Climate Change: The Difficult Questions

There are a range of confusing issues around climate change. Given that most people in the UK have some awareness of climate change it’s not surprising there is some confusion.Much of the work that you may need to do in communicating on this issue is to tackle myths and confusion. This sheet highlights a few of the common questions.

One of the best sources of information is the New Scientist magazine’s ‘Climate change: A guide for the perplexed’ – online at

This tackles about 25 questions in detail: some of these are covered on this sheet (using their excellent information).You are welcome to raise any questions during the ‘key issues’ session. Some of the ones that we will tackle include:

  • Many leading scientists question climate change
  • Global warming is down to the Sun, not humans
  • We can't do anything about climate change
  • It's all a conspiracy
  • What about China and India. They're the real problem.

Many leading scientists question climate change

The New Scientist points out that ‘many leading scientists’ is misleading. For instance a letter signed by 60 Canadian ‘scientists’ questioning the Kyoto Protocol included many who did not work on climate change and several people who were not scientists. On the other hand there is a huge consensus amongst scientists working on this that climate change is being caused by human activity. (for more see

The reason they think the way they do is because of the vast and growing body of evidence. A study (‘The Scientific Consensus on Climate Change’by Naomi Oreskes) looked at nearly 1000 scientific papers containing the term "global climate change" published in the previous decade. Not one rejected the consensus position.

Global warming is down to the Sun, not humans

Certainly solar radiation affects temperatures. But there is no correlation between solar activity and the strong warming during the past 40 years. Claims that this is the case have not stood up to scrutiny (the New Scientist site has a link). Direct measurements of solar output since 1978 show a steady rise and fall over the 11-year sunspot cycle, but no upwards or downward trend. Similarly, there is no trend in direct measurements of the Sun's ultraviolet output and in cosmic rays. So for the period for which we have direct, reliable records, the Earth has warmed dramatically even though there has been no corresponding rise in any kind of solar activity.

It's all a conspiracy

If you believe that tens of thousands of scientists, the UN, the World Bank, insurance companies and governments are colluding in a massive conspiracy, nothing anyone can say is likely to dissuade you. But there are less extreme versions of this argument. One is that climate scientists foster alarmism about global warming to boost their funding. Another is that climate scientists' dependence on government funding ensures they toe the official line.It has taken more than a century to reach the current scientific consensus on climate change. It has come about through a steadily growing body of evidence from many different sources, and the process has hardly been secret.

What about China and India? They're the real problem.

China has just become the world's biggest emitter of CO2. But:

1.China's carbon footprint per person is about ½ that of a UK person (and ¼ of the USA)

2.Why should they change if we don’t – we should lead by example

3.Their rapid economic growth is also due in part to us since they manufacture many of the goods we buy. UK emissions figures are now lower because most of our manufacturing is done in China and we count these emissions as theirs. Are we asking them to produce goods in a low carbon way or just cheaply?

4.China is starting to tackle climate change. They produce and use more renewable energy than anywhere else in the world. Carbon Reduction is a big priority in their current 5 year plan.

We can't do anything about climate change

It is certainly too late to stop all climate change. It is already under way, much in line with existing predictions. And there are dangerous time lags. There are already several decades of warming in the pipeline. The lags in organising effective initiatives to reduce greenhouse gas emissions are also long.

But climate change is not an on-off switch. It is a continuing process. The sooner we stabilise atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases, the sooner we can reduce our impact on the climate and minimise the risk of reaching tipping points that will make preventing further warming even harder. Even if we only manage to slow warming rather than prevent it, societies will have more time to adjust to the changes.

It is true that the action taken so far, such as the Kyoto Protocol, will only have a marginal effect. The protocol’s authors have always described it as a first step. But even before it came into effect in 2005, the protocol has triggered some profound thinking among governments, corporations and citizens about their carbon footprint and how to reduce it. Industrialised countries such as the UK are planning for emissions reductions of 60% or more by mid-century.

This is not primarily a technological or even an economic problem, as huge as these challenges are. It is a political problem. And in politics, most things can be done if there is the will.