| IPCC |
|---|
| Assessment reports: |
| First (1990) |
| 1992 sup. |
| Second (1995) |
| Third (2001) |
| Fourth (2007) |
| UNFCCC | WMO | UNEP |
| Energy Portal |
The Second Assessment Report (SAR) of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change was published in 1995. It was followed by the Third Assessment Report (TAR) in 2001. The report consists of the reports of the three working groups:
- WG I: The Science of Climate Change (JT Houghton, LG Meira Filho, BA Callender, N Harris, A Kattenberg and K Maskell (Eds); Cambridge University Press, UK. pp 572). Summary for Policymakers.
- WG II: Impacts, Adaptations and Mitigation of Climate Change: Scientific-Technical Analyses (R.T.Watson, M.C.Zinyowera, R.H.Moss (Eds); Cambridge University Press, UK. pp 878). Summary for Policymakers.
- WG III: Economic and Social Dimensions of Climate Change (J.P.Bruce, H.Lee, E.F.Haites (Eds); Cambridge University Press, UK. pp 448). Summary for Policymakers.
The major conclusions were:
- Greenhouse gas concentrations have continued to increase
- Anthropogenic aerosols tend to produce negative radiative forcings
- Climate has changed over the past century
- The balance of evidence suggests a discernible human influence on global climate
- Climate is expected to continue to change in the future
- There are still many uncertainties
Its eighth chapter noted "these results indeicate that the observed trend in global mean temperature over the past 100 years is unlikely to be entirely natural in origin. More importantly, there is evidence of an emerging pattern of climate response to forcings by greenhouse gases and sulphate aerosols in the observed climate record. Taken together, these results point towards a human influence on global climate." [ch 8, summary, p 412].
