How we respond to climate change now will determine the shape of our future – our economy, environment, and communities. The debate is no longer about whether climate change is happening, but what we do about it.

Earth's climate is changing. Over the last 50 to 100 years, this process of change has sped up. It is largely recognised that the increasing amount of human-caused emissions of greenhouse gases in our atmosphere is the reason the globe is warming at an unprecedented rate. The effects of this are already visible, and the changes ahead of us will be much larger and will happen more quickly than any recent natural climate variations.

If we do not take action to reduce global warming, the world is likely to experience a rise in temperature, increasing sea levels, more frequent extreme weather events and a change in rainfall patterns. These climatic changes will potentially impact on our native ecosystems, industries, infrastructure, health, biosecurity and our economy.

If greenhouse gas emissions are not reduced significantly over the coming decades, the impacts of climate change would more than likely get steadily worse and the costs could be severe.