There is an overwhelming consensus among scientists on the causes of climate change − with 97 percent agreeing that it is mainly the result of human activity. At the same time Americans question the agreement among scientists that global warning is a result of human actions.
An international panel of experts from countries including Australia, the United States, Britain, Germany and Finland, carried out the Consensus project − the largest peer-reviewed study of its kind. The survey considered the work of some 29,000 scientists in 11,994 academic papers published between 1991 and 2011. Just over 4,000 papers contained a view on the causes of global warming, of which 97.1 percent stated it was mainly man-made.
However, the authors highlight that there is still wide public belief, particularly in America, that the experts are divided and they are hoping that this survey will help to change this.
”There is a gaping chasm between the actual consensus and the public perception,” said John Cook of the University of Queensland in Australia, who led the study. ”When people understand that scientists agree on global warming, they’re more likely to support policies that take action on it.”
The authors refer to a poll conducted by the US Pew Research Center in October 2012 in which just 45 percent of Americans believe that scientists agree that humans are the main cause of global warming, a decrease from 59 percent in 2006.
According to John Cook, one of the contributing factors to people believing that scientists are still not united on the cause of climate change is the media, which often tries to balance climate stories with a “skeptic perspective”, giving the perception that there are more skeptics than there actually are.
Last week, the UK Energy and Climate Change Secretary, Edward Davey, also criticized the media for influencing public understanding of science and making it more difficult to introduce measures to cut emissions. In a speech on acting on climate change he said:
“Some sections of the press are giving an uncritical campaigning platform to individuals and lobby groups who reject outright the fact that climate change is a result of human activity”. Edward Davey called the next few years “definitive in the fight against climate change”.
Following publication of the survey in May, the results have been widely reported in the media, including a tweet by US President Barack Obama. The authors hope that this is a positive step in raising public awareness of scientific consensus and, as a result, lead to increased public support for action to tackle global warming.
Helen Garrison
