Refers to a shift in climate that can be identified by shifts in the mean and/or the variability of its properties (temperature, precipitation, etc.) and that typically persists for decades or longer. Climate change may be caused by natural internal processes–such as volcanic eruptions, plate tectonics; by external forces–such as modulations of the solar cycles, or by persistent anthropogenic changes in the composition of the atmosphere or in land use. Source: IPCC, 2018.