Climate science in legal contexts - a glossary of key terms for lawyers - Grantham Research Institute on climate change and the environment<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.lse.ac.uk\/granthaminstitute\/publication\/climate-science-in-legal-contexts-a-glossary-of-key-terms-for-lawyers\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Climate science in legal contexts - a glossary of key terms for lawyers - Grantham Research Institute on climate change and the environment\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"This resource is designed to help lawyers navigate scientific concepts that frequently arise in climate litigation.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.lse.ac.uk\/granthaminstitute\/publication\/climate-science-in-legal-contexts-a-glossary-of-key-terms-for-lawyers\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Grantham Research Institute on climate change and the environment\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-03-25T11:17:36+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.lse.ac.uk\/granthaminstitute\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/shutterstock_2350393947.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1000\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"667\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.lse.ac.uk\\\/granthaminstitute\\\/publication\\\/climate-science-in-legal-contexts-a-glossary-of-key-terms-for-lawyers\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.lse.ac.uk\\\/granthaminstitute\\\/publication\\\/climate-science-in-legal-contexts-a-glossary-of-key-terms-for-lawyers\\\/\",\"name\":\"Climate science in legal contexts - a glossary of key terms for lawyers - Grantham Research Institute on climate change and the environment\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.lse.ac.uk\\\/granthaminstitute\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.lse.ac.uk\\\/granthaminstitute\\\/publication\\\/climate-science-in-legal-contexts-a-glossary-of-key-terms-for-lawyers\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.lse.ac.uk\\\/granthaminstitute\\\/publication\\\/climate-science-in-legal-contexts-a-glossary-of-key-terms-for-lawyers\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.lse.ac.uk\\\/granthaminstitute\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/02\\\/shutterstock_2350393947.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-03-24T09:04:44+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-03-25T11:17:36+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.lse.ac.uk\\\/granthaminstitute\\\/publication\\\/climate-science-in-legal-contexts-a-glossary-of-key-terms-for-lawyers\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.lse.ac.uk\\\/granthaminstitute\\\/publication\\\/climate-science-in-legal-contexts-a-glossary-of-key-terms-for-lawyers\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.lse.ac.uk\\\/granthaminstitute\\\/publication\\\/climate-science-in-legal-contexts-a-glossary-of-key-terms-for-lawyers\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.lse.ac.uk\\\/granthaminstitute\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/02\\\/shutterstock_2350393947.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.lse.ac.uk\\\/granthaminstitute\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/02\\\/shutterstock_2350393947.jpg\",\"width\":1000,\"height\":667,\"caption\":\"Photo: Shutterstock\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.lse.ac.uk\\\/granthaminstitute\\\/publication\\\/climate-science-in-legal-contexts-a-glossary-of-key-terms-for-lawyers\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.lse.ac.uk\\\/granthaminstitute\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Publications\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.lse.ac.uk\\\/granthaminstitute\\\/?post_type=publication\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"All research\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.lse.ac.uk\\\/granthaminstitute\\\/publication-type\\\/new-research\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":4,\"name\":\"Research article\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.lse.ac.uk\\\/granthaminstitute\\\/publication-type\\\/research-articles\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":5,\"name\":\"Climate science in legal contexts – a glossary of key terms for lawyers\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.lse.ac.uk\\\/granthaminstitute\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.lse.ac.uk\\\/granthaminstitute\\\/\",\"name\":\"Grantham Research Institute on climate change and the environment\",\"description\":\"The Grantham Research Institute at LSE carries out world-class research on climate change and the environment.\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.lse.ac.uk\\\/granthaminstitute\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"}]}<\/script>\n","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Climate science in legal contexts - a glossary of key terms for lawyers - Grantham Research Institute on climate change and the environment","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.lse.ac.uk\/granthaminstitute\/publication\/climate-science-in-legal-contexts-a-glossary-of-key-terms-for-lawyers\/","og_locale":"en_GB","og_type":"article","og_title":"Climate science in legal contexts - a glossary of key terms for lawyers - Grantham Research Institute on climate change and the environment","og_description":"This resource is designed to help lawyers navigate scientific concepts that frequently arise in climate litigation.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.lse.ac.uk\/granthaminstitute\/publication\/climate-science-in-legal-contexts-a-glossary-of-key-terms-for-lawyers\/","og_site_name":"Grantham Research Institute on climate change and the environment","article_modified_time":"2026-03-25T11:17:36+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1000,"height":667,"url":"https:\/\/www.lse.ac.uk\/granthaminstitute\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/shutterstock_2350393947.