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IPPC & the Causes of Global Warming

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) was formed by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) to serve as a global evaluator for the causes and effects of global warming. The IPCC does not perform research itself but monitors thousands of scientific studies globally to provide the most accurate and complete view of climate change possible.



The IPCC publicized the discovery of data indicating the global climate has been, and continues to be, warming at a potentially dangerous rate in its First Assessment Report in 1990.

  1. The IPCC's View

    • The IPCC believe that the cause of the change is that a build-up of of gases in the atmosphere has caused infrared radiation to become trapped, warming the planet --- a phenomenon known as the greenhouse effect. The effect is named the greenhouse effect because it works analogously to the warming effect a greenhouse has on its interior on a sunny day.

    The Greenhouse Effect

    • Typically, one third of the energy from the sun is reflected back off the Earth into outer space; the remaining two thirds are absorbed by the ground and, pertinently, the atmosphere. This causes the increase in temperature of our environment. The greenhouse effect, despite its recent negative press, is in fact essential to maintaining life on Earth. Without a moderate amount of greenhouse warming the Earth would be too cold to sustain life.

    Greenhouse Gases

    • Research brought to light in IPCC reports indicates that recent (in the last 50 years) increases in artificial greenhouse gases have affected the natural constitution of the atmosphere, resulting in global warming.

      The chemical make-up of greenhouse gas is approximately 36 to 72 percent water vapor (H2O), 9 to 26 percent carbon dioxide (CO2), 4 to 9 percent methane (CH4) and 3 to 7 percent ozone (O3).

    Human Responsibility

    • Recent increases in greenhouse gases are thought to be caused by man. In the IPCC 2007 Fourth Assessment Report on climate change, IPCC claimed that it is 90 percent likely that humans have caused an increase of one degree Fahrenheit to the global average temperature in the last 50 years.

      The largest source of carbon dioxide emissions is from the combustion of fossil fuels (oil, natural gas and coal) used in the generation of electricity and in transportation.

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