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Joint national science academy statements
- 2001 Following the publication of the IPCC Third Assessment Report, seventeen national science academies issued a joint statement, entitled "The Science of Climate Change", explicitly acknowledging the IPCC position as representing the scientific consensus on climate change science. The statement, printed in an editorial in the journal Science on 18 May 2001,[56] was signed by the science academies of Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, the Caribbean, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Italy, Malaysia, New Zealand, Sweden, Turkey, and the United Kingdom.[57]
- 2005 The national science academies of the G8 nations, plus Brazil, China and India, three of the largest emitters of greenhouse gases in the developing world, signed a statement on the global response to climate change. The statement stresses that the scientific understanding of climate change is now sufficiently clear to justify nations taking prompt action, and explicitly endorsed the IPCC consensus. The eleven signatories were the science academies of Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States.[58]
- 2007 In preparation for the 33rd G8 summit, the national science academies of the G8+5 nations issued a declaration referencing the position of the 2005 joint science academies' statement, and acknowledging the confirmation of their previous conclusion by recent research. Following the IPCC Fourth Assessment Report, the declaration states, "It is unequivocal that the climate is changing, and it is very likely that this is predominantly caused by the increasing human interference with the atmosphere. These changes will transform the environmental conditions on Earth unless counter-measures are taken." The thirteen signatories were the national science academies of Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, Italy, India, Japan, Mexico, Russia, South Africa, the United Kingdom, and the United States.[59]
- 2007 In preparation for the 33rd G8 summit, the Network of African Science Academies submitted a joint "statement on sustainability, energy efficiency, and climate change":
- 2008 In preparation for the 34th G8 summit, the national science academies of the G8+5 nations issued a declaration reiterating the position of the 2005 joint science academies' statement, and reaffirming "that climate change is happening and that anthropogenic warming is influencing many physical and biological systems". Among other actions, the declaration urges all nations to "[t]ake appropriate economic and policy measures to accelerate transition to a low carbon society and to encourage and effect changes in individual and national behaviour". The thirteen signatories were the same national science academies that issued the 2007 joint statement.[61]
- 2009 In advance of the UNFCCC negotiations to be held in Copenhagen in December 2009, the national science academies of the G8+5 nations issued a joint statement declaring, "Climate change and sustainable energy supply are crucial challenges for the future of humanity. It is essential that world leaders agree on the emission reductions needed to combat negative consequences of anthropogenic climate change". The statement references the IPCC's Fourth Assessment of 2007, and asserts that "climate change is happening even faster than previously estimated; global CO2 emissions since 2000 have been higher than even the highest predictions, Arctic sea ice has been melting at rates much faster than predicted, and the rise in the sea level has become more rapid". The thirteen signatories were the same national science academies that issued the 2007 and 2008 joint statements.[52]
Polish Academy of Sciences
In December 2007, the General Assembly of the
Polish Academy of Sciences (Polska Akademia Nauk), which has not been a signatory to
joint national science academy statements issued a declaration endorsing the IPCC conclusions, and stating:
[62]
Additional national science academy and society statements
- American Association for the Advancement of Science as the world's largest general scientific society, adopted an official statement on climate change in 2006:[63]
- Federation of Australian Scientific and Technological Societies in 2008 published FASTS Statement on Climate Change[64] which states:
- United States National Research Council through its Committee on the Science of Climate Change in 2001, published Climate Change Science: An Analysis of Some Key Questions.[65] This report explicitly endorses the IPCC view of attribution of recent climate change as representing the view of the scientific community:[65]
- Royal Society of New Zealand having signed onto the first joint science academy statement in 2001, released a separate statement in 2008 in order to clear up "the controversy over climate change and its causes, and possible confusion among the public":[66]
- The Royal Society of the United Kingdom has not changed its concurring stance reflected in its participation in joint national science academies' statements on anthropogenic global warming. According to the Telegraph, "The most prestigious group of scientists in the country was forced to act after fellows complained that doubts over man made global warming were not being communicated to the public".[67] In May 2010, it announced that it "is presently drafting a new public facing document on climate change, to provide an updated status report on the science in an easily accessible form, also addressing the levels of certainty of key components."[68] The society says that it is three years since the last such document was published and that, after an extensive process of debate and review,[69][70] the new document was printed in September 2010. It summarises the current scientific evidence and highlights the areas where the science is well established, where there is still some debate, and where substantial uncertainties remain. The society has stated that "this is not the same as saying that the climate science itself is in error – no Fellows have expressed such a view to the RS".[68] The introduction includes this statement:
International science academies
Physical and chemical sciences
Earth sciences
American Geophysical Union
The
American Geophysical Union (AGU) adopted a statement on
Climate Change and Greenhouse Gases in 1998.
