VCE Politics Practice Questions

Two short-term causes of climate change within the last decade are the continued expansion of fossil fuel-based energy production in rapidly industrialising economies, and the accelerating loss of carbon-sink forests through land clearing and wildfire.

First, despite renewable energy growth, global coal consumption reached a record high in 2023, driven substantially by continued coal-fired power expansion in India and Indonesia to meet rising energy demand, pushing global CO2 emissions from energy to a record 37.4 billion tonnes in 2023 (IEA data). This directly increases the concentration of greenhouse gases such as CO2 and methane in the atmosphere, intensifying the greenhouse effect.

Second, deforestation and wildfire activity have accelerated: the 2019-20 Australian "Black Summer" bushfires and record Amazon and Canadian wildfire seasons in 2023 released enormous volumes of stored carbon while simultaneously destroying carbon-absorbing forest cover, creating a feedback loop that further raises atmospheric CO2 concentrations.