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Estimated reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.lse.ac.uk\/granthaminstitute\/publication\/climate-science-in-legal-contexts-a-glossary-of-key-terms-for-lawyers\/","url":"https:\/\/www.lse.ac.uk\/granthaminstitute\/publication\/climate-science-in-legal-contexts-a-glossary-of-key-terms-for-lawyers\/","name":"Climate science in legal contexts - a glossary of key terms for lawyers - Grantham Research Institute on climate change and the environment","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.lse.ac.uk\/granthaminstitute\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.lse.ac.uk\/granthaminstitute\/publication\/climate-science-in-legal-contexts-a-glossary-of-key-terms-for-lawyers\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.lse.ac.uk\/granthaminstitute\/publication\/climate-science-in-legal-contexts-a-glossary-of-key-terms-for-lawyers\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.lse.ac.uk\/granthaminstitute\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/shutterstock_2350393947.jpg","datePublished":"2026-03-24T09:04:44+00:00","dateModified":"2026-03-25T11:17:36+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.lse.ac.uk\/granthaminstitute\/publication\/climate-science-in-legal-contexts-a-glossary-of-key-terms-for-lawyers\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.lse.ac.uk\/granthaminstitute\/publication\/climate-science-in-legal-contexts-a-glossary-of-key-terms-for-lawyers\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/www.lse.ac.uk\/granthaminstitute\/publication\/climate-science-in-legal-contexts-a-glossary-of-key-terms-for-lawyers\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.lse.ac.uk\/granthaminstitute\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/shutterstock_2350393947.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.lse.ac.uk\/granthaminstitute\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/shutterstock_2350393947.jpg","width":1000,"height":667,"caption":"Photo: Shutterstock"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.lse.ac.uk\/granthaminstitute\/publication\/climate-science-in-legal-contexts-a-glossary-of-key-terms-for-lawyers\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.lse.ac.uk\/granthaminstitute\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Publications","item":"https:\/\/www.lse.ac.uk\/granthaminstitute\/?post_type=publication"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"All research","item":"https:\/\/www.lse.ac.uk\/granthaminstitute\/publication-type\/new-research\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":4,"name":"Research article","item":"https:\/\/www.lse.ac.uk\/granthaminstitute\/publication-type\/research-articles\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":5,"name":"Climate science in legal contexts – a glossary of key terms for lawyers"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.lse.ac.uk\/granthaminstitute\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.lse.ac.uk\/granthaminstitute\/","name":"Grantham Research Institute on climate change and the environment","description":"The Grantham Research Institute at LSE carries out world-class research on climate change and the environment.","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.lse.ac.uk\/granthaminstitute\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-GB"}]}},"taxonomies":{"post_tag":["climate change litigation","climate science","law"],"publication-type":["Research article"],"topic_area":["Climate science and impacts","Climate change laws and litigation"]},"featured_image_src":"https:\/\/www.lse.ac.uk\/granthaminstitute\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/shutterstock_2350393947.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lse.ac.uk\/granthaminstitute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/publication\/85309","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lse.ac.uk\/granthaminstitute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/publication"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lse.ac.uk\/granthaminstitute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/publication"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lse.ac.uk\/granthaminstitute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.lse.ac.uk\/granthaminstitute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/publication\/85309\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":85315,"href":"https:\/\/www.lse.ac.uk\/granthaminstitute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/publication\/85309\/revisions\/85315"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lse.ac.uk\/granthaminstitute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/84856"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lse.ac.uk\/granthaminstitute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=85309"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lse.ac.uk\/granthaminstitute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=85309"},{"taxonomy":"publication-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lse.ac.uk\/granthaminstitute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/publication-type?post=85309"},{"taxonomy":"topic_area","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lse.ac.uk\/granthaminstitute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/topic_area?post=85309"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}

{"id":85309,"date":"2026-03-24T09:04:44","date_gmt":"2026-03-24T09:04:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lse.ac.uk\/granthaminstitute\/?post_type=publication&p=85309"},"modified":"2026-03-25T11:17:36","modified_gmt":"2026-03-25T11:17:36","slug":"climate-science-in-legal-contexts-a-glossary-of-key-terms-for-lawyers","status":"publish","type":"publication","link":"https:\/\/www.lse.ac.uk\/granthaminstitute\/publication\/climate-science-in-legal-contexts-a-glossary-of-key-terms-for-lawyers\/","title":{"rendered":"Climate science in legal contexts – a glossary of key terms for lawyers"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Scientific and legal communities often use similar words differently. This resource is designed to help lawyers navigate scientific concepts that frequently arise in climate litigation. The glossary clarifies these concepts by providing clear definitions, outlining their scientific basis, and highlighting how they may be understood or applied in legal contexts. It is intended as a practical reference to build familiarity with scientific terms, better assess expert evidence, and avoid misinterpretations of science in the courtroom.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Delta Merner, PhD; Carly A. Phillips, PhD; William S. Beckett, MD, MPH; Charles A. Brown, PE; Robert Byron, MD; Johnnie Chamberlin, PhD; Allan Frei, PhD; Dargan M. W. Frierson, PhD; Warren G. Lavey, JD; Grace Lindsay, PhD; Murray H. Loew; Paasha Mahdavi, PhD; Carlos Martinez, PhD; Adele Simmons; Christina Tonitto, PhD; Emily L. Williams, PhD; and Gary W. Yohe, PhD. 2026. Climate Science in Legal Contexts<\/em>. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.47923\/2026.16135<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

External link to publication