Designates the anomalous increase in the planet’s average temperatures recorded in recent decades. It is mainly associated with human practices. The main cause is the intensification of the greenhouse effect, a natural phenomenon responsible for maintaining heat on Earth, and which is due to air pollution resulting from human practices.

Predictions for the century XXI of the main body responsible for the systematization and dissemination of studies related to global warming, the IPCC – Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, points to an increase of another 1°C in temperatures, in the event of preservation of the atmosphere, or from 1.8°C to 4°C in a more pessimistic scenario with higher levels of pollution.

Human-induced global warming of 1.1°C has triggered unprecedented changes in the planet’s climate, ranging from rising sea levels to extreme events, including melting ice. According to the IPCC’s 2023 climate change report, rising temperatures will further intensify the magnitude of climate change. Every 0.5°C rise in global temperature, for example, will cause visible increases in the frequency and severity of extreme heat, storms and droughts. Similarly, heat waves, which happen on average once every ten years in climates little influenced by human activity, tend to be 4.1 times more frequent with an increase of 1.5°C, to 5.6 times more frequent in a scenario of a 2°C rise, and 9.4 times more frequent with a 4°C expansion in global temperature. And the intensity of these heat waves will also increase by 1.9°C, 2.6°C, and 5.1°C, respectively.

Higher temperatures also increase the likelihood of reaching points in the climate system that, once exceeded, can trigger events that further contribute to global warming, such as the melting of permafrost (soil that remains at 0°C, or below, for at least two consecutive years) or the loss of forests. It can also lead to other abrupt and irreversible changes: if warming reaches the range of 2°C to 3°C, for example, the ice sheets in West Antarctica and Greenland could melt almost completely, irreversibly, causing sea level to rise several meters.