The Scientific Consensus on Climate Change

 The scientific community agrees global climate change is occurring and human activities are contributing to climate change. The following eight scientific reports and international agreements demonstrate this global consensus.

National Science Academies Issue Joint Statement on Climate Change   (June 7, 2005)

Eleven national science academies called on world leaders “to acknowledge that the threat of climate change is clear and increasing.”  In the statement Global Response to Climate Change, the science academies of Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States jointly declared that “there is now strong evidence that significant global warming is occurring” and “the scientific understanding of climate change is sufficiently clear to justify nations taking prompt action.” More information via National Academy of Sciences.

Kyoto Protocol Enters into Force, Ratified by over 150 Countries   (February 16, 2005)

One hundred fifty countries and regional economic organizations have ratified the Kyoto Protocol to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). Signatories to the treaty agree to legally binding targets to limit or reduce their greenhouse gas emissions--a major contributor to global warming. With Russia’s ascension to the treaty on November 18, 2004, countries accounting for 62 percent of the total carbon dioxide emissions in 1990 had ratified the protocol. It came into force on February 16, 2005. More information via UNFCCC.

The Scientific Consensus on Climate Change   (December 3, 2004)

An analysis published in Science of 928 peer-reviewed scientific papers on climate change issues found none disagreed with the “consensus of scientific opinion that Earth's climate is heating up and human activities are part of the reason.” The papers were drawn from a random sample of the more than 11,000 scientific papers on climate change written between 1993 and 2003. For more information see: Oreskes, Naomi. 2004. The scientific consensus on climate change. Science. 306, 1686.

Arctic Climate Impact Assessment   (November 9, 2004)

 

The Arctic Climate Impact Assessment (ACIA) is an intergovernmental report based on a four-year scientific study of the Arctic conducted by an international team of 300 scientists and sponsored by the eight arctic nations (Canada, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Russia, Sweden and the United States) and six indigenous people’s organizations. The assessment determined that “the Arctic is now experiencing some of the most rapid and severe climate change on Earth. Over the next 100 years, climate change is expected to accelerate, contributing to major physical, ecological, social, and economic changes, many of which have already begun.” In response to the assessment, the eight nations of the Arctic Council agreed to pursue mitigation, adaptation, research and monitoring and outreach strategies to improve awareness and implement successful responses to climatic challenges in the Arctic. More information via Arctic Climate Impact Assessment.

Our Changing Planet, the US Climate Change Science Program’s Report   (July 2004)

The US Climate Change Science Program’s 2004 report to Congress, Our Changing Planet, US Climate Change Science Program for Fiscal Years 2004 and 2005, signed by the Secretary of Commerce, the Secretary of Energy, and the Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy, found that the global temperature increases observed in the latter half of the 20th century can only be replicated if human influences are included in the models. Simulations by the Department of Energy, shown on page 47 of the report, “show that observed globally averaged surface air temperatures can be replicated only when both anthropogenic forcings—for example, greenhouse gases—as well as natural forcings such as solar variability and volcanic eruptions are included in the model.” More information via US Climate Change Science Program. 

National Academy of Sciences’ Review of IPCC Third Assessment Report   (July 1, 2001)

At the request of the White House, the National Academy of Sciences Committee on the Science of Climate Change reviewed the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’ (IPCC) third assessment report on climate change and produced a report, Climate Change Science: An Analysis of Some Key Questions. The report determined that “the IPCC’s conclusion that most of the observed warming of the last 50 years is likely to have been due to the increase in greenhouse gas concentrations accurately reflects the current thinking of the scientific community on this issue.” Furthermore, “greenhouse gases are accumulating in Earth’s atmosphere as a result of human activities, causing surface air temperatures and subsurface ocean temperatures to rise.”  More information via National Academy of Sciences. 

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Third Assessment Report   (2001)

According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Third Assessment Report-Climate Change 2001, the consensus of scientific opinion agrees that human activities are affecting the Earth’s climate. “Human activities—primarily burning of fossil fuels and changes in land cover—are modifying the concentration of atmospheric constituents ... that absorb or scatter radiant energy.” In addition, “most of the observed warming over the last 50 years is likely to have been due to the increase in greenhouse gas concentrations.” The Third Assessment Report was written by 637 authors and reviewed by 420 experts. More information via Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change   (1992)

One hundred eighty-eight countries and the European Union have ratified the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), agreeing that they are “concerned that human activities have been substantially increasing the atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases, that these increases enhance the natural greenhouse effect, and that this will result on average in an additional warming of the Earth's surface and atmosphere and may adversely affect natural ecosystems and humankind.” The United States ratified the UNFCCC on November 15, 1992 and it entered into force on March 21, 1994. More information via UNFCCC.  

For more information, please contact Fred Beck at 202/662-1892 or fbeck@eesi.org.