Geography terms in Global climate—vulnerability and resilience

Adjustment in natural or human systems in response to actual or expected climate change and its effects, which reduces harm or makes use of new opportunities.

The ability of a society, organisation or individual to adjust to potential damage from climate change, take advantage of opportunities or respond to its consequences.

A suspension of tiny solid or liquid particles in the air, such as sulphate droplets, volcanic ash, soot, dust and sea salt, that can reflect or absorb sunlight and affect cloud formation.

The proportion of incoming solar radiation reflected by a surface, from 0 to 1 or as a percentage; fresh snow reflects about 0.8–0.9 and open ocean about 0.06.

The faster warming of the Arctic than the world as a whole, nearly four times faster since 1979, caused mainly by snow and sea-ice loss (ice–albedo feedback) and the lapse-rate feedback.

The layer of gases surrounding the Earth, held by gravity, made up mainly of nitrogen and oxygen with small amounts of argon, carbon dioxide, water vapour and other gases.

The study of how far human-caused climate change has altered the likelihood or intensity of a particular extreme weather event, by comparing today’s climate with a modelled climate without human influence.

A large-scale ecosystem, such as tundra, boreal forest or tropical rainforest, characterised by its dominant vegetation and closely related to climate.

A carbon trading system in which a government sets a declining cap on total emissions, issues allowances up to that cap, and lets firms buy and sell them.

Technology that captures CO₂ from large sources such as power stations and industrial plants, transports it and stores it permanently in underground rock formations.

The increase in plant growth and water-use efficiency caused by higher carbon dioxide concentrations in the air, strongest in C3 plants such as wheat and rice.

Methods that remove CO₂ from the atmosphere and store it in plants, soils, rocks or the ocean, such as afforestation, direct air capture and enhanced weathering.

The total greenhouse gas emissions, in tonnes of CO₂-equivalent, caused directly and indirectly by a person, organisation, event or product over a period or over its life cycle.

Compensating for greenhouse gas emissions by paying for an equivalent reduction or removal elsewhere, usually by buying carbon credits from projects such as forest protection.

A carbon store that absorbs more carbon from the atmosphere than it releases, reducing the concentration of carbon dioxide in the air; the oceans and growing forests are the main natural sinks.

A reservoir in the Earth system that holds carbon for a period of time, such as the atmosphere, oceans, vegetation, soils, permafrost, fossil fuels and sedimentary rocks.

A tax on the carbon content of fuels or on greenhouse gas emissions, which raises the cost of polluting activities and gives an incentive to cut emissions.

A market-based approach in which permits to emit greenhouse gases are bought and sold, so that emissions are cut where it is cheapest to do so; also called emissions trading.

The citizens, groups and organisations that act collectively outside government and business, such as NGOs, community groups, faith groups, trade unions and social movements.

The view that climate change is an ethical and political issue because those least responsible for emissions are often most vulnerable to its effects, so the costs of responding should be shared fairly.

A plausible, internally consistent description of how the climate might develop under particular assumptions about emissions and socio-economic change, such as the IPCC’s Shared Socioeconomic Pathways; not a prediction.

The emissions caused by the goods and services consumed in a country, wherever they were produced: territorial (production-based) emissions minus emissions in exports plus emissions in imports.

The whitening of corals when unusually warm water makes them expel the algae living in their tissues that supply most of their food; if the heat lasts, the corals die.

The idea and practice that businesses should take responsibility for their effects on society and the environment, going beyond legal requirements and profit.

The parts of the Earth’s surface where water is frozen, including ice sheets, glaciers, sea ice, lake and river ice, snow cover and permafrost.

The breaking of the link between economic growth and environmental pressure, so that GDP rises while emissions grow more slowly (relative decoupling) or fall (absolute decoupling).

The selling of shares, bonds or other investments in companies or industries, such as fossil-fuel producers, for ethical, environmental or financial reasons.

An extended period, usually a season or more, in which water availability is well below normal: meteorological (low rainfall), agricultural (low soil moisture) or hydrological (low river flow and groundwater).

The greenhouse gases released in producing and transporting a good or service, carried in effect from the producing country to the consuming country when the good is traded.

The balance between the incoming shortwave radiation the Earth absorbs from the Sun and the outgoing longwave radiation it emits to space; when the two are equal, global mean temperature is stable.

The strengthening of the natural greenhouse effect by human emissions of greenhouse gases, which raise their concentrations, trap more longwave radiation and warm the Earth’s surface.

The presence of people, livelihoods, infrastructure, ecosystems or economic assets in places that could be adversely affected by a hazard, such as a low-lying coast or a drought-prone region.

A weather event that is rare at a particular place and time of year, such as a heatwave, extreme rainfall, drought or intense storm.

A chain of processes in a system in which a change produces effects that act back on the original change, either amplifying it or reducing it.

Deliberate large-scale intervention in the Earth’s climate system to reduce global warming, either by removing CO₂ from the atmosphere or by reflecting more sunlight back to space.

The shrinking of a glacier, with its front moving back up its valley, when melting and calving exceed the accumulation of new snow over a period of years.

A long-term change in the Earth’s climate, including temperature, precipitation, ice cover and extreme events, now driven mainly by human greenhouse gas emissions; global warming is the rise in global mean surface temperature within it.

A reduction in the solar radiation reaching the Earth’s surface, caused by aerosols from volcanic eruptions and air pollution that reflect sunlight and make clouds brighter.

The relocation of manufacturing, and later some services, from high-income countries in Europe and North America to lower-cost countries, especially in East and South-East Asia, since the 1970s.

