Global Climate Change and Solutions that Scale

The United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change issued a report in March 2023 warning of the dire consequences to come if annual global mean temperature increases by 1.5 degrees Celsius over preindustrial levels, which could happen in the first half of the 2030s.

Humanity is expected to face crippling heat waves, flooding, drought, mass species extinction and agricultural failure with runaway climate change. Yet what many scientists agree is the cause of the warming – carbon dioxide emissions from human fossil fuel burning – reached record highs in 2022, up sharply from pandemic levels.

The IPCC report stresses that efforts to confront climate change thus far have failed to match the problem and that greater strides are needed to replace fossil fuels with clean, carbon-free alternatives.ifornia is facing, devise risk management strategies and build resiliency.

Since its founding in 1965, UCI has been home to the world’s leading researchers on the Earth’s climate and environment. The scientists, engineers, biologists, public health experts, legal thinkers, artists and educators who work at the university have contributed enormously to our understanding of climate change.

This website – organized under the headings The Problem, Human Impact, Solutions, and Education and Outreach – tells the story of UCI’s all-encompassing, cross-disciplinary approach to climate change studies. Learn about UCI researchers’ work through articles, photography, videos, audio recordings and informational graphics. Share items of interest using the social media tools provided throughout the site. Send us your feedback. Join the discussion and get involved. Together, we can work to sharpen our climate change intelligence, devise strategies to manage risk, and build resiliency.

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