Dr Bjørn Lomborg is a researcher, writer and the founder of the  think tank, Copenhagen Consensus. He has collaborated with hundreds of the world’s top economists and seven Nobel Laureates to find and promote the most effective solutions to the world’s greatest challenges, from disease and hunger to climate and education. His latest book, ‘Best Things First’ posits 12 of these solutions and details how they can be applied in a relatively inexpensive manner.

While the challenge of climate change is incredibly complex, the climate conversation is often restricted to an overly simplistic scope, with a limited number of acceptable perspectives. The ‘acceptable’ worldview can be reduced to this: Climate change is an existential threat, our most important problem, and we can fix it cheaply with solar and wind energy.

Bill Gates and Bjorn Lomborg had some fascinating conversations about global health and development, which led them to write this post together.

The Global Goals are a phenomenal idea. They’re what happened when the U.N. came together and said: “Here are the world’s biggest problems, and here is how we’re going to measure progress on them.” The 17 goals include promises to end extreme poverty and hunger, fix climate change and education, and reduce inequality and corruption.
 

The world faces many challenges, between the impacts of inflation and high-interest rates, the lingering impacts of the COVID pandemic, and geopolitical conflicts such as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Amid all this, 2023 marks the halftime point for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)—the sprawling list of 169 ambitions in which all global leaders have promised everything to everyone.

الشيء الوحيد الذي يتفق عليه دافعو الضرائب والسياسيون عملياً في كل مكان هو أنه ينبغي إنفاق المزيد من الأموال على تعليم الأطفال. يبدو هذا وكأنه لا يحتاج إلى تفكير: التعليم الأفضل يعني أن الأطفال يحصلون على بداية أفضل في الحياة. لكن علينا أن نكون حذرين. تقدم العديد من الاستثمارات التعليمية الشائعة قدراً ضئيلاً من التعلم أو لا تعلم على الإطلاق، ونادراً ما نسمع عن الاستثمارات الأكثر فاعلية.

Bjorn Lomborg in a conversation on the topic Hot Takes on Global Warming with the students of Amsterdam University.

Climate change is one of the most defining challenges of our time, but what’s really the best way to tackle the issue and create a more sustainable future for all?

The Do-Able Dozen: Every dollar spent on these two educational initiatives worldwide would deliver $65 of social benefits