A tweet archived here, replies to a tweet stating that humans are the dominant influence on climate. In the reply, the tweet dismisses these sentiments, responding that climate is determined by the distance the earth is from the sun.
Background
In a similar claim, this tweet also says that “It is the Sun that is causing the Earth to warm.”
Human activity, also often referred to as anthropogenic causes of climate change, have been a major source of greenhouse gas emissions.
Industrialization for instance, has proven to have a direct impact on the climate, seeing as it produces greenhouse gas emissions like Water vapor (H2O), carbon dioxide (CO2), nitrous oxide (N2O), methane (CH4), and ozone (O3). In a fact-check published here, Piga Firimbi found a report from the International Energy Agency (IEA) which states that human activity contributes to 60% of methane emissions.
Verification
“Global average temperatures have increased by more than 1℃ since pre-industrial times”, – Our World in Data. Moreover, the decade of the 2000’s has been the warmest as found in the Fifth Assessment Report (AR5) of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).
China, for instance having taken up rapid industrialization in recent years, quickly became the biggest polluter in 2012, producing more carbon emissions than the U.S and the E.U by 2012- a Forbes report reveals.
In a fact-check published here, Piga Firimbi debunked the false claim that China accounts for twice as many emissions as America and Europe combined.
The concentration of greenhouse gases in the earth’s atmosphere is directly linked to the average global temperature on Earth- the United Nations Environment Programme.
According to the U.S Global Change Research Program’s Fourth National Climate Assessment, there is no convincing evidence explaining the observed changes in climate.
“Solar flux variations over the last six decades have been too small to explain the observed changes in climate,”- U.S Global Change Research Program’s Fourth National Climate Assessment.
“Solar output changes and internal natural variability can only contribute marginally to the observed changes in climate over the last century, and there is no convincing evidence for natural cycles in the observational record that could explain the observed changes in climate,”- U.S Global Change Research Program’s Fourth National Climate Assessment.
Source: U.S Global Change Research Program’s Fourth National Climate Assessment.
Verdict
The claim that climate is determined by the distance the earth is from the sun is INCONCLUSIVE.
This fact-check was produced by Africa Uncensored with support from Code for Africa’s PesaCheck, International Fact-Checking Network, and African Fact-Checking Alliance network.
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