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As a public and policy issue, climate change boils down to four overarching issues: 1) climate is changing; 2) people are causing climate to change; 3) the societal consequences of climate change are highly uncertain but include the potential for serious impacts; and 4) there are numerous policy options for climate change risk management, most of which are well characterized (i.e., have known strengths and weaknesses). These four conclusions are based on comprehensive assessment of scientific understanding and each is the result of multiple independent lines of evidence.
