Climate change and its dimensions
Greenhouse gases from fossil fuels and land use trap heat and warm the planet. Its costs fall unequally, making climate change a question of equity too.
How warming happens and spreads
The natural greenhouse effect keeps Earth habitable; the problem is the extra, human-made part.
Socio-economic and political dimensions
| Dimension | What it means |
|---|---|
| Social | Heat stress, vector-borne diseases, food and water insecurity, displacement of people |
| Economic | Crop and fisheries losses, damage to infrastructure, rising costs of adaptation |
| Political | Who cuts emissions and who pays: the developed-developing divide, climate finance, the loss and damage fund agreed at COP27 (2022) |
| Ethical | Climate justice: the poor, small island states and future generations suffer most but caused least |
Mitigation and adaptation
Key terms
How NET asks this: identify greenhouse gases, match climate terms (NDC, CBDR, net zero) with their meanings, or judge an assertion-reason pair on equity between rich and poor nations.
Typical MCQ: “Which principle says all countries must act on climate, but rich nations bear greater responsibility?” Common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities (CBDR-RC), from the UNFCCC, 1992.
Typical MCQ: “Is building a sea wall mitigation or adaptation?” Adaptation: it reduces harm from impacts. Mitigation cuts emissions.
Mitigation cuts the cause; adaptation copes with the effect.