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  • Glossary item | Last updated: 04 Jan 2021
Radiative forcing
Bioeconomy Knowledge Centre

Radiative forcing is the change in the net, downward minus upward, radiative flux (expressed in W m – 2) at the tropopause or top of atmosphere due to a change in an external driver of climate change, such as, for example, a change in the concentration of carbon dioxide (CO2) or the output of the sun.

IPCC, 2014, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Fifth Assessment Report (AR5) 'Climate Change 2014: Mitigation of Climate Change'.

Source category: International Organisation