IPCC Report on Global Warming
The most authoritative scientific report on climate change says with
90% certainty that the burning of fossil fuels and other human
activities are driving climate change.
The report, from the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
(IPCC) says the rise in global temperatures could be as high as 6.4°C
by 2100. The report also predicts sea level rises and increases in hurricanes.
The new IPCC report is the work of 3750 climate experts, who have
spent six years reviewing all the available climate research. It was
released in Paris, France, on Friday.
Considering the human role in causing climate change, the IPCC report is damning: "The understanding of [human] influences
on climate has improved since the [2001] report, leading to a very high confidence that human activities" are responsible for most of the warming seen since 1950, says the report’s summary for policymakers. “Very high confidence” is described as “at least
a 9 out of 10 chance of being correct”.
Before the industrial revolution, human greenhouse gas emissions were small, and the atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide – the main greenhouse gas – was about 280 parts per million (ppm).