Polar Bears, Dead Coral and Other Climate Fictions

In November, the 26th United Nations Climate Conference (COP26) will set a new global agenda for tackling climate change. The presence of the world's most powerful leaders at COP26 and the elevation of climate change to the top of President Biden's agenda in the United States demonstrate just how seriously many governments and their citizens now take climate change. But what assumptions guide decision-making on climate goals and will new policies produce the right outcomes? Bjorn Lomborg offers a critical perspective on the climate agenda.

There is not one single climate activist in sight here at the climate summit venue in Le Bourget on the outskirts of Paris. Understandably, the area is effectively sealed off so there’s not much of an audience.

While many planned marches have been cancelled for security reasons, there are still many protestors in the media and elsewhere, who are passionately pushing those inside the climate talks to push for a more drastic treaty.

Climate activists and politicians constantly tell us electric cars are cleaner, cheaper, and better. California and many countries, including the U.K., Germany, and Japan, will even prohibit the sale of new gas and diesel cars within a decade or two. But if electric cars are really so good, why do we need to ban the alternatives? And why do we need to subsidize electric cars to the tune of $30 billion per year?