3 Introduction Climate Change IPCC (Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change) involves hundreds of experts from all countries in a joint effort to study and mitigate climate change. According to those experts, climate change is widespread, rapid, and intensifying. Scientists are observing changes in the Earth’s climate in every region and across the whole climate system. Many of the changes observed in the climate are unprecedented in thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of years, and some of the changes already set in motion—such as continued sea level rise—are irreversible over hundreds to thousands of years. However, strong and sustained reductions in emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) and other greenhouse gases would limit climate change. While benefits for air quality would come quickly, it could take 2030 years to see global temperatures stabilize. Many characteristics of climate change directly depend on the level of global warming, but what people experience is often very different to the global average. For example, warming over land is larger than the global average, and it is more than twice as high in the Arctic. Climate change is bringing multiple different changes in different regions – which will all increase with further warming. These include changes to wetness and dryness, to winds, snow and ice, coastal areas, and oceans. For example: - Climate change is intensifying the water cycle. This brings more intense rainfall and associated flooding, as well as more intense drought in many regions. - Coastal areas will see continued sea level rise throughout the 21st century, contributing to more frequent and severe coastal flooding in low-lying areas and coastal erosion. Extreme sea-level events that previously occurred once in 100 years could happen every year by the end of this century. - For cities, some aspects of climate change may be amplified, including heat (since urban areas are usually warmer than their surroundings), flooding from heavy precipitation events and sea level rise in coastal cities. The EU and many other countries are trying to act against climate change by reducing GHG emissions. This means redesigning the whole economy (e.g., renewable energy, electric cars, short supply chains). Besides economics and politics, formal education, adult and vocational education and training will be required to play their role in changing people's perceptions on many aspects, in the working
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