Is climate change real? I'll pull the latest scientific evidence to answer.
Yes, climate change is real — this is supported by overwhelming scientific evidence and broad scientific consensus.
What the science says
•There is overwhelming scientific evidence that the Earth is warming and that human activities, especially the emission of greenhouse gases, are the primary cause.
•NASA states: There is unequivocal evidence that Earth is warming at an unprecedented rate. Human activity is the principal cause.
•Earth-orbiting satellites and new technologies have helped scientists see the big picture, collecting many different types of information about our planet and its climate all over the world. These data, collected over many years, reveal the signs and patterns of a changing climate.
Direct observations also confirm this:
> Climate modelling predicts that human activities are causing the release of greenhouse gases and aerosols that are ... Now, a NASA study has confirmed these predictions with direct observations for the first time: radiative forcings are increasing due to human actions, affecting the planet’s energy balance and ultimately causing climate change.
•The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the UN climate science body, concluded: “It is unequivocal that human influence has warmed the atmosphere, ocean and land".
•The IPCC's assessment also states: It is unequivocal that human influence has warmed the atmosphere, ocean and land, and that The scale of recent changes across the climate system as a whole and the present state of many aspects of the climate system are unprecedented over many centuries to many thousands of years.
•Another phrasing of the IPCC finding reported is: It is unequivocal that human influence has warmed the atmosphere, ocean and land, made with the agreement of all 195 member countries.
How broad is the consensus?
•The overwhelming majority of climate scientists agree that climate change is real and primarily caused by human activities.
•The scientific evidence is clear: global climate change caused by human activities is occurring now, and it is a growing threat to society.
•An analysis of the peer-reviewed literature shows there is a robust consensus that anthropogenic global climate change is occurring.
•Most commonly cited figures are ~97% among publishing climate experts, and literature‑only analyses have found agreement exceeding 99%.
The California Governor's Office website lists nearly 200 worldwide scientific organizations who hold the position that climate change has been caused by human action.
Since 2001, 34 national science academies, three regional academies, and both the international InterAcademy Council and International Council of Academies of Engineering and Technological Sciences have made formal declarations confirming human induced global warming.
Major statements include:
> A consensus, based on current evidence, now exists within the global scientific community that human activities are the main source of climate change and that the burning of fossil fuels is largely responsible for driving this change.
Observable evidence
Scientists point to multiple independent lines of evidence:
•Global temperature: The IPCC and NASA track rising surface air temperatures and subsurface ocean temperatures as direct measurements of warming.
•Sea level rise: Global sea level has risen by about 8 inches since 1901. This rise is due to a combination of melting ice and water expanding due to increased temperatures. Satellite measurements have shown that the global sea level has risen around 3.6 inches (91 millimeters) since 1993.
•Ice melt: While we don’t have precise measurements, scientific models indicate that melting ice has caused about two-thirds of sea level rise to date.
•Ocean warming: Covering more than 70% of Earth’s surface, our global ocean has a very high heat capacity ... It has absorbed 90% of the warming that has occurred in recent decades due to increasing greenhouse gases. The effects of ocean warming include sea level rise due to thermal expansion, coral bleaching, accelerated melting of Earth’s major ice sheets, intensified hurricanes.
•Other impacts: Rising temperatures are causing polar ice caps and glaciers to melt, leading to higher sea levels.
In short, if the question is whether climate change is happening and substantially caused by humans, the available sources say yes. Scientific debate is not about whether climate change is real, but about precise impacts, regional variations, and the best policy responses.