This document summarizes the key climate forcings that have caused changes in the Earth's climate, both in the past and present. It finds that:
1) During the last ice age 20,000 years ago, negative climate forcings from factors like reduced greenhouse gases and dust caused temperatures to be 5°C colder.
2) Recent positive climate forcings, mainly from increased greenhouse gases like CO2 and methane, have increased total forcing by around 1.7 W/m2 since pre-industrial times.
3) However, the oceans' slow response means we have only seen a global temperature increase of around 0.7°C to date, with more warming still to come from gases