Editing List of climate change controversies

{{Short description|List of debates over global warming}}
{{Use American English|date=August 2021}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2020}}

There are past and present public debates over certain aspects of climate change: how much has occurred in modern times, [[Causes of climate change|what causes it]], what [[Effects of climate change|its effects]] will be, and what action should be taken to curb it now or later, and so forth. In the [[scientific literature]], there is a [[Scientific consensus on climate change|very strong consensus that global surface temperatures have increased]] in recent decades and that the trend is caused by human-induced emissions of [[greenhouse gas]]es.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.ipcc.ch/pdf/assessment-report/ar5/wg1/WGIAR5_SPM_brochure_en.pdf |title='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.' |access-date=26 December 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181022184656/https://www.ipcc.ch/pdf/assessment-report/ar5/wg1/WGIAR5_SPM_brochure_en.pdf |archive-date=22 October 2018 |url-status=dead  }}</ref>

The controversies are, by now, mostly political rather than scientific: there is a scientific consensus that global warming is happening and is caused by human activity.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://climate.nasa.gov/scientific-consensus/ |title=Scientific consensus: Earth's climate is warming |website=Climate Change: Vital Signs of the Planet |access-date=16 September 2018}}</ref> 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 coverage of climate change|media]] than in the scientific literature, where such issues are treated as resolved, and such disputes are more prevalent in the [[Climate change in the United States|United States]] and [[Climate change in Australia|Australia]] than [[Climate change opinion by country|globally]].<ref name="Stoddard">{{cite journal |last1=Stoddard |first1=Isak |last2=Anderson |first2=Kevin |last3=Capstick |first3=Stuart |last4=Carton |first4=Wim |last5=Depledge |first5=Joanna |last6=Facer |first6=Keri |last7=Gough |first7=Clair |last8=Hache |first8=Frederic |last9=Hoolohan |first9=Claire |last10=Hultman |first10=Martin |last11=Hällström |first11=Niclas |last12=Kartha |first12=Sivan |last13=Klinsky |first13=Sonja |last14=Kuchler |first14=Magdalena |last15=Lövbrand |first15=Eva |display-authors=etal |date=18 October 2021 |title=Three Decades of Climate Mitigation: Why Haven't We Bent the Global Emissions Curve? |url=https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-environ-012220-011104 |journal=Annual Review of Environment and Resources |language=en |volume=46 |issue=1 |pages=653–689 |doi=10.1146/annurev-environ-012220-011104 |issn=1543-5938 |s2cid=233815004 |access-date=31 August 2022 |last16=Nasiritousi |first16=Naghmeh |last17=Newell |first17=Peter |last18=Peters |first18=Glen P. |last19=Sokona |first19=Youba |last20=Stirling |first20=Andy |last21=Stilwell |first21=Matthew |last22=Spash |first22=Clive L. |last23=Williams |first23=Mariama |hdl=1983/93c742bc-4895-42ac-be81-535f36c5039d|hdl-access=free }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|first1=M. |first2=J. |title=Balance as bias: global warming and the US prestige press |last1=Boykoff |journal=Global Environmental Change Part A |volume=14 |issue=2 |pages=125–136 |date=July 2004 |doi=10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2003.10.001 |last2=Boykoff |bibcode=2004GEC....14..125B |url=http://www.eci.ox.ac.uk/publications/downloads/boykoff04-gec.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151106081048/http://www.eci.ox.ac.uk/publications/downloads/boykoff04-gec.pdf |archive-date= 6 November 2015 }}</ref><ref name="merchants_doubt">{{cite book | title=Merchants of Doubt: How a Handful of Scientists Obscured the Truth on Issues from Tobacco Smoke to Global Warming | first1=Naomi | last1=Oreskes | author-link1=Naomi Oreskes | first2=Erik | last2=Conway | publisher=Bloomsbury Press | edition=first | isbn=978-1-59691-610-4 | date=2010 | url=https://archive.org/details/merchantsofdoubt00ores }}</ref>

== Debates around details in the science ==
{{See also|Scientific consensus on climate change}}
There have been many debates around the details of climate change science. [[Climate change denial|Climate change deniers]] and "skeptics" tend to [[Cherry picking|cherry-pick]] data or studies, and then trump up any scientific discussions or apparent discrepancies that match with their agenda.{{citation needed|date=December 2023}}  Many of those apparent discrepancies have been reconciled in the meantime, [[Climate model|climate models]] have become more accurate, the [[scientific consensus on climate change]] has strengthened and so forth. For example, climatologist [[Kevin E. Trenberth]] has published widely on the topic of [[Climate variability and change|climate variability]] and has exposed flaws in the publications of other scientists.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Trenberth |first1=Kevin E. |last2=Fasullo |first2=John T. |last3=Abraham |first3=John P. |date=2011 |title=Issues in Establishing Climate Sensitivity in Recent Studies |journal=Remote Sensing |language=en |volume=3 |issue=9 |pages=2051–2056 |doi=10.3390/rs3092051 |bibcode=2011RemS....3.2051T |issn=2072-4292 |doi-access=free }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Trenberth |first1=Kevin E. |last2=Fasullo |first2=John T. |last3=O'Dell |first3=Chris |last4=Wong |first4=Takmeng |date=2010 |title=Relationships between tropical sea surface temperature and top-of-atmosphere radiation |journal=Geophysical Research Letters |language=en |volume=37 |issue=3 |doi=10.1029/2009GL042314 |bibcode=2010GeoRL..37.3702T |s2cid=6402800 |issn=0094-8276|doi-access=free }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Foster |first1=G. |last2=Annan |first2=J. D. |last3=Jones |first3=P. D. |last4=Mann |first4=M. E. |last5=Mullan |first5=B. |last6=Renwick |first6=J. |last7=Salinger |first7=J. |last8=Schmidt |first8=G. A. |last9=Trenberth |first9=K. E. |date=2010 |title=Comment on "Influence of the Southern Oscillation on tropospheric temperature" by J. D. McLean, C. R. de Freitas, and R. M. Carter |journal=Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres |language=en |volume=115 |issue=D9 |doi=10.1029/2009JD012960 |bibcode=2010JGRD..115.9110F |issn=0148-0227|doi-access=free }}</ref>

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]]
* [[Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change#Challenges and controversies]] (the [[Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change|IPCC]] assessment reports, like the most recent [[IPCC Sixth Assessment Report]] summarise the state of the art of climate science at the time).
== Debates over most effective response to warming ==
{{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#Pushing for adaptation only]]
*[[Climate action]] ([[Climate crisis]])

== See also ==
{{portal|border=no|Global warming|Ecology|Environment|World}}
* [[Attitude polarization]]
* [[History of climate change policy and politics]]
* [[Manufactured controversy]]
* [[Politicization of science]]
* [[Right-wing antiscience]]

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

{{Climate change|state=expanded}}

[[Category:Articles containing video clips]]
[[Category:Climate change assessment and attribution]]
[[Category:Climate change controversies]]
[[Category:Climate change denial|.]]
[[Category:Politics of science]]
[[Category:21st-century controversies in the United States]]
[[Category:21st-century controversies]]
[[Category:Controversies in Australia]]