Is climate change real?

Is climate change real? I'll pull the latest scientific evidence to give you a clear answer.

Yes, climate change is real - this is the overwhelming conclusion of the world's scientific evidence and scientific organizations.

Scientific Consensus is Unequivocal

NASA states:

> There is unequivocal evidence that Earth is warming at an unprecedented rate. Human activity is the principal cause.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), created in 1988 by the World Meteorological Organization and the United Nations Environmental Programme to evaluate climate science, states that it is “unequivocal” that human influence has warmed the planet

Multiple independent studies of the published literature find overwhelming agreement:

> Yes, the vast majority of actively publishing climate scientists – 97 percent – agree that humans are causing global warming and climate change.

Other syntheses find between 90% and 100% agreement on human-caused global warming with multiple studies converging on 97% agreement, and that more than 97% of actively publishing climate scientists agree.

Key Evidence That Climate Change is Happening

Climate change is described as an undeniable reality supported by extensive scientific evidence from multiple independent sources. The major indicators include:

1. Rising Global Temperatures
Instrumental records from surface thermometers show that the Earth's average temperature has increased by approximately 1.2°C (2.2°F) since the late 19th century, with the most rapid warming occurring since the 1970s.
When different teams in different agencies (e.g., NOAA and NASA) and in other countries average these data together, they all find essentially the same result: Earth's average surface temperature has risen by about 1.8°F (1.0°C) since 1880.
Independent analyses conducted by NASA, NOAA, and the UK Met Office all confirm this trend.

2. Rising Seas and Melting Ice
Since 1880, global sea levels have risen by approximately 21–24 cm (8–9 inches), now rising at about 3.4 mm per year.

Satellite observations since 1979 reveal that Arctic sea ice is shrinking at a rate of about 13% per decade, while Greenland sheds roughly 279 billion tons of ice per year.

3. Greenhouse Gases
Before the Industrial Revolution, atmospheric CO₂ levels were around 280 parts per million (ppm); today, they exceed 420 ppm, the highest concentration in millions of years, with isotopic analysis confirming this increase is due to burning of fossil fuels.

4. Ocean Warming and Other Changes
The oceans, which absorb more than 90% of the excess heat trapped by greenhouse gases, are also undergoing significant changes, with ocean acidification, more frequent extreme weather events, and other shifts documented.

While Earth's climate has naturally fluctuated throughout history, the current warming trend is occurring at an unprecedented rate and scale, and is unequivocally caused by human activities according to the IPCC.