The mainstream scientific position, and challenges to it

On the assertion of consensus

Environmental journalist  revealed that a list of "500 Scientists with Documented Doubts of Man-Made Global Warming Scares" published in 2007 by the  and distributed by the  included numerous scientists who had demanded to be removed from the list The institute refused requests by scientists to have their names removed, stating that the scientists "have no right—legally or ethically—to demand that their names be removed

A 2010 paper in the  analysed 1,372 climate researchers and their publication and citation data to show that (i) 97–98% of the climate researchers most actively publishing in the field support the tenets of ACC outlined by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, and (ii) the relative climate expertise and scientific prominence of the researchers unconvinced of ACC are substantially below that of the convinced researchers. has said "This is a completely unconvincing analysis," whereas OreskesJim Prall, one of the coauthors of the study, acknowledged "it would be helpful to have lukewarm [as] a third category. said that the paper shows that "the vast majority of working [climate] research scientists are in agreement [on climate change]... Those who don't agree, are, unfortunately—and this is hard to say without sounding elitist—mostly either not actually climate researchers or not very productive researchers."

Environmental groups, many governmental reports, and the media in all countries but the United States often state that there is virtually unanimous agreement in the scientific community in support of human-caused global warming. Opponents either maintain that some scientists consider global warming "unproved", dismiss it altogether, or highlight the dangers of focusing on only one viewpoint in the context of what they say is unsettled science, or point out that science is based on facts and not on opinion poll.