Survey confirms scientific consensus on human-caused global warming

The survey was conducted by PBL Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency, in collaboration with researchers from the Netherlands and Australia. More than 1800 international scientists studying various aspects of climate change, including physical climate, climate impacts and mitigation, responded to the questionnaire.

Level of consensus regarding attribution

The researchers found that, as the level of expertise in climate science grew, so too did the level of agreement on the contribution of greenhouse gases to global warming. 90% of respondents with more than 10 climate-related peer-reviewed publications (about half of all respondents), agreed that anthropogenic greenhouse gases (GHG) are the dominant cause of recent global warming. This is consistent with other research. Analyses of the literature generally find a stronger consensus than opinion surveys such as ours, because of a stronger consensus among highly published – and arguably the most expert – climate scientists.

Media exposure

Respondents were also asked about the frequency of being featured in the media regarding their views on climate change. Respondents who thought climate sensitivity was low (less than 1.75 degrees C per doubling of CO₂) reported the most frequent media coverage. Likewise, those who thought greenhouse gases  had made an insignificant contribution to observed warming reported the most frequent media coverage. This shows that contrarian opinions are amplified in the media in relation to their prevalence in the scientific community, which probably contributes to the divergence between public and scientific opinion regarding climate change.