To stabilise climate change altogether, emissions of CO2 would have to be reduced by around 70% globally - the Kyoto Protocol doesn't propose reductions of anything near this level.

One of the main problems with carbon dioxide is the length of time it remains in the atmosphere as it can take around 100 years for it to disperse (even after some of it is absorbed by vegetation).

Therefore, even if we stopped CO2 emissions immediately, the effects of what we've already done would still influence our weather for years to come.

However, carbon dioxide emissions are not going to stop and with that in mind, some change is certainly expected - the level of change depends on the amount of greenhouse gases we continue to use, which is turn is related to population growth, the use of new technologies and how much energy we use.

By reducing the number of greenhouse gases even marginally, the rate of change should be less and therefore there will be less impact on our planet and our lives. A gradual change to our climate is easier to adapt as well - we should have more time to prepare our houses and other buildings for changes to the weather, wildlife should have more time to migrate, and the changes to our agricultural practices should be less sudden.

This is because hopefully the changes to our weather should be less severe than in the 'High Emissions Scenario', so sea level rises and incidents of flooding shouldn't be as destructive as they could be, however they are expected to be worse than we currently see.

So, most commentators say it isn't too late to do anything about it and we need to all work together to do our bit to reduce emissions and reduce the damage we are currently doing to our local environment which will affect future generations. We are already seeing change and will continue to do so, but if the scientific models are on the right lines, our climate will be a very different place in the next ten to twenty years as it is now.

To see what you can do to help reduce the impacts of climate change, see our 'reduce your CO2' section.