Climate Change Calls for Adaptation, Not Panic

The concept of trade-offs has become unfashionable. Politicians around the world like to pretend that their choices will bring us nothing but superlative benefits.

Nowhere is this whitewashing more pervasive or accepted than in climate change. There is a prevalent, comforting notion that we can have our cake and eat it too: that cutting carbon need not involve financial sacrifice.

Climate change is not the extinction-level event it is often characterized as. Still, it is a problem we need to address, focusing on smart, effective solutions. In his latest long-form interview on climate change and climate policy on Uncommon Knowledge (filmed at Stanford University), Lomborg discusses practical ways to lower our carbon footprint and emissions, pointing out why “carbon free by 2050” probably isn’t achievable without massive energy breakthroughs coming from green energy R&D.

Copenhagen Consensus Centre President Bjorn Lomborg says “it’s no big surprise” that Australia will face power shortages.

The AEMO has warned of power shortages across the country.

“We’ve been told that solar and wind is cheaper than fossil fuels,” Mr Lomborg told Sky News host Chris Kenny.

“But the reality, of course, is they’re only cheaper when the wind is blowing or when the sun is shining.

“You really have to take that into account, and when you do it, of course, it turns out that it’s much much more expensive.”