Reliable scientific sources on the environment and climate change

There is a lot of competing and conflicting information out there about the environment and climate change. To help you navigate this, below we at Humanist Climate Action highlight ten reliable sources of information from the scientific community. When assessing whether a source is reliable, you should look to see if it has been ‘peer reviewed.’ This means that other scientists have investigated the information and have checked the results. Normally to be published in a major scientific journal, conference, or to receive funding, scientists must submit their work to rigorous peer reviews.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)
This is the United Nations body for assessing the science related to climate change. Most UN member countries are also members of the IPCC, but it is independent of any government and is neutral on policy matters. The IPCC reviews scientific papers from all over the world to produce its Assessment Reports. These reports provide a comprehensive picture of the state of scientific, technical, and socio-economic knowledge on climate change, its impacts and future risks, and options for reducing the rate at which climate change is taking place. It also produces Special Reports on topics agreed to by its member governments.

NASA Global Climate Change
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is an agency of the US Federal Government. Its Global Climate Change programme conducts breakthrough research on climate science, enhancing the ability of the international scientific community to advance its understanding of climate change. Its decades of research and observations of the Earth provides comprehensive data on the effects of climate change.

World Health Organisation’s Climate and Health Forum
The World Health Organisation Climate and Human Forum provides information on climate change and how it affects humans directly, with case studies of its projects to mitigate these effects.

World Meteorological Organisation (WMO)
WMO is a specialised agency of the United Nations (UN) which investigates the state of the Earth’s atmosphere, land, oceans, climate, and water resources. It provides a wealth of resources and information including its State of the Climate reports.

Nature Climate Change
Published by Nature Research, Nature Climate Change is a monthly journal ‘dedicated to publishing the most significant and cutting-edge research on the science of climate change, its impacts and wider implications for the economy, society and policy.’

Planet Policy
Founded by the Brookings Institution, Planet Policy is a non-profit public policy organisation whose mission is to conduct in-depth research to contribute to solving global problems. Planet Policy combines research from over 300 non-partisan environmental experts.

The RAND Blog: Global Climate Change
The RAND Corporation provides access to peer-reviewed research reports from over 350 fields of study. RAND’s Global Climate Change blog includes news, analysis and commentary from RAND scientists.

Climate Central
An independent organisation of leading scientists and journalists researching and reporting the facts about the changing climate and its impact on the public. It surveys and conducts scientific research on climate change and informs the public of key findings.

Berkeley Earth
Berkeley Earth is an independent non-profit organisation focused on environmental data science. It provides independent, open-source data on climate change and air pollution.

International Research Institute for Climate and Society
Based at Columbia University, the Institute provides information on human welfare and the environment, especially in developing countries.

The Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES)The IPBES is an independent intergovernmental body established by States to strengthen the science-policy interface for biodiversity and ecosystem services for the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity.

The Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD)
The Convention on Biological Diversity began in 1993, to promote the  conservation of biological diversity, the sustainable use of the components of biological diversity and the fair and equitable sharing of the benefits arising out of the utilization of genetic resources

The Dasgupta Report on the Economics of Biodiversity
The Dasgupta Review is an independent, global review on the Economics of Biodiversity led by Professor Sir Partha Dasgupta (Frank Ramsey Professor Emeritus, University of Cambridge). The Review was commissioned in 2019 by HM Treasury and has been supported by an Advisory Panel drawn from public policy, science, economics, finance and business.