Chapter 3 on Attribution Science delves deeper into the science that establishes causal links between climate change, specific sources of emissions, and its impacts. The authors illustrate how these scientific developments are enhancing our ability to pinpoint the causes of climate impacts, an evolution crucial to a range of procedural and substantive issues that may arise in climate litigation. The authors also delve into specific regional impacts and showcase how attribution science has illuminated the ways in which different parts of the world are experiencing and responding to the unique challenges posed by a changing climate. This includes case studies in Africa, the Americas, Europe, the South Pacific, and Asia. The authors conclude by addressing the limitations and challenges in the field of attribution science before explaining how it is nevertheless poised to play an ever-more critical role in our collective response to climate change.

Over the past century, average temperatures have risen a little over 1°C. This may not seem like much: after all, temperatures vary from one day to the next by much more than that, and we take it in our stride. However, over the past couple of decades we have become more aware of the rising incidence of what we call extreme events: heatwaves, droughts, wildfires, floods, severe storms. These are the signs of the times; signs, perhaps, that Mother Nature is not happy. Or is this all simply part of the natural unpredictability of the world we live in? In this chapter we look at recent extremes, along with the recent branch of climate science, Event Attribution, where we endeavour to assess any human contribution to these events. We illustrate both the nature of extreme events, and our growing understanding, with several detailed case studies.