Our current climate conversation embodies two blatantly contradictory claims. On one side, experts warn that promised climate policies will be economically crippling. In a new report, the International Energy Agency (IEA) states that achieving net-zero in 2050 will likely be “the greatest challenge humankind has ever faced.” That is a high bar, surpassing the Second World War, the black plague and COVID.

Som de fleste store udfordringer, menneskeheden har stået over for, løser vi dem ikke ved at gennemtvinge endeløse afkald, men gennem innovation. Problemet med coronavirus løses med vacciner, ikke med evindelige nedlukninger. For at tackle klimaet skal vi øge vores investering i grøn energi-innovation drastisk, skriver Bjørn Lomborg.

In an interview with Stuart Varney on the Fox Business Network, Bjorn Lomborg discusses these claims based on findings from his latest book False Alarm.* He argues that despite climate change, humanity will still be much better off at the conclusion of the century and presents smart strategies to tackle the problem.

Napjaink klímavédelemről folyó diskurzusában két, egymásnak igencsak ellentmondó állítást is megfogalmaznak. Egyfelől szakértők arra figyelmeztetnek, hogy a beígért klímavédelmi intézkedéseknek súlyos gazdasági káruk lesz. Egy új jelentésben a Nemzetközi Energia Ügynökség (IEA) azt állapította meg, hogy a nettó zéró széndioxid-kibocsátás 2050-re történő elérése valószínűleg „az emberiség legnagyobb kihívása lesz, amivel valaha is szembesült”. Ezzel igen magasra tették a lécet felülmúlva a II. világháború, a fekete pestis és a koronavírus jelentette problémákat.

Apesar da intensa preocupação com o clima, os eleitores têm mostrado baixa disposição para gastar os trilhões que permitiriam um corte drástico nas emissões de gases.

To tackle climate change, rich nations are promising to end fossil fuel use in 29 years. As this becomes excruciatingly costly, the G7 is now thinking about making the world’s poor pay for it. That’ll go badly.

In an interview on Sky News Australia, Bjorn Lomborg points out that "the current way we tackle climate policy is really wishful thinking".

"It's spending large sums of money in cutting very little emissions, mostly in rich world countries. This is not going to fix global warming, it is going to harm the poor, both in the rich world and poor world.

"Really it's going to undermine the ability to actually fix climate change while of course fixing all the other problems in the world."

Wohlmeinende Aktivisten versuchen, den Klimaschutz auf Kosten aller anderen erstrebenswerten Ziele zu erzwingen.

Despite intense climate worries, electorates have been unwilling to spend the trillions needed to cut emissions dramatically. That is why climate campaigners have increasingly pursued a new strategy by forcing climate policy through courts. Across the world, the UN now counts at least 1550 such climate cases in 38 countries, including Australia, often filed by young people invoking a fear for their ­future. Unfortunately, such cases undermine democracy, harm the poor, and sidetrack us from smarter ways to fix the climate.

Dank des Lockdowns wurden im Jahr 2020 die Klimaziele vieler reicher Länder zwar erreicht. Rechnerisch bräuchte es aber schon 2030 elf solcher Shutdowns. Und dann ist da noch das Problem „der anderen sechs Milliarden Menschen“, die jetzt die wahren Kosten tragen sollen.