Is climate change real?

Yes

Is climate change real? I'll pull the latest scientific evidence and consensus to answer.

Yes — climate change is real according to the overwhelming scientific evidence and consensus.

Scientific Consensus

There is overwhelming scientific agreement that climate change is real and primarily caused by human activities.

Reviews of published research consistently find:

•Recent analyses of peer-reviewed literature show that more than 99% of climate-related scientific papers support the view that human actions, such as burning fossil fuels and deforestation, are the main drivers of contemporary global warming

•Reviews consistently find that more than 97 percent of climate scientists now attribute recent global warming mostly to human causes

•Multiple studies published in peer-reviewed scientific journals show that climate-warming trends over the past century are extremely likely due to human activities

Major scientific organizations worldwide have endorsed this position. For example, a Joint Statement by 11 international science academies stated:

> "Climate change is real. ... It is likely that most of the warming in recent decades can be attributed to human activities (IPCC 2001)."

The U.S. National Academy of Sciences states scientists have known for some time, from multiple lines of evidence, that humans are changing Earth's climate, primarily through greenhouse gas emissions.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the UN body that synthesizes climate science, states:

> "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."

and

> "It is unequivocal that the increase of CO2, methane, and nitrous oxide in the atmosphere over the industrial era is the result of human activities and that human influence is the principal driver" of many changes observed

Evidence

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.

Key evidence cited by NASA includes:

•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 into the atmosphere and other human activities. The current warming is happening at a rate not seen in the past 10,000 years.

•Widespread rapid changes - This extra energy has warmed the atmosphere, ocean, and land, and widespread and rapid changes in the atmosphere, ocean, cryosphere, and biosphere have occurred.

Other evidence listed includes:

•The ocean has absorbed much of this increased heat

•The Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets have decreased in mass

•Glaciers are retreating almost everywhere around the world

•Global sea level rose about 8 inches (20 centimeters) in the last century. The rate in the last two decades, however, is nearly double that of the last century

•Both the extent and thickness of Arctic sea ice has declined rapidly

In short, while Earth's climate has changed throughout history, the current warming trend is clearly the result of human activities since the mid-1800s, and is proceeding at a rate not seen over many recent millennia.

Citations (1)

1nasa.govGovernment
Evidence - NASA Science
Backs: “The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the UN body that synthesizes climate science, states: "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."”
evidence, article, points to yes. Claim: IPCC states human influence on climate warming has evolved from theory to established fact; NASA evidence page cited for rising temperatures, ice loss, sea level rise.