Published by the American Geophysical Union as part of the Special Publications Series.

At the beginning of the 1960s the opinion was voiced that noticeable, world-wide changes could take place in the climate in the very near future, due to increased industrialization and energy production. Since such changes would have a significant bearing on all fields of human endeavor, the task of utilizing this forecast in economic planning became urgent. Shortly afterwards, research on anthropogenic climatic variations commenced in several countries and the results were regularly discussed at national and international scientific meetings. These studies confirmed the pressing need for developing methods to predict future climatic variations caused by man's economic activity.