[84] A new statement, adopted by the society in 2003, revised in 2007,
[85] and revised and expanded in 2013,
[86] affirms that rising levels of greenhouse gases have caused and will continue to cause the global surface temperature to be warmer:
American Society of Agronomy, Crop Science Society of America, and Soil Science Society of America
In May 2011, the
American Society of Agronomy (ASA), Crop Science Society of America (CSSA), and
Soil Science Society of America (SSSA) issued a joint position statement on climate change as it relates to agriculture:
[87]
European Federation of Geologists
In 2008, the European Federation of Geologists
[88] (EFG) issued the position paper
Carbon Capture and geological Storage:
[89]
European Geosciences Union
In 2005, the Divisions of Atmospheric and Climate Sciences of the
European Geosciences Union (EGU) issued a position statement in support of the
Joint national science academy statements on global response to climate change. The statement refers to the
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), as "the main representative of the global
scientific community", and asserts that the IPCC:
[90]
Additionally, in 2008, the EGU issued a position statement on
ocean acidification which states, "Ocean acidification is already occurring today and will continue to intensify, closely tracking
atmospheric CO2 increase. Given the potential threat to
marine ecosystems and its ensuing impact on human society and economy, especially as it acts in conjunction with
anthropogenic global warming, there is an urgent need for immediate action." The statement then advocates for strategies "to limit future release of CO2 to the atmosphere and/or enhance removal of excess CO2 from the atmosphere".
[91] And, in 2018 the EGU issued a statement concurring with the findings of the
Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5 °C, with Jonathan Bamber, president of the organisation, noting: "EGU concurs with, and supports, the findings of the SR15 that action to curb the most dangerous consequences of human-induced climate change is urgent, of the utmost importance and the window of opportunity extremely limited."
[92]
Geological Society of America
In 2006, the
Geological Society of America adopted a position statement on global
climate change. It amended this position on 20 April 2010, with more explicit comments on need for CO2 reduction:
[93]
Geological Society of London
In November 2010, the
Geological Society of London issued the position statement
Climate change: evidence from the geological record:
[94]
International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics
In July 2007, the
International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics (IUGG) adopted a resolution titled "The Urgency of Addressing Climate Change". In it, the IUGG concurs with the "comprehensive and widely accepted and endorsed scientific assessments carried out by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and regional and national bodies, which have firmly established, on the basis of scientific evidence, that human activities are the primary cause of recent climate change". They state further that the "continuing reliance on combustion of fossil fuels as the world's primary source of energy will lead to much higher atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases, which will, in turn, cause significant increases in surface temperature, sea level, ocean acidification, and their related consequences to the environment and society".
[95]
National Association of Geoscience Teachers
In July 2009, the National Association of Geoscience Teachers
[96] (NAGT) adopted a position statement on climate change in which they assert that "Earth's climate is changing [and] "that present warming trends are largely the result of human activities":
[97]
Meteorology and oceanography
American Meteorological Society
The
American Meteorological Society (AMS) statement adopted by their council in 2012 concluded:
[98]
A 2016 survey found that two-thirds of AMS members think that all or most of climate change is caused by human activity.
