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Degrees of Change – About the Diagram

The NRTEE’s Degrees of Change diagram is a summary of the impacts of climate change expected in Canada over the 21st century. It shows both risks and opportunities for Canada from different levels of global warming above pre-industrial levels. Each category in the diagram is an important part of our country’s environment and economy, and only contains climate change impacts that we are confident could occur, as documented in scientific literature. Each regional map takes a climate change impact and illustrates what it might look like across that specific region. Not all expected impacts of climate change are shown here. Nor is the diagram a prediction. It does not account for time lags between global temperature change and the response of our physical environment. Even if actions limit global temperature increases to just 2°C by 2050, climate change impacts will continue to build up for decades due to the slow response of Earth systems. Adapting to these impacts to reduce or avoid harm is not shown on the diagram but would lessen their effects. The Degrees of Change Diagram (click to download - PDF version)