Impacts in Australia
For too long we have poured carbon pollution into the atmosphere and we are continuing to do so at an alarming rate. Science tells us that this pollution is causing climate change.
We are already starting to feel the effects of carbon pollution. And projections show that if we don't act, it will only get worse with changing temperatures and rainfall patterns, more droughts, floods, water shortages, rising sea levels and extreme weather.
Australia—already the driest inhabited continent on Earth—is particularly vulnerable to climate change. The longer we wait to act on climate change, the more it will cost and the worse its effects will be. As a nation with the highest rate of carbon emissions per person in the developed world, we have a responsibility to join the global effort.
Cutting our carbon pollution is a key way to lessen the risks of climate change.
The Australian Government is building a Clean Energy Future through a comprehensive plan to dramatically cut pollution, introduce a carbon price, invest billions of dollars in renewable energy, transform the energy sector away from high polluting sources such as brown coal, and store millions of tonnes of carbon in the land through better land management.
Much work still needs to be done to analyse the regional impacts of climate change and to determine which areas might be most vulnerable.
The Australian Government is investing in this effort, through the CSIRO Adaptation Flagship–and the National Climate Change Adaptation Research Facility.
While we need to continue to build our understanding of climate change, we already have some indication of the potential impacts and costs to our industries, environment, people and infrastructure.
More information on the impacts of climate change in Australia is available through the state and territory fact sheets.