Until the early 2000s, when the first attribution studies were published, it was harder to link CO2 in the atmosphere with global heating’s tangible effects. Thanks to a growing body of research, now we know. The record-breaking “heat dome” over north-western Canada and the US last summer would have been almost impossible without human-caused climate change. The same is true of heatwaves across the northern hemisphere in 2018, and in Asia in 2016. Wildfires in Siberia in 2020 were made 80% more likely by global heating, while 90% of marine heatwaves are human-caused. An increased mortality rate is evident on every continent, with scientists estimating 100,000 deaths each year. Heating was a factor in the California drought of 2012-14 and the super-typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines. While extreme weather in China has been studied, far less research has been conducted in Africa and South America. Yet again, those parts of the world that are most exposed to climate change find themselves with the fewest resources to help them understand and address it. But scientists and leaders, including the UN secretary general, António Guterres, the former UN climate chief, Christiana Figueres, and the Cop26 president, Alok Sharma, are right to insist that the reality must be faced. Indeed, this is the only way to avoid the most catastrophic and tragic outcomes. Like the historical responsibility for carbon emissions, attitudes and experiences in the present crisis are unevenly and unjustly shared out. Billions of people around the world, and above all in the global south, are caught up day-to-day in a struggle for survival. Western governments must follow through on their pledges of climate finance to enable a green transition in the developing world. The purpose of attribution science is not simply to warn the world about what is happening, but to aid preparations for what has not happened yet.          https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/aug/05/the-guardian-view-on-accelerating-global-heating-follow-the-science