Investigate climate change as a global sustainability challenge: causes, spatial patterns of impact, stakeholder responses, and the role of international agreements (Paris Agreement, UN Framework Convention on Climate Change)

Note: This page is part of the HSC Geography 11-12 (2022) syllabus content, first examined in HSC 2025. The legacy 2009 syllabus content (Biophysical Interactions, Ecosystems at Risk, Global Economic Activity, Senior Geography Project, Urban Places) is preserved as reference for older revision material in the sibling module folders.

What this sub-topic is asking

The Global sustainability focus area asks you to investigate global-scale challenges, apply geographical concepts (interconnection, scale, sustainability, change), and evaluate stakeholder responses. Climate change is the canonical worked example because it is the WHO's biggest 21st-century health threat, the IPCC's central research focus, and the largest sustainability test of international cooperation.

The answer

Climate change is the long-term shift in global temperature and weather patterns, primarily caused by emissions of greenhouse gases (CO2, methane, nitrous oxide, fluorinated gases) from fossil-fuel combustion, agriculture, land-use change, industry and waste. The IPCC's Sixth Assessment Report (AR6, 2021-2023) confirms human influence as the dominant cause of observed warming since the mid-20th century.

Causes (drivers)

• Fossil-fuel combustion (electricity, transport, industry) - approximately three-quarters of global emissions.
• Agriculture and land use (livestock methane, deforestation, rice production, fertiliser nitrous oxide) - approximately a quarter.
• Cement production - a non-trivial share with no current low-emissions substitute at scale.
• Industry and waste (refrigerants, landfills, industrial process emissions).

The emissions are produced in some places (high-income countries historically; rapidly industrialising countries currently) but the consequences are distributed globally and unevenly.

Spatial patterns of impact

• Polar regions are warming 2-3 times faster than the global average. Arctic sea-ice extent is in long-term decline. Greenland and Antarctic ice mass loss is accelerating.
• Low-lying island states (Tuvalu, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Maldives, Solomon Islands) face existential sea-level rise threats; some communities are already relocating.
• Equatorial and tropical regions see expansion of vector-borne disease (dengue, malaria), shifts in agricultural viability, and stronger tropical cyclones.
• Mid-latitude continents (Australia, southern Europe, western USA) face more frequent extreme heat, drought, and bushfire (Australia's Black Summer 2019-20 burned approximately 24 million hectares; reports attribute increased fire weather to climate change).
• Coastal cities globally face combined sea-level rise plus storm surge plus subsidence.

The pattern shows inequity: countries that contributed least to emissions often face the largest impacts.

Stakeholder responses

International (state) level

The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC, 1992) is the parent treaty. The Paris Agreement (2015) commits parties to limit warming to well below 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, with efforts to limit it to 1.5 degrees. Parties submit Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) every five years. Australia's NDC commits to a 43 percent emissions reduction below 2005 levels by 2030 and net zero by 2050. Critics note current NDCs collectively put the world on a 2.5-2.9 degree trajectory, not 1.5.

National (state) level

Carbon pricing, renewable energy targets, fossil-fuel subsidy reform, building codes. Australia's mechanisms include the Renewable Energy Target, the Safeguard Mechanism (reformed 2023 to cap and reduce industrial emissions), and state-level renewable targets.

Regional / city level

C40 Cities network coordinates major cities on emissions reduction; many Australian capitals have net-zero-by-2050 commitments and increasingly net-zero-by-2040 commitments.

Corporate level

Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) commitments by major companies; ASX 300 climate disclosure rules from 2024.

Civil society / individual level

Investment shifts (divestment campaigns), litigation (Sharma v Minister for the Environment in Australia; Urgenda in the Netherlands), consumer behaviour change.

Evaluating responses

Geographical evaluation looks at scale and equity:

• Is the response proportionate to the local contribution and the local capacity?
• Does it address adaptation (managing impacts that are coming) as well as mitigation (reducing future emissions)?
• Does it consider the equity of who bears the costs and who benefits?
• Is the time horizon realistic given the rate of change in observed climate indicators?

Examples in context

Example 1. The Paris Agreement and Australia's NDC trajectory. Under the Paris Agreement, Australia's current NDC commits to 43 percent emissions reduction below 2005 levels by 2030 and net zero by 2050. Treasury's 2023 Annual Climate Change Statement reports Australia is on track for approximately 42 percent by 2030 with current policies, falling slightly short of the NDC. The Safeguard Mechanism reform (2023) tightens the cap on Australia's largest industrial emitters. A strong response uses this to show how international commitments cascade into national policy and corporate behaviour, and where the gap between commitment and trajectory sits.

Example 2. Bangladesh and climate adaptation infrastructure. Bangladesh, despite per-capita emissions around one-tenth of the global average, faces some of the worst climate impacts (cyclones, sea-level rise, salinity intrusion across the Ganges-Brahmaputra delta). The Bangladesh Climate Change Strategy and Action Plan, combined with World Bank financing, has built early-warning systems, cyclone shelters and climate-resilient agriculture. Cyclone fatalities in Bangladesh have dropped from hundreds of thousands in the 1970s (Bhola cyclone 1970, approximately 300 000 deaths) to under 1000 in recent major events, largely due to adaptation investment. A strong response uses this to show that adaptation is possible and inequitably resourced.

Try this

Q1. Identify two causes and two spatial impacts of climate change, with reference to a named country or region. [4 marks]

• Cue. Causes: fossil-fuel combustion (Australia coal-fired power historically); agriculture and land-use change (Brazil Amazon deforestation). Impacts: Arctic sea-ice decline; Pacific island sea-level rise.

Q2. Analyse the role of international agreements (UNFCCC, Paris Agreement) in responding to climate change. [6 marks]

• Cue. Treaty architecture, NDC mechanism, 1.5 degree target, transparency framework. Strengths: shared language, peer pressure, finance mobilisation. Limits: voluntary, current NDCs put world on 2.5-2.9 degrees not 1.5.

Q3. Evaluate the effectiveness of climate change responses across different scales (international, national, individual). [8 marks]

• Cue. Apply scale, sustainability, equity, interconnection as the geographical concepts. International (Paris) sets framework; national (Safeguard Mechanism, Renewable Energy Target) implements; cities (C40); corporates (SBTi); individuals (behaviour, investment). Reach a calibrated judgement; do not pretend any single scale is sufficient.