Climate Change: The Evidence

BBC report

Telegraph

Guardian

Summary of Report for Policy Makers

IPCC Final Report

Among its key findings, IPCC Working Group I concludes:
- Warming of the climate system is unequivocal;
- Human influence on the climate system is clear;
- Limiting climate change will require substantial and sustained reductions of greenhouse gas emissions.

The IPCC assessment finds that each of the last three decades has been successively warmer at the Earth’s surface than any preceding decade since 1850.

The year 2013 is on course to be among the top ten warmest years since modern records began in 1850, according to the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) in its Provisional Statement on Status of Climate in 2013 released in November 2013.

The WMO’s latest Greenhouse Gas Bulletin published in November 2013 shows that the amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere reached a record high in 2012.

Far-reaching impacts – The impact of climate change on extreme weather events such as heat waves, floods, droughts and tropical cyclones, and possible responses to them, is examined in the IPCC’s Special Report on Managing the Risks of Extreme Events and Disasters to Advance Climate Change Adaptation (SREX).

Adaptation – acknowledging climate change and putting systems in place to increase our resilience – is one possible response to climate change.

Tackling the causes of climate change – Another possible response is mitigation – cutting down on the greenhouse gas emissions that are influencing climate change.