Is climate change real? I'll pull the latest scientific evidence to answer.
Yes, climate change is real — this is supported by unequivocal evidence and overwhelming scientific consensus.
The scientific consensus
•The scientific community is certain that the Earth's climate is changing because of the trends that we see in the instrumented climate record and the changes that have been observed in physical and biological systems. The evidence of a warming trend over the past century is unequivocal.
•According to NASA: There is unequivocal evidence that Earth is warming at an unprecedented rate. Human activity is the principal cause.
•According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), "Since systematic scientific assessments began in the 1970s, the influence of human activity on the warming of the climate system has evolved from theory to established fact."
•The IPCC reports state it is "unequivocal" that human activity is driving climate change, and it's affecting Earth's oceans, atmosphere, ice and biosphere in ways that are "widespread and rapid,". The IPCC is now 95 percent certain that humans are the main cause of current global warming, and that report says there is 95 percent certainty that humans have caused most of the warming of the planet's surface that has occurred since the 1950s.
•Multiple studies published in peer-reviewed scientific journals show that 97% or more of actively publishing climate scientists agree: Climate-warming trends over the past century are extremely likely due to human activities. NASA lists a total of 18 American scientific organisations and support the consensus.
•There is overwhelming scientific evidence that Earth is warming and a preponderance of scientific evidence that human activities are the main cause.
•"The fact that the IPCC has agreed — with the agreement of all 195 member countries — that it is unequivocal that human activity is causing climate change, is the strongest statement that the IPCC has ever made,"
What the evidence shows
Earth’s climate has naturally changed throughout history. Just in the last 800,000 years, there have been eight cycles of ice ages and warmer periods.
However, the current warming is different:
•While Earth's climate has changed throughout its history, the current warming is happening at a rate not seen in the past 10,000 years.
•The current warming trend is different because it is clearly the result of human activities since the mid-1800s, and is proceeding at a rate not seen over many recent millennia.
•Scientific information taken from natural sources (such as ice cores, rocks, and tree rings) and from modern equipment (like satellites and instruments) all show the signs of a changing climate.
•This ancient, or paleoclimate, evidence reveals that current warming is occurring roughly 10 times faster than the average rate of warming after an ice age.
NASA lists compelling evidence for rapid climate change, including:
•The planet's average surface temperature has risen about 2 degrees Fahrenheit (1 degrees Celsius) since the late 19th century, a change driven largely by increased carbon dioxide emissions into the atmosphere and other human activities.
•The ocean has absorbed much of this increased heat, with the top 100 meters (about 328 feet) of ocean showing warming of 0.67 degrees Fahrenheit (0.33 degrees Celsius) since 1969.
•Data from NASA's Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment show Greenland lost an average of 279 billion tons of ice per year between 1993 and 2019, while Antarctica lost about 148 billion tons of ice per year.
•Glaciers are retreating almost everywhere around the world — including in the Alps, Himalayas, Andes, Rockies, Alaska, and Africa.
•Global sea level rose about 8 inches (20 centimeters) in the last century.
•Both the extent and thickness of Arctic sea ice has declined rapidly over the last several decades.
In short, the overwhelming body of peer-reviewed science and major scientific organizations agree that climate change is happening, it is proceeding unusually fast, and human activities — primarily greenhouse gas emissions from burning fossil fuels — are the dominant cause.