This perspective paper examines in detail the concept of explicability in a climate model, whether conventional physics-based dynamical models, or those incorporating components based on machine learning. Everyone with an interest in climate models or their outputs would benefit from understanding the processes by which we can understand the importance and accuracy of these models and the methods by which it is possible to make sense of those outputs. This paper is a major contribution to that understanding. It is also very well written and should be widely read in the field.