There are past and present public debates over certain aspects of climate change: how much has occurred in modern times,what causes it, whatits effects will be, and what action should be taken to curb it now or later, and so forth. In thescientific literature, there is avery strong consensus that global surface temperatures have increased in recent decades and that the trend is caused by human-induced emissions ofgreenhouse gases.^[1]

The controversies are, by now, mostly political rather than scientific: there is a scientific consensus that global warming is happening and is caused by human activity.^[2] Public debates that also reflect scientific debate include estimates of how responsive the climate system might be to any given level of greenhouse gases (climate sensitivity). Disputes over the key scientific facts of global warming are more prevalent in themedia than in the scientific literature, where such issues are treated as resolved, and such disputes are more prevalent in theUnited States andAustralia thanglobally.^[3][4][5]

There have been many debates around the details of climate change science.Climate change deniers and "skeptics" tend tocherry-pick data or studies, and then trump up any scientific discussions or apparent discrepancies that match with their agenda.^{[citation needed]} Many of those apparent discrepancies have been reconciled in the meantime,climate models have become more accurate, thescientific consensus on climate change has strengthened and so forth. For example, climatologistKevin E. Trenberth has published widely on the topic ofclimate variability and has exposed flaws in the publications of other scientists.^[6][7][8]

For past debates and controversies on scientific details see for example:

• History of climate change science#Discredited theories and reconciled apparent discrepancies
• Climate change denial#Discussing specific aspects of climate change science
• Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change#Challenges and controversies (theIPCC assessment reports, like the most recentIPCC Sixth Assessment Report summarise the state of the art of climate science at the time).

There have been debates on the best responses to slow global warming, and their timing. The debates are around the specific actions forclimate change mitigation andclimate change adaptation, orclimate action in general. See for example:

• Economic analysis of climate change
• Climate change denial#Delaying climate change mitigation measures
• Climate change denial#Pushing for adaptation only
• Climate action (Climate crisis)

• Attitude polarization
• History of climate change policy and politics
• Manufactured controversy
• Politicization of science
• Right-wing antiscience

• Climate change assessment and attribution
• Climate change controversies
• Climate change denial
• Politics of science
• 21st-century controversies in the United States
• 21st-century controversies
• Controversies in Australia

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