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Both “global warming” and “climate change” continue to be used as global temperatures continue to rise.

The two terms refer to different but related phenomena. Global warming captures increasing average global temperatures observed since the Industrial Revolution. Climate change speaks to the various environmental outcomes of this warming.

The last 10 years (2015-2024) were the 10 hottest on record, with 2024 breaking the record set in 2023. The last colder-than-average year was 1976. Climate scientists calculate global temperatures by averaging readings from thousands of weather stations, ships, buoys, and satellites around the world.

The 1956 paper “The Carbon Dioxide Theory of Climatic Change” outlined CO2’s role in altering climate. Google Books indicates usage of “climate change” predated and surpassed “global warming” since the 1980s.

The only notable political push to favor “climate change” was a 2002 Bush administration memo that claimed the term was “less frightening” than “global warming.”

This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.

Sources

The Washington Post: Debunking the claim ‘they’ changed ‘global warming’ to ‘climate change’ because warming stopped

CNN: Is it climate change or global warming? How science and a secret memo shaped the answer

Tellus Journal: The Carbon Dioxide Theory of Climatic Change

IPCC: History of the IPCC

Google Books Ngram Viewer: Climate change, global warming

The Luntz Research Companies: The Environment: A Cleaner, Safer, Healthier America

Skeptical Science is a nonprofit science education organization with a goal to remove a roadblock to climate action by building public resilience against climate misinformation.