This report, developed by CSIRO and the Bureau of Meteorology through the Australian Climate Change Science Program, provides the most up to date assessment of Australia's changing climate. Climate Change in Australia provides: information on observed climate change over Australia and the likely causes; projections of changes to about 30 climate variables; information on how to use the projections in risk assessments.

The projections focus on the years 2030, 2050 and 2070 for various greenhouse gas emission scenarios. Some projections include probabilities of changes. These projections supersede the last set of climate change projections released by CSIRO in 2001. They incorporate material from the latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) assessment report, along with information of specific relevance to Australia.

KEY FINDINGS

The key findings of this report includes that by 2030, temperatures will rise by about 1 ºC over Australia – a little less in coastal areas, and a little more inland - later in the century, warming depends on the extent of greenhouse gas emissions. If emissions are low, warming of between 1 ºC and 2.5 ºC is likely by around 2070, with a best estimate of 1.8 ºC. Under a high emission scenario, the best estimate warming is 3.4 ºC, with a range of 2.2 ºC to 5 ºC. Further, the report indicates there will be changes in temperature extremes, with fewer frosts and substantially more days over 35 ºC.