Our Latest Greenhouse Emissions Dashboard – This is the latest dashboard of climatological data (long term monthly average temperature and rainfall), air quality, number of electric vehicles and power consumption for South Wairarapa.

What is Climate Change?

According to the UNFCCC (United Nation Framework Convention on Climate Change), Climate Change means 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

Greenhouse effect

Greenhouse gases trap warmth from the sun and make life on Earth possible. Without the influence of the greenhouse effect on our planet, the average surface temperature would be -18°C (average temperature on Earth with the greenhouse effect is 15°C).

What causes Climate Change?

The greenhouse gas (CO2, CH4 and N2O) concentration in the atmosphere has been raising quickly since the last 150 years, since the industrial revolution, because of anthropogenic activities such as fossil fuels burning, deforestation, etc.

Because the global temperature is correlated to the greenhouse gas concentration, an increased greenhouse gas concentration means increased global temperatures and greater extremes.

Not only are temperatures rising but the whole climate is changing with an increase in extreme weather events such as drought or storms, and melting of the ice pack contributes to sea level rise. In addition CO2 in the atmosphere is absorbed by the ocean causing ‘ocean acidification’ and other detrimental effects to the Earth’s biodiversity.

See our Climate Change page and links for further information on projected impacts in South Wairarapa