Scientific discussion

In the scientific literature, there is an overwhelming consensus that global surface temperatures have increased in recent decades and that the trend is caused mainly by human-induced emissions of greenhouse gases.^[248] No scientific body of national or international standing disagrees with this view.^[249] Scientific discussion takes place in journal articles that are peer-reviewed, which scientists subject to assessment every couple of years in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change reports.^[250] The scientific consensus as of 2013, as stated in the IPCC Fifth Assessment Report, is that it "is extremely likely that human influence has been the dominant cause of the observed warming since the mid-20th century".^[251]

National science academies have called on world leaders for policies to cut global emissions.^[252] In November 2017, a second warning to humanity signed by 15,364 scientists from 184 countries stated that "the current trajectory of potentially catastrophic climate change due to rising greenhouse gases from burning fossil fuels, deforestation, and agricultural production – particularly from farming ruminants for meat consumption" is "especially troubling".^[253] In 2018 the IPCC published a Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5 °C which warned that, if the current rate of greenhouse gas emissions is not mitigated, global warming is likely to reach 1.5 °C (2.7 °F) between 2030 and 2052, risking major crises. The report said that preventing such crises will require a swift transformation of the global economy that has "no documented historic precedent".^[254]