[99]
Australian Meteorological and Oceanographic Society
The
Australian Meteorological and Oceanographic Society has issued a
Statement on Climate Change, wherein they conclude:
[100]
Canadian Foundation for Climate and Atmospheric Sciences
In November 2005, the
Canadian Foundation for Climate and Atmospheric Sciences (CFCAS) issued a letter to the
Prime Minister of Canada stating that:
[101]
Canadian Meteorological and Oceanographic Society
In November 2009, a letter to the Canadian Parliament by The
Canadian Meteorological and Oceanographic Society states:
[102]
Royal Meteorological Society (UK)
In February 2007, after the release of the IPCC's Fourth Assessment Report, the
Royal Meteorological Society issued an endorsement of the report. In addition to referring to the IPCC as "[the] world's best climate scientists", they stated that climate change is happening as "the result of emissions since industrialization and we have already set in motion the next 50 years of global warming – what we do from now on will determine how worse it will get."
[103]
World Meteorological Organization
In its
Statement at the Twelfth Session of the Conference of the Parties to the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change presented on 15 November 2006, the
World Meteorological Organization (WMO) confirms the need to "
prevent dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system". The WMO concurs that "scientific assessments have increasingly reaffirmed that human activities are indeed changing the composition of the atmosphere, in particular through the burning of fossil fuels for energy production and transportation". The WMO concurs that "the present atmospheric concentration of CO2 was never exceeded over the past 420,000 years"; and that the IPCC "assessments provide the most authoritative, up-to-date scientific advice".
[104]
American Quaternary Association
The
American Quaternary Association (AMQUA) has stated:
[105]
International Union for Quaternary Research
The statement on climate change issued by the
International Union for Quaternary Research (INQUA) reiterates the conclusions of the IPCC, and urges all nations to take prompt action in line with the
UNFCCC principles:
[106]
Biology and life sciences
Life science organizations have outlined the dangers climate change pose to wildlife.
Human health
A number of health organizations have warned about the numerous
negative health effects of global warming:
The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists and "Doomsday clock"
In 1945, Albert Einstein and other scientists who created atomic weapons used in the
atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki founded the "
Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists" and created the "
Doomsday Clock". The goal of the clock is to convey threats to humanity and the planet, and to create public awareness that will lead to solutions. In the beginning, the Doomsday Clock focused on the dangers of nuclear war, but in the 21st century, it has begun to deal with other issues like climate change and disinformation on the internet.
On 23 January 2020 the organization moved the doomsday clock to 100 seconds before midnight, closer than ever. It explained that it did it because of three factors:
- Increasing danger of nuclear war,
- Increasing danger from climate change, and
- Increasing danger from disinformation in the internet regarding the issues in points 1 and 2 and other "disruptive technologies".
The organization praised the climate movement of
young people and called to citizens and governments to act to take greater action on climate change.
[125]
Miscellaneous
A number of other national scientific societies have also endorsed the opinion of the IPCC:
Non-committal
American Association of Petroleum Geologists
As of June 2007, the
American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG) Position Statement on climate change stated:
[132]
Prior to the adoption of this statement, the AAPG was the only major scientific organization that rejected the finding of significant human influence on recent climate, according to a statement by the Council of the American Quaternary Association.
[31] Explaining the plan for a revision, AAPG president Lee Billingsly wrote in March 2007:
[133]
AAPG President John Lorenz announced the "sunsetting" of AAPG's Global Climate Change Committee in January 2010. The AAPG Executive Committee determined:
[134]
American Institute of Professional Geologists (AIPG)
The official position statement from AIPG on the Environment states that "combustion of fossil fuel include and the generation of GHGs [greenhouse gases] including carbon dioxide (CO2) and methane (CH4). Emissions of GHGs are perceived by some to be one of the largest, global environmental concerns related to energy production due to potential effects on the global energy system and possibly global climate. Fossil fuel use is the primary source of the increased atmospheric concentration of GHGs since industrialization".
[135]
In March 2010, AIPG's Executive Director issued a statement regarding polarization of opinions on climate change within the membership and announced that the AIPG Executive had made a decision to cease publication of articles and opinion pieces concerning climate change in AIPG's news journal,
The Professional Geologist.
[136]
Opposing
Since 2007, when the American Association of Petroleum Geologists released a revised statement,
[32] no longer does any national or international scientific body reject the findings of human-induced effects on climate change.
[31][33]