Understanding Climate Change Disagreement

By Trevor Getz

You’ve likely heard that people don’t agree on climate change. But why is there disagreement? Let’s take a look at this important question.

A crowd of tourists observe an iceberg in a lagoon during an autumn day in Iceland.

Introduction

Ninety-seven percent of scientists believe that climate change is caused by human actions. The majority of science groups and governments around the world agree. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is a group that assesses the science of climate change. The IPCC says that scientific evidence shows that climate change is definitely happening.¹

The debate doesn’t end there, though. There is no simple definition for climate change. It describes measurable effects on physical systems. It is also related to political, economic, and social systems.

Disagreement slows down efforts to find solutions for climate change. Let’s look at how political, economic, and social issues play a role.

The political problem

A group of lawmakers on a stage raise hands and cheer for the passing of a climate deal in Paris in 2015. — *Climate change deal struck at Paris Summit. © Getty Images.*

There is much scientific evidence showing that climate change is a real problem. Still, there are small but powerful groups of people who remain unconvinced. These groups often have a lot of political influence. They have made climate change a politically divided issue. Some people adopt positions based on what their political party says. Internationally, countries often find it hard to act together. Some countries want to spend money on their own interests rather than on global ones. Others don’t agree on which countries should have to pay. What’s more, many global climate agreements are voluntary. This means that nothing happens if a country fails to meet its goals.

The economic problem

A chart with two columns comparing the higher relative cost of one ton of cement after carbon capture versus conventionally produced cement. — * New price after carbon capture ranges from $219 to $300

This graph shows the cost of a normal ton of cement versus the cost of low-carbon cement, using carbon capture technology to capture CO2 emissions. As you can see, clean cement costs significantly more than the conventional option. Courtesy of Breakthrough Energy.

Addressing climate change will be expensive. Trillions of dollars will be needed every year to reduce greenhouse gases and find new ways to live in a warming world. Not addressing climate change will also be expensive. Countries will have less money, health problems will increase, and extreme weather will cause damage. Some people don’t think it’s worth spending money on this issue right now. Others don’t agree on where or how to spend money. There are also businesses, people, and communities that rely on fossil fuels to make money.

The social problem

Many people believe that climate change is happening, but they don’t think it’s a big problem. One reason is that we try to protect ourselves from problems. We do this by denying them or pretending they aren’t that bad. People are also good at identifying immediate risks. Since the biggest risks of climate change are in the future, it’s easier to ignore them.

A culture’s beliefs can make it easy to ignore the issue of climate change. Some studies show that Americans tend not to trust experts like scientists. This distrust can get in the way when scientists report on issues like climate change.²

Misinformation is information that is not based on facts. Disinformation is false information that’s spread on purpose. Sometimes, these types of information can take the form of flat-out denial from leaders. Some groups might share information in a way that makes addressing climate change seem risky or not necessary. Another risk is greenwashing. Greenwashing is when a company falsely claims that its product is less damaging to the environment than it actually is. Other times, misinformation and disinformation is spread through social media. It can confuse people. This gets in the way of meaningful climate action.

Chart showing the significant decline of trust in major U.S. institutions from around 50 percent in 1979 to 27 percent in 2022. — *Americans’ trust in our national institutions, as measured by this annual Gallup poll, has fallen steadily since 1979. Graph courtesy of Gallup.*

Bringing it together

What changes people’s minds about climate change? Opinions change as people begin to experience the effects of climate change firsthand. Actions that seem like they will result in more money in our pockets also tend to be more popular. It’s important to make climate action open to everyone from every community. To address the issue of climate change, we must all work together.

1 NASA. “How Do We Know Climate Change is Real?” https://climate.nasa.gov/evidence/
2 Giancarlo Pasquini, Alison Spencer, Alec Tyson, and Cary Funk. “Why Some Americans Do Not See Urgency in Climate Change.” Aug. 9, 2023. Pew Research Center. https://www.pewresearch.org/science/2023/08/09/why-some-americans-do-not-see-urgency-on-climate-change/

Trevor Getz

Trevor Getz is a content editor for the Climate Project and a Professor of African and World History and affiliated with the Education program at San Francisco State University. His work centers on history and social studies as a vehicle for helping students understand contemporary issues such as climate change.

Credit: “Understanding Climate Change Disagreement”, Trevor Getz / OER Project, https://www.oerproject.com/

Image credits

Creative Commons This work is licensed under CC BY 4.0 except for the following:

Cover image: Tourists observing the iceberg in the Jokusarloon glacier lagoon during an autumn day, Iceland, Europe. © carlo alberto conti / Moment / Getty Images.

This graph shows the cost of a normal ton of cement versus the cost of low-carbon cement (using carbon capture technology to capture CO2 emissions). As you can see, clean cement costs significantly more than the conventional option. Courtesy of Breakthrough Energy. https://breakthroughenergy.org/our-approach/the-green-premium/

Americans’ trust in our national institutions, as measured by this annual Gallup poll, has fallen steadily since 1979. Graph courtesy of Gallup. https://news.gallup.com/poll/394283/confidence-institutions-down-average-new-low.aspx

Articles leveled by Newsela have been adjusted along several dimensions of text complexity including sentence structure, vocabulary and organization. The number followed by L indicates the Lexile measure of the article. For more information on Lexile measures and how they correspond to grade levels: www.lexile.com/educators/understanding-lexile-measures/

To learn more about Newsela, visit www.newsela.com/about.

The Lexile^® Framework for Reading evaluates reading ability and text complexity on the same developmental scale. Unlike other measurement systems, the Lexile Framework determines reading ability based on actual assessments, rather than generalized age or grade levels. Recognized as the standard for matching readers with texts, tens of millions of students worldwide receive a Lexile measure that helps them find targeted readings from the more than 100 million articles, books and websites that have been measured. Lexile measures connect learners of all ages with resources at the right level of challenge and monitors their progress toward state and national proficiency standards. More information about the Lexile® Framework can be found at www.Lexile.com.