK we are facing two big problems, rising energy prices and the urgent need to reduce carbon emissions if we’re to reach net-zero by 2050. 

People are increasingly worried about how they can reduce energy use in their homes to not only save money but take action in the fight against climate change. Retrofit is the best solution to both these issues. Retrofit is the latest and much-needed trend in reaching net-zero targets. 

Retrofit refers to any improvement work on an existing building to improve its energy efficiency, making them easier to heat, able to retain that heat for longer, and replacing fossil fuels with renewable energy. 

Retrofitted homes are better protected against energy price increases as they can generate their own energy and are improved so they actually require less energy too.

Traditional plastics are non-biodegradable, meaning they don't break down easily and can persist in the environment for centuries. This leads to plastic accumulating in landfills and oceans, posing a significant pollution problem. Plastic waste can also be transported through rivers and ocean currents, contaminating distant ecosystems. 

Marine animals often mistake plastic debris for food, leading to ingestion and starvation. Plastic debris can also trap and entangle animals, causing injury or death. Microplastics, tiny plastic fragments, are found in marine life and can accumulate in the food chain, potentially harming humans as well. 

Plastic waste can leach harmful chemicals into the environment, contaminating soil, water, and air. These toxins can enter the food chain and cause health problems for both humans and wildlife. Microplastics have been found in drinking water and even in human breast milk. 

Plastic production relies heavily on fossil fuels, which are major contributors to greenhouse gas emissions. Burning plastic in incinerators also releases climate-warming gases and toxic air pollution. 

Zero waste is a movement and philosophy focused on minimizing waste production and preventing it from entering landfills or incinerators. 

It emphasizes reducing, reusing, and recycling to create a more sustainable lifestyle and a circular economy. 

While achieving absolute zero waste is a challenge, the goal is to minimize waste as much as possible through conscious consumption and responsible waste management. 

While going vegetarian or vegan can significantly reduce one's environmental impact, it's not a strict requirement to fight climate change. Even reducing meat consumption and making other dietary choices can make a difference. 

Switching to a more plant-based diet can lower greenhouse gas emissions, land use, water consumption, and pollution related to food production. 

Buying responsibly farmed, organic, free range local produce, while also reducing meat and dairy intake is a good approach for most of us.

The United Nations states that current commitments made by governments are insufficient to meet the goals of the Paris Agreement, which aim to limit global warming to 1.5°C. To achieve the 1.5°C target, global greenhouse gas emissions need to be reduced by 43% by 2030 and reach net-zero by 2050. 

The UK's Climate Change Committee (CCC) has stated that the UK's current policies and plans are insufficient to achieve its net-zero targets in the 2030s. The CCC has emphasized that time is running out, and the UK needs to "super-charge" its efforts to tackle climate change. 

The UK needs to speed up and broaden emissions reductions across more sectors, including energy demand in buildings, and invest in renewable energy and green transport. 

Yes, the Earth's climate has always changed naturally, with cycles of warming and cooling over long periods. However, the current rate of climate change, driven by human activities, is happening much faster and to a greater extent than past natural variations, making it unprecedented in recent history.

Global Warming refers to the warming of the planet's surface as a result of human activity, particularly the burning of fossil fuels which releases greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. 

Climate Change is a broader term that includes global warming but also encompasses other changes in the Earth's climate system, such as changes in precipitation, wind patterns, and ocean currents. Climate change can be caused by both natural factors and human activities. 

As such, Global Warming is a specific type of Climate Change.

Only six countries in the world have emissions that account for at least 2% of the global total: China, the United States, India, Russia, Japan, and Iran. 

Every other country in the world emits less than 2% and might consider themselves to be “negligible”. But collectively, these countries add up to 36% of the world’s CO₂ emissions. 

These ‘negligible’ emissions are production-based emissions. Consumption from other countries essentially offshores these emissions (what we use, buy and eat every day). In a global market, everything we do has an impact on overall carbon emissions and our ability to adapt to climate change.

The last time the Earth was hotter than it is today was at least 125,000 years ago, long before anything that resembled human civilization appeared. Since 1970, the Earth’s temperature has spiked faster than in any comparable forty-year period in recorded history. 

The ten years between 2014 and 2024 were the hottest on record. We are specifically adapted to the conditions of the last 10,000 years referred to as the Holocene. 

This new Anthropocene is taking us outside of this niche to encounter increased heat, water, and volatile weather stresses we are ill equipped to deal with. While technological advances can help partly this exacerbates inequalities and vulnerabilities across many different demographics.

While the initial costs of renewable energy infrastructure can be high, renewable energy sources like solar and wind are becoming increasingly cost-competitive with, and even cheaper than, fossil fuels for new electricity generation, especially when considering the long-term costs and environmental impacts. 

The cost of renewable energy technologies, particularly solar photovoltaic (PV) and onshore wind, has dramatically declined in recent years. In 2023, a significant percentage of newly installed, utility-scale solar PV and onshore wind capacity had lower generation costs than new coal and natural gas plants. A substantial portion of these new wind and solar PV plants offered cheaper power than existing fossil fuel facilities. 