A measure of how much heat a mass of a greenhouse gas traps over a set period, usually 100 years, compared with the same mass of carbon dioxide, which has a value of 1.

The growing interconnection and interdependence of places, economies and societies around the world through flows of goods, services, capital, people, information and ideas.

The natural process by which gases in the atmosphere absorb longwave radiation from the Earth’s surface and re-emit part of it downwards, keeping the surface about 33 °C warmer than it would otherwise be.

A gas in the atmosphere that absorbs and emits longwave (infrared) radiation, such as water vapour, carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, ozone and CFCs.

Misleading claims or marketing that make a company, product or activity appear more environmentally friendly than it really is.

A period of several consecutive days with temperatures unusually high for a particular place and season, defined by each national weather service.

The graph of atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration measured at Mauna Loa, Hawaiʻi, since 1958, showing a steady, accelerating long-term rise with a regular seasonal cycle.

The 1997 agreement under the UNFCCC, in force from 2005, that set legally binding emissions targets for industrialised (Annex I) countries for 2008–2012 and later to 2020.

The boundaries, set mainly by temperature, rainfall and growing-season length, beyond which a particular crop cannot be grown successfully or profitably.

Infrared energy emitted by the Earth’s surface and atmosphere, at longer wavelengths than solar radiation because the Earth is much cooler than the Sun; also called terrestrial radiation.

Harm from climate change that cannot be avoided by mitigation or adaptation, such as land lost to the sea or livelihoods destroyed, and the finance to address it, including the fund agreed at COP27.

The planned movement of people, buildings and infrastructure away from places at high risk from hazards such as sea-level rise, coastal erosion or flooding.

An ice-like solid in which methane is trapped within a lattice of frozen water molecules, found in ocean-floor sediments and beneath permafrost where temperatures are low and pressures high.

Regular long-term changes in the Earth’s orbit (eccentricity), axial tilt (obliquity) and axis direction (precession) that alter the distribution of solar radiation and pace the ice ages.

In climate change, action to reduce the causes of warming by cutting greenhouse gas emissions or enlarging carbon sinks; in hazard management, action to reduce a hazard’s impact.

A country’s own pledge under the Paris Agreement setting out how it will reduce emissions and adapt to climate change, renewed with greater ambition every five years.

A feedback loop in which the response to a change reduces or reverses it, helping the system return towards its starting state, as when a warmer Earth radiates more longwave energy to space.

A state in which the greenhouse gases emitted by a country, company or person are balanced by an equal amount removed from the atmosphere, so their net contribution to warming is zero.

A not-for-profit organisation independent of government that pursues social, environmental or humanitarian aims through campaigning, research, legal action or projects.

The shipping route along Russia’s Arctic coast between the Kara Strait and the Bering Strait, part of the Northeast Passage between Europe and East Asia, made more usable as Arctic sea ice declines.

The decrease in seawater pH caused by absorbing carbon dioxide, which forms carbonic acid and reduces the carbonate ions that corals, shellfish and plankton use to build shells.

The 2015 treaty under the UNFCCC in which almost every country agreed to limit warming to well below 2 °C, pursue 1.5 °C, and set and regularly strengthen national emissions pledges.

A country’s total greenhouse gas or carbon dioxide emissions divided by its population, usually given in tonnes per person per year.

Ground (soil, sediment or rock) that remains at or below 0 °C for at least two consecutive years, storing large amounts of frozen organic carbon in the Arctic and on high plateaus.

A feedback loop in which the response to a change amplifies the original change, pushing the system further from its starting state, as when melting ice exposes darker surfaces that absorb more heat.

A change in the geographical area where a species lives, usually towards the poles or to higher altitudes as the climate warms.

The capacity of people, places or systems to absorb a hazardous event, recover from it, and adapt so that they are better able to cope in future.

The potential for harm to people, assets or ecosystems, resulting from the interaction of a hazard with the exposure and vulnerability of those it could affect.

The way individuals or groups judge the likelihood and seriousness of a hazard, shaped by experience, knowledge, culture and trust, which influences how they respond to it.

An increase in the mean level of the sea surface, either globally (eustatic, from expanding or added water) or relative to the land at a particular place, including land rising or sinking.

Energy emitted by the Sun, mainly as visible light, ultraviolet and near-infrared radiation, received by the Earth as incoming solar radiation (insolation).

The removal of soil, especially fertile topsoil, by water, wind or ice faster than it forms, often increased by heavy rain, drought, deforestation and poor farming practices.

Proposed methods of cooling the Earth by reflecting more incoming sunlight back to space, such as injecting aerosols into the stratosphere or brightening marine clouds.

Any person, group or organisation that has an interest in an issue or decision or is affected by it, such as a government, business, NGO, community or individual.

The increase in the volume of water as its temperature rises; as the oceans absorb heat, their expansion raises sea level.

A critical threshold in the climate system beyond which a small further change triggers a large, self-sustaining and often irreversible shift to a different state, such as ice-sheet collapse.

A company that has its headquarters in one country and production, sales or other operations in two or more other countries; also called a multinational corporation.

The international treaty agreed at Rio in 1992 that sets the framework for global action on climate change; its parties meet annually at a Conference of the Parties (COP).

An illness caused by a pathogen transmitted to people by a living carrier (vector), usually a mosquito, tick or fly, such as malaria, dengue or Lyme disease.

The susceptibility of people, places or systems to be harmed by a hazard, combined with a lack of capacity to cope with it and adapt to it.