Global warming controversy

Political debate over global warming

This article is about the public debate over scientific conclusions on climate change. For scientific consensus, see Scientific consensus on climate change. For denial, dismissal or unwarranted doubt of the scientific consensus, see Climate change denial.

It has been suggested that this article be merged into Climate change denial. (Discuss) Proposed since November 2023.

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The global warming controversy (or climate change debates) concerns past or present public debates over certain aspects of climate change: whether it is occurring (climate change deniers dispute this), how much has occurred in modern times, what has caused it (attribution of climate change), what its effects will be, whether action should be taken to curb it now or later, and so forth. In the scientific literature, there is a very strong consensus that global surface temperatures have increased in recent decades and that the trend is caused by human-induced emissions of greenhouse gases.[1]

The controversy is, by now, mostly political rather than scientific: there is a scientific consensus that global warming is happening and is caused by human activity.[2] Public debates that also reflect scientific debate include estimates of how responsive the climate system might be to any given level of greenhouse gases (climate sensitivity). Disputes over the key scientific facts of global warming are more prevalent in the media than in the scientific literature, where such issues are treated as resolved, and such disputes are more prevalent in the United States and Australia than globally.[3][4][5]

## Debates around details in the science[edit]

There have been many debates around the details of climate change science. Climate change deniers tend to trump up any scientific discussions that match with their agenda.[citation needed] But many of the apparent discrepancies have been reconciled in the meantime, for example climate models have become more accurate, the scientific consensus on climate change has strengthened and so forth. For past debates and controversies on scientific details see for example:

* History of climate change science#Discredited theories and reconciled apparent discrepancies
* Climate change denial#Discussing specific aspects of climate change science

The IPCC assessment reports, like the most recent IPCC Sixth Assessment Report summarise the state of the art of climate science at the time. There have been some debates over the processes used by the IPCC, see Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change#Challenges and controversies.

## Debates over most effective response to warming[edit]

See also: Politics of climate change

There have been debates on the best responses to slow global warming, and their timing. The debates are around the specific actions for climate change mitigation and climate change adaptation, or climate action in general. See for example:

* Economic analysis of climate change
* Climate change denial#Delaying climate change mitigation measures
* Climate change denial#Over reliance on adaptation only
* Climate action

## See also[edit]

* Global warming portal
* Ecology portal
* Environment portal
* World portal

* Attitude polarization
* History of climate change policy and politics
* Manufactured controversy
* Skeptical Science
* Right-wing antiscience
* Politicization of science

## References[edit]

1. ^ "'Climate Change 2013: The Physical Science Basis.' IPCC Fifth Assessment Report, Working Group I, Summary for Policymakers. 'The best estimate of the human-induced contribution to warming is similar to the observed warming over this period.'" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 22 October 2018. Retrieved 26 December 2018.
2. ^ "Scientific consensus: Earth's climate is warming". Climate Change: Vital Signs of the Planet. Retrieved 16 September 2018.
3. ^ Stoddard, Isak; Anderson, Kevin; Capstick, Stuart; Carton, Wim; Depledge, Joanna; Facer, Keri; Gough, Clair; Hache, Frederic; Hoolohan, Claire; Hultman, Martin; Hällström, Niclas; Kartha, Sivan; Klinsky, Sonja; Kuchler, Magdalena; Lövbrand, Eva; Nasiritousi, Naghmeh; Newell, Peter; Peters, Glen P.; Sokona, Youba; Stirling, Andy; Stilwell, Matthew; Spash, Clive L.; Williams, Mariama; et al. (18 October 2021). "Three Decades of Climate Mitigation: Why Haven't We Bent the Global Emissions Curve?". Annual Review of Environment and Resources. 46 (1): 653–689. doi:10.1146/annurev-environ-012220-011104. hdl:1983/93c742bc-4895-42ac-be81-535f36c5039d. ISSN 1543-5938. S2CID 233815004. Retrieved 31 August 2022.
4. ^ Boykoff, M.; Boykoff, J. (July 2004). "Balance as bias: global warming and the US prestige press" (PDF). Global Environmental Change Part A. 14 (2): 125–136. doi:10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2003.10.001. Archived from the original (PDF) on 6 November 2015.
5. ^ Oreskes, Naomi; Conway, Erik (2010). Merchants of Doubt: How a Handful of Scientists Obscured the Truth on Issues from Tobacco Smoke to Global Warming (first ed.). Bloomsbury Press. ISBN 978-1-59691-610-4.

