Financial Times: Europe needs real vision on climate
By Bjørn Lomborg Published: December 9 2010
Barring last-minute upsets, the climate conference in Cancún will close on Friday having delivered on expectations that it would achieve nothing meaningful. As negotiators, commentators and campaigners head home, attention will turn to what happens next. Pundits and politicians in Europe will inevitably argue that we should “go it alone” and strengthen the European Union’s 20/20/20 policy, which aims to cut greenhouse gas emissions to 20 per cent below 1990 levels by 2020 and ensure 20 per cent renewable energy. The real lesson is that it is time for Europe to abandon its quixotic carbon-cutting crusade. (...)