Issue Worsening climate change causing extinctions and weakening nature's buffer

Summary

The report names the intensification of climate change as a long-term uncertainty. A worsening climate could drive species extinctions and ecosystem degradation and weaken nature's capacity to cushion climate impacts. The report expects this could increase habitat destruction and put human lives at risk. It counts climate change among the five main drivers of biodiversity loss, together with habitat loss, pollution, invasive species and overexploitation. In 2023 around 42,100 species worldwide were at risk of extinction, and nearly one in six British species also face that threat. Steps set out in the Third National Adaptation Programme aim to reduce biodiversity loss as the climate changes.