The cost of renewable energy is expected to continue to fall, while fossil fuel prices are subject to volatility and geopolitical factors. Renewable energy sources produce little to no pollution, which can lead to significant long-term cost savings in terms of healthcare and environmental remediation. 

Renewable energy sources rely on abundant, readily available resources like sunlight and wind, reducing dependence on foreign energy sources and making energy supplies more secure. 

No, climate change is not just a future problem, it's happening now and impacting the world. We are experiencing more frequent and intense extreme weather events like stronger storms, rising floods, heatwaves, and droughts. These impacts are already affecting billions of people, particularly the most vulnerable, and the situation will worsen if we don't act now. 

We're already seeing changes in the Earth's climate, including rising global average temperatures, melting glaciers and ice sheets, and shifts in plant and animal distribution. More frequent and intense heatwaves, floods, droughts, and storms are occurring worldwide. Climate change is impacting food security, human health, water resources, ecosystems, and infrastructure. 

The impacts of climate change disproportionately affect vulnerable communities, including those in developing countries. While the long-term effects of climate change are significant and will continue to intensify, the impacts are already being felt today. Addressing climate change requires immediate action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and adapt to the changes already underway. 

Climate change is affecting the UK. Expect warmer and wetter winters, hotter and potentially drier summers, and more frequent and intense extreme weather events like heatwaves, flooding, and droughts. Rising sea levels also pose a threat, particularly to coastal areas. The UK is experiencing rising average temperatures, with the most recent decade being warmer than the 1961-1990 average. 

All of the UK's warmest years on record have occurred since 2003. Winters are projected to be wetter and summers drier. There is also a risk of increased local flooding, including flash floods. Heatwaves are becoming more frequent and intense, with those like the 2018 heatwave now 30 times more likely. 

Flooding is also increasing, with more floods in the past 30 years than in the last 500 years. Sea levels are rising, potentially by 40cm by the end of the century, which could lead to increased coastal erosion and flooding risks. 

Climate change can lead to heat-related illnesses, increased risk of infectious diseases, and mental health issues related to extreme weather events. Changes in temperature and rainfall patterns can impact plant and animal habitats and species, potentially leading to declines in certain populations. 

Climate change can lead to increased costs of living (e.g., due to food, fuel, and insurance) and disruptions to infrastructure and sectors like transport, agriculture, and energy. 

The government has committed the UK to a legally-binding ‘net zero’ emissions target by 2050. Essentially ‘net zero’ means that by 2050, the amount of greenhouse gases (like carbon dioxide) the UK adds to the atmosphere is no longer more than what they take out. This could – on the face of it – make the UK’s total contribution to climate change zero.

In practice it means that in the years leading up to 2050 (aka now), businesses and companies across every part of the economy need to take steps to get as close to zero emissions as possible. That means getting rid of fossil fuels and switching to clean technologies like renewables. 

Most of our emissions across society need to be entirely eliminated – without relying on technologies which attempt to take carbon out of the atmosphere. But in some areas, such as growing food and some kinds of heavy industry, some of the technical solutions are still evolving. 

So there’s a chance that for a very small amount of remaining emissions in a limited number of sectors, it may be necessary to counterbalance the remaining carbon they pump out into the atmosphere through doing some good things for the environment (which takes the emissions out again).

Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) is a development approach that ensures new developments leave the natural environment in a measurably better state than before, requiring a 10% increase in biodiversity value compared to pre-development levels.

Sustainability, at its core, means meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs, encompassing environmental, social, and economic considerations.

Rewilding is a large-scale approach to nature restoration that aims to allow ecosystems to recover and function naturally by reinstating natural processes and, where appropriate, reintroducing missing species.

Examples of Rewilding: restoring wetlands and introducing beavers; reconnecting rivers with floodplains; reducing high populations of grazing animals to allow for natural regeneration of woodlands; protecting and expanding ancient woodlands. 

Benefits of Rewilding: increased biodiversity, enhanced resilience to climate change; improved flood prevention; carbon storage; opportunities for nature-based economies.

Rewilding is often seen as a complementary approach to traditional conservation, which tends to focus on fine-tuning and managing specific species or habitats. Rewilding can also be applied to urban spaces, with initiatives like restoring habitats in parks and encouraging wildflowers. 

Many essential changes to our current behavioural norms and social systems are perceived to be diminishing personal freedoms, wealth and power. Seen instead as greenwashing or green packaging for austerity measures. 

While investment capital will need to be raised to fund climate adaptation. Ultimately the focus is on developing new systems and processes to enable a healthy, resilient and sustainable future for all.

The science is very clear that it's never too late; the impacts of climate change are on a spectrum and where we land on that spectrum depends on what we do today. The more action we take, the more climate damage we limit. It depends on what you are hoping for. If a return to ‘normal’ and no radical change is desired, then no probably not. 

If we accept change and work together to adapt to it the best we possibly can, then we can co-create a better future. Some change and loss is inevitable due to the latent effect of decades of emissions. We can still act and stop it from getting worse. 

Hope lies in innovation, collaboration, shared resources and reinvigorated ideas of utopia. Yes, we have had enough dystopia, so let’s change it together!