Memorandum for the Petitioners | 25 Vv MATERIAL FACTS AS ESTABLISHED BY EVIDENCE A. Basic climate science understanding climate change global context and in a 5.1. There is an overwhelming consensus among scientists that climate change endangers both humanity and nature, and that human activity, primarily the burning of fossil fuels, is causing climate change.” The scientific consensus that climate change is anthropogenic in origin has been established through the work of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (“IPCC”) and documented in its various reports.”° This position has been adopted by multiple scientific and government agencies. 7! There is no room for further debate on this. 5.2. Climate change results from excess levels of GHGs in the atmosphere, particularly CO2 derived from the burning of fossil fuels (coal, oil and natural gas), and from changes in land use. These emissions are changing the Earth’s climate and destabilizing the climatic system. Climate change impacts are already affecting and injuring humans and natural systems, causing loss of life and pushing species towards extinction. The window to reverse this dangerous situation escalating is rapidly closing.’”” 5.3. While there are natural fluctuations or variabilities in global temperature observations, the recent rapid increase in temperature is unprecedented in known temperature data. Atmospheric concentrations of CO: have risen slightly less than 50% since the Industrial Revolution, from 280 parts per million (ppm) to more than 410 ppm.” ® John Cook et al., Quantifying the Consensus on Anthropogenic Global Warming in the Scientific Literature, available at https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/8/2/024024 (last accessed on 12 September 2019); See also, Watts, J. (24 July 2019), ‘No doubt left' about scientific consensus on global warming, say experts, available at https://www.theguardian.com/science/2019/jul/24/scientific-consensuson-humans-causing-global-warming-passes-99 (last accessed on 12 September 2019). “There was 99% scientific consensus in 2011 that humans are causing global warming,” quoting John Cook, the lead author of Quantifying the consensus on anthropogenic global warming in the scientific literature. 70 IPCC, 2014: Climate Change 2014: Synthesis Report. Contribution of Working Groups I, If and III to the Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change [Core Writing Team, R.K. Pachauri and L.A. Meyer (eds.)]. IPCC, Geneva, Switzerland (hereinafter, “IPCC 2014 Climate Change 2014 Synthesis Report”), available at https://www.ipec.ch/site/assets/uploads/2018/05/SYR_AR5_FINAL_full_wcover.pdf (last accessed on 12 September 2019). 7. NASA, Scientific consensus: Earth’s climate is warming, available at https://climate.nasa.gov/scientificconsensus/ (last accessed on 12 September 2019). ” Ibid. % U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Earth System Research Laboratory Global Monitoring Division; Dlugokencky, E. and Tans, P. Trends in Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide (as of 05 August 2019), available at www.esrl.noaa.gov/gmd/ccgg/trends/ (last accessed on See also: IPCC (2018) Summary for Policymakers, Sec. B.1. p. 7 [Masson-Delmotte, Pértner, D. Roberts, J. Skea, P.R. Shukla, A. Pirani, W. Moufouma-Okia, C. Péan, R. J.B.R. Matthews, Y. Chen, X. Zhou, M.I. Gomis, E. Lonnoy, T. Maycock, M. Tignor, (eds.)] (hereinafter, “IPCC 2018 Summary for Policymakers”), available at 12 September 2019). V., P. Zhai, H-O. Pidcock, $8. Connors, and T. Waterfield