Chapter 01 · Climate & transitionClimate & Greenhouse Gas Emissions
Climate change
Definition
Per the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (Article 1), "a change of climate which is attributed directly or indirectly to human activity that alters the composition of the global atmosphere and which is in addition to natural climate variability observed over comparable time periods." In broader scientific and public usage it encompasses the observed and projected warming of the climate system and its consequences for ecosystems, economies and societies.
References
Article 1 definitions of climate change, climate system, greenhouse gases, sink and source.
Institutional architecture (IPCC founded 1988 by UNEP/WMO; UNFCCC 1992; Kyoto and Paris lineage); framing of climate change as defining global challenge.
Overview
What it means
The UNFCCC definition deliberately fences "climate change" as the human-caused share of a changing climate, distinct from natural variability — the legal anchor of the entire climate regime.
Scientifically, attribution to greenhouse-gas emissions from fossil fuel use, industry and land-use change is unequivocal (IPCC); consequences span heat, sea-level rise, extreme weather, ecosystem disruption and compounding socioeconomic risk.
The vocabulary itself is contested terrain: "global warming" (narrower, temperature-only), "climate crisis/emergency" and "climate disruption" are framing choices that communicators and media style guides have shifted toward as impacts materialised — framing variants that signal urgency rather than distinct technical meanings.
How it is used
The term structures international law (UNFCCC, Kyoto, Paris), national policy, corporate disclosure and finance; mitigation (cutting emissions) and adaptation (adjusting to impacts) are its two response families; scenario analysis and carbon budgets quantify its trajectories.
Why it matters
Climate change is the anchoring concept of the entire sustainability field — the problem definition on which every target, standard, market and disclosure framework in this dictionary ultimately hangs.