Leaked UN Report Indicates IPCC 'Virtually Certain' that Human Activity Causes Global Warming

Those who doubt the existence of global warming will now have to contend with research from the UN.

A draft of the UN's most comprehensive global warming study has leaked all over the internet and indicates further evidence that human activity creates climate change. The document was posted by blogger Alex Rawls on the website www.stopgreensuicide.com.

The fifth assessment report was made by the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change which is due for formal publication in three installments starting in September and ending in October 2014. Over 830 authors and editors from 85 countries worked on the report. There had been a prior report in 2007 that had estimated that global warming was an undisputable fact and that its main cause was the increase in greenhouse gas concentrations. The new report only substantiates the observations made in 2007 and adds that the period from 1981 to 2010 was "very likely" the warmest 30 year period in 800 years.

"It is virtually certain that [climate change] is caused by human activities, primarily by the increase in CO2 concentrations. There is very high confidence that natural forcing contributes only a small fraction to this imbalance," the report noted. The primary phrase in this statement is "virtually certain" because the 2007 document utilized the words "very high confidence"; in other words they were 90 percent sure humans were responsible for the global warming.

The report also indicates that sea levels rose almost 2 millimeters a year over the 20^th century and that it could rise by 29 to 96 centimeters in the 21^st century. The report also indicates that man-made carbon dioxide that dissolves in sea water is causing "gradual acidification." The aim of the report is to guide envoys from 194 countries in adopting a new treaty in 2015 to fight climate change.

The IPCC expressed disappointment in the leaks. "These drafts were provided in confidence to reviewers and are not for distribution," the panel stated on Friday. "It is regrettable that one out of many hundreds of reviewers broke the terms of the review and posted the drafts."