Myth: Climate models are unreliable

Climate models used by scientists are at best imperfect, and cannot be used to predict future warming.

Fact:

Climate models are imperfect, as is our knowledge of the solar system, of cancer, of economics, and of many other things. No models of the real world are ever perfect, but that shouldn’t stop us from using them. Global climate models are very useful tools. As early as 1906, Svante Arrhenius was able to predict that a doubling of CO₂ in the atmosphere would result in a 4°C increase in global temperatures. Climate models have improved dramatically since then and have proven remarkably accurate in their predictions. [See the next myth.]