Nature

In 2007, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) issued its Fourth Assessment Report on the state of the world’s climate, which warned: ‘Warming of the climate system is unequivocal, as is now evident from observations of increases in global average air and ocean temperatures, widespread melting of snow and ice and rising global average sea levels’ (IPCC 2007). The report presents further evidence to establish what it calls the ‘anthropogenic drivers’ of climate change, that is, the actions brought about by human beings as opposed to those resulting from atmospheric changes. The report is clear that the causes attributable to human action, particularly fossil fuel use, have greatly increased climate change over the past 200 years. The consequences of climate change are dire, as the report warns, including potential harm to vast numbers of inhabitants of the planet. The next IPCC report is due out in 2014, and its conclusions seem destined to reinforce those already established by the previous report.