The world can’t afford to politicize climate change research

Op-ed by Bjorn Lomborg  Thursday, July 16, 2009

The disconnect between the global elite and the real world is growing by the day. Most people are worn down by the pandemic, food and energy price hikes and general inflation, and worried about recession. Yet the chattering classes are jetting into conferences at Davos or Aspen to declare that our biggest and most immediate threats are climate change, environmental disasters and biodiversity loss.

From their ivory towers, nearly 240 academics have declared that economic growth is bad for Europe and the planet. In two months, they and global supporters of the “no-growth economy” have held conferences in Mexico City, Malmö, and Brussels.

Their efforts herald a return to an earlier, thoroughly debunked form of alarmist environmentalism that is detached from reality and disdainful of billions of the world’s people.

The campaigners claim we must stop economic growth because the planet is crossing environmental boundaries, and inequality between humans is increasing.