The main lines of evidence for climate change are outlined. Alternative explanations to increased greenhouse gas concentrations are described. After discussing some statistical issues, attribution approaches are briefly described. Policy issues dealing with mitigation and adaptation are mentioned.

For a statistician, climate is the distribution of weather and other variables that are part of the climate system. This distribution changes over time. This review considers some aspects of climate data, climate model assessment, and uncertainty estimation pertinent to climate issues, focusing...