This aspect of climate literacy addresses the essential question of how we go about studying and understanding the climate system. Climate science follows the same methods and principles of all scientific research and is based on asking questions, making observations, testing ideas, interpreting data, peer review, and communicating findings. The process of science has demonstrated its reliability over the course of hundreds of years, and it has brought benefits to all aspects of human society.

Because of its policy implications, climate science tends to be challenged more than other types of science. But that does not refute the overwhelming amount of scientific knowledge we have gained on this topic. Studies repeatedly show that climate researchers virtually all agree that human activities are altering the climate system. Nonetheless, some portion of the general public is under the impression that scientists are still debating whether or not humans are changing the climate. In fact, climate science is one of the most rigorous examples of scientific inquiry, practiced over several decades by scientists all over the world, and from multiple scientific disciplines. As this research expands our understanding, Its basic findings have remained unchanged since the late 1950s.