The global discussion about climate change has become quite hysterical. Some 60 percent of people living in the rich world think it is likely to bring an end to humanity. This is not only untrue; it is also harmful, because fear makes people embrace bad policies and ignore many other urgent challenges facing the world.

The Do-Able Dozen: A dramatic reduction in tuberculosis is not only possible but would be one of the most effective priorities leading up to 2030

In this fifth instalment of The Do-able Dozen: Development projects for 2030 and beyond, Bjorn Lomborg and his Copenhagen Consensus think-tank look at the big potential returns to reducing corruption — and a way to do it.

A focused investment in maternal and newborn health could save more than a million lives annually

The Do-able Dozen: There is one clear opportunity for humanity — boosting agricultural research and development for the poorest half of the planet

Between 2000 and 2015 the world made great progress on the Millennium Development Goals, which aimed to hit important targets in education, income growth, fighting disease and so on. In 2015, world leaders followed up that success by establishing the Sustainable Development Goals, a hodge-podge of 169 priorities. We’re now halfway to the target date of 2030 and, not surprisingly, progress has been minimal. In part, COVID setbacks are to blame but the crucial problem is lack of focus.

Partisan “fact checks” are undermining open discourse about important issues, including climate change. Earlier this month I wrote an accurate post on Facebook about the growing polar-bear population. The post undercut alarmist climate narratives, so it was wrongly tagged as a falsehood.

Bjørn is the author of False Alarm: How Climate Change Panic Costs Us Trillions, Hurts the Poor, and Fails to Fix the Planet.
With his think tank, the Copenhagen Consensus, he has worked 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.