Innovation not global regulation will save the planet

As you might expect, the UN Climate Change Conference in Paris, which reached an agreement yesterday to limit the rise in global temperature to less than 2C, has been an international festival of hot air.

The bland, suburban conference centre hosting the two weeks of talks is populated by oversized animal cut-outs – a blue giraffe, a red camel – that we attendees use as landmarks to find our way around.

Hay Festival – May 26-June 5, 2011 May 30, 2:30pm Bjorn Lomborg talks to Rosie Boycott http://www.hayfestival.com/p-3512-bjorn-lomborg-talks-to-rosie-boycott.aspx May 30, 8:30pm Bjorn Lomborg Cool it Screening http://www.hayfestival.com/p-3528-bjorn-lomborg.aspx Hay Festival is a gathering in the staggering beauty of the Brecon Beacons National Park. Writers, comedians and musicians that have the capacity to change our lives, to share new visions of the world, and to do that incredibly sexy thing – to renew our sense of wonder.

Environmental protesters and politicians around the world are calling for countries to become carbon neutral by 2050, if not sooner. These proposals get a lot of attention, but they would incur far higher costs than almost any electorate is willing to pay.