Is climate change real? I'll pull the latest scientific evidence to give you a clear, sourced answer.
Yes, climate change is real, and there is strong scientific agreement on it.
How do we know?
There is unequivocal evidence that Earth is warming at an unprecedented rate. Human activity is the principal cause.
•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.
•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."
•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.
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.
Evidence
From global temperature rise to melting ice sheets, the evidence of a warming planet abounds:
•Global Temperature Is Rising: 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
•The Ocean Is Getting Warmer: 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
•Ice Sheets Are Shrinking: 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
•Glaciers Are Retreating: Glaciers are retreating almost everywhere around the world — including in the Alps, Himalayas, Andes, Rockies, Alaska, and Africa
•Sea Level Is Rising: Global sea level rose about 8 inches (20 centimeters) in the last century
•Arctic Sea Ice Is Declining: Both the extent and thickness of Arctic sea ice has declined rapidly over the last several decades
•Rate of Change: Current warming is occurring roughly 10 times faster than the average rate of warming after an ice age
Scientific Consensus
The scientific consensus is clear: human activities are the primary driver of climate change.
•Yes, the vast majority of actively publishing climate scientists – 97 percent – agree that humans are causing global warming and climate change
•Taken together, the evidence indicates that an overwhelming majority of climate scientists agree recent climate change is primarily caused by human emissions; most commonly cited figures are ~97% among publishing climate experts
•Numerous studies have quantified the scientific consensus, finding between 90% and 100% agreement on human-caused global warming with multiple studies converging on 97% agreement
In short, major scientific organizations worldwide, including NASA and NOAA, report strong consensus that the climate is warming and that human activity is the main driver of warming observed since the mid-20th century, based on multiple independent lines of evidence.