You Control Climate Change

Combat Climate Change was launched to help you understand what climate change is and how you can take action to combat it. By working together we can make a difference!  

Why should I get involved?

Climate Change is happening now and affects us all. It may seem like a problem that’s too big for individuals to address, but we can!

Individuals and greenhouse gas emissions

Facts & Figures

Households are directly responsible for around 16% of the EU’s greenhouse gas emissions. Per head and year, each EU citizen is responsible for 11 tons of greenhouse gas emissions, mainly CO2. Most of the greenhouse gas emissions in the EU are caused by the production and use of energy (61%) followed by transport (21%), both of which use fossil fuels (coal, oil and gas) that release emissions of CO2 when burnt.

Households use almost one-third of the energy consumed in the EU, and private cars are responsible for roughly half of the transport emissions, so individuals have a direct influence on these emissions. But they can also help reduce emissions from other sectors such as industry by reducing their waste and making sure it is recycled or composted, e.g. it costs 10 times less energy to recycle an aluminium can than to produce a new one. Last but not least, citizens can push for the structural changes needed to achieve a low-carbon society, for example the increased use of renewable energy sources.

 The effects of global warming are far-reaching 

The human-caused rise in carbon dioxide levels in recent years have a direct correlation with the simultaneous rise in Northern Hemisphere temperatures.  Former U.S. Vice President Al Gore is leading a campaign in the States to combat climate change, and points out that 20 of the 21 hottest years measured "have occurred within the last 25 years.”

The probable consequences of rising temperatures include: powerful and more destructive hurricanes fueled by warmer ocean waters (2005 was the year for Hurricane Katrina, as well as unusual flooding in Europe and China); increased soil moisture evaporation, which means drier land, less productive agriculture and more fires; and melting ice sheets in Antarctica and Greenland, which would lead to rising ocean levels, which in turn would endanger low-lying regions of the world from southern Florida to large portions of the Netherlands.

Global warming can disrupt delicate ecological balances, resulting in the spread of pests (like the pine beetle, whose migration used to be slowed by colder winters), increases in the range of disease vectors (including mosquitoes, ticks and fleas), and the extinction of a growing number of species.