Bjorn Lomborg: US needs to start fracking for energy independence

Environmental author Bjorn Lomborg says world leaders went “out of their way to scare us” at the recent climate change summit.“They both went out of their way to scare us, but also in some ways, it was a repeat of the last 30 years of climate policy,” Mr Lomborg told Sky News host Chris Smith. “Namely, let’s make grand promises for the future, and certainly in the past we’ve then seen, not much is going to happen”.

Two months after the Paris climate-treaty negotiations concluded with fanfare, the world is figuring out it was sold a lemon.

In December, global leaders patted each other on the back and declared a job well done. The treaty will come into force later this year after it has been signed by representatives of at least 55 nations representing 55 percent of global greenhouse-gas emissions.

This will provide “a turning point for the world,” according to President Obama. “Our children and grandchildren will see that we did our duty,” says UK Prime Minister David Cameron.

Our current climate conversation embodies two blatantly contradictory claims. On one side, experts warn that promised climate policies will be economically crippling. In a new report, the International Energy Agency (IEA) states that achieving net-zero in 2050 will likely be “the greatest challenge humankind has ever faced.” That is a high bar, surpassing the Second World War, the black plague and COVID.