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Climate change

Overview

* Attribution of recent climate change
* Climate system
* Effects of climate change
* Climate change mitigation
* Climate change adaptation
* By country and region

Causes

| Overview

* Attribution of recent climate change
* Carbon dioxide in Earth's atmosphere
* Extreme event attribution
* Greenhouse effect
* Scientific consensus on climate change

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Sources|

* Greenhouse gases
* Greenhouse gas emissions
* Carbon accounting
* Carbon footprint
* Carbon leakage
* from agriculture
* from wetlands
* Fossil fuel
* Deforestation and climate change
* World energy supply and consumption

History

* History of climate change science
* History of climate change policy and politics
* Svante Arrhenius
* James Hansen
* Charles David Keeling
* United Nations conferences
* Years in climate change
* 2019
* 2020
* 2021
* 2022
* 2023

Effects and issues

| Physical|

* Abrupt climate change
* Anoxic event
* Arctic methane emissions
* Arctic sea ice decline
* Atlantic meridional overturning circulation
* Drought
* Extreme weather
* Flood
* Coastal flooding
* Glacier retreat
* Heat wave
* Urban heat island
* Marine
* Oceans
* acidification
* deoxygenation
* heat content
* sea surface temperature
* stratification
* temperature
* Ozone depletion
* Permafrost thaw
* Tipping points in the climate system
* Sea level rise
* Season creep
* Tropical cyclones
* Water cycle
* Wildfires

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Flora and fauna|

* Biomes
* Ecosystems
* Mass mortality event
* Invasive species
* Plant biodiversity
* Marine life
* Birds
* Extinction risk from climate change
* Forest dieback

Social and economic|

* Agriculture
* Livestock
* Cities
* Civilizational collapse
* Children
* Disability
* Economic impacts
* Fisheries
* Gender
* Health
* Human rights
* Indigenous peoples
* Infectious diseases
* Island nations
* Mental health
* Migration
* Poverty
* Psychology
* Security and conflict
* Urban flooding
* Water scarcity
* Water security

By country & region|

* Africa
* Americas
* Antarctica
* Arctic
* Asia
* Australia
* Caribbean
* Europe
* Middle East and North Africa
* Small island countries
* South Asia
* by individual country

Mitigation

| Economics and finance|

* Carbon budget
* Carbon credit
* Carbon neutrality
* Carbon offset
* Gold Standard (carbon offset standard)
* Carbon price
* Carbon tax
* Climate debt
* Climate risk insurance
* Climate finance
* Co-benefits of climate change mitigation
* Fossil fuel divestment
* Economics of mitigation
* Carbon emission trading
* Green Climate Fund
* Low-carbon economy

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Energy|

* Carbon capture and storage
* Energy transition
* Fossil fuel phase-out
* Low-carbon energy
* Nuclear power
* Renewable energy
* Sustainable energy

Preserving and
enhancing carbon sinks|

* Blue carbon
* Carbon dioxide removal
* Carbon sequestration
* Direct air capture
* Carbon farming
* Climate-smart agriculture
* Land use, land-use change, and forestry (LULUCF and AFOLU)
* Nature-based solutions
* Reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation
* Reforestation

Personal|

* Individual action on climate change
* Plant-based diet

Society and adaptation

| Society|

* Business responses
* Climate action
* Climate grief
* Climate movement
* school strike
* Climate emergency declaration
* Denial
* Soft denial
* conspiracy theories
* Controversy
* Governance
* Justice
* Litigation
* Nationally Determined Contributions
* Politics
* Political economy
* Public opinion
* Women

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Adaptation|

* Adaptation strategies on the German coast
* Adaptive capacity
* Vulnerability
* Resilience
* Climate risk
* Ecosystem-based adaptation
* Disaster risk reduction
* Flood control
* Loss and damage
* Managed retreat
* Nature-based solutions
* The Adaptation Fund
* National Adaptation Programme of Action

Communication|

* Education
* Climate spiral
* Popular culture depictions
* art
* climate fiction
* games
* Climate Change Performance Index
* Climate crisis (term)
* Media coverage
* Warming stripes

International agreements|

* Glasgow Climate Pact
* Sustainable Development Goal 13
* Kyoto Protocol
* Paris Agreement
* Cooperative Mechanisms under Article 6 of the Paris Agreement
* United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change

Background and theory

| Measurements|

* Global surface temperature
* Instrumental temperature record
* Satellite measurements

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Theory|

* Albedo
* Carbon cycle
* Biological pump
* Oceanic carbon cycle
* Permafrost carbon cycle
* Carbon sink
* Climate sensitivity
* Climate variability and change
* Cloud feedback
* Cloud forcing
* Fixed anvil temperature hypothesis
* Iris hypothesis
* Feedbacks
* Cryosphere
* Earth's energy budget
* Global warming potential
* Illustrative model of greenhouse effect on climate change
* Orbital forcing
* Radiative forcing

Research and modelling|

* Climate change scenario
* Climate model
* Coupled Model Intercomparison Project
* Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)
* IPCC Sixth Assessment Report
* Paleoclimatology
* Paleotempestology
* Representative Concentration Pathway
* Shared Socioeconomic Pathways
* Solar geoengineering

* Climate change portal
* Glossary
* Index
* Category

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