Human activity is the dominant cause of recent global warming.
Evidence identifies human greenhouse-gas emissions as the main driver of the warming observed since the mid-20th century.
Show me why
Attribution combines physical mechanisms, observed patterns and comparisons of human and natural influences. Natural variability, volcanoes and changes in solar output matter, but do not account for the sustained recent global warming on their own.
A common misconception
Past natural climate change does not show that the recent warming must also be natural.
Where the limits are
The contribution to an individual event and the size of regional changes require separate analysis.
How we know
IPCC’s attribution chapter assesses multiple lines of research. Its synthesis concludes that human activities caused global warming. This classification concerns the cause of the observed global trend; it does not choose an energy policy or attribute every weather event.
What would change this conclusion?
A reproducible alternative would need to explain observed patterns and energy changes while fitting greenhouse-gas physics and measured natural influences.
Sources you can inspect
- IPCCChapter 3: Human Influence on the Climate System
Detailed attribution assessment.
2021 · Checked in initial research 2026-10-08 - IPCCSummary for Policymakers Headline Statements
Summarizes the assessment’s conclusion.
2023 · Checked in initial research 2026-10-08
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Revision history
- Initial AI-assisted source research and scoped explanation. Awaiting owner editorial approval; not publicly verified.
- Owner explicitly approved all content as created for public publication. Statements, sources and evidence classifications unchanged.