Energy

In their bids to showcase climate leadership ahead of the approaching United Nations Climate Change Conference in Glasgow (COP26), world leaders are once again talking of ambitious carbon reduction targets. U.S. President Joe Biden, for example, has set the goal of creating “a carbon pollution-free power sector by 2035 and net zero emissions economy by no later than 2050.” Most rich countries’ governments have formulated similar ambitions.

Den virkelige udfordring ved den nuværende tilgang til klimapolitikken er, at så længe det er dyrt at skære udledninger, vil lederne tale i et væk, mens de gør meget lidt.

I sine forsøk på å vise klimalederskap i forkant av FNs kommende klimatoppmøte i Glasgow (COP26), snakker verdens ledere igjen om ambisiøse utslippskutt. For eksempel har USAs president Joe Biden satt seg som mål å skape «en kraftsektor fri for CO₂-forurensing innen 2035 og en økonomi med netto nullutslipp senest i 2050». Regjeringer i de fleste rike land har formulert liknende ambisjoner.

From the news to late-night shows, much of the media makes it sound as if renewables are on the verge of taking over. But that’s far from reality. In 2019, the latest complete year of data, 81% of the world’s energy supply came from fossil fuels, according to the International Energy Agency. Even if all nations were to fulfill their current climate promises, the IEA estimates that fossil-fuel use would still make up 73% by 2040.

Lomborg discussed the fact of fewer temperature-related deaths in an interview with FOX News, with the host concluding: "This is fascinating, this certainly was an eye-opener for me." Unfortunately, good news on the effects of climate change is bad news for climate alarmists, and they are trying to prevent these facts from being seen through censorship.

Global warming does cause more heat deaths, but the editors’ statistic is deceptive. They say global heat deaths have gone up by 54% among old people in the past 20 years, but they fail to mention that the number of old people has risen by almost as much. Demographics drove most of the rise, not climate change.

Media gives outsized attention to plane crashes. But lots of stories of plane crashes do not provide a good insight into transport safety. You need statistics to realise that planes are much safer than cars.

Climate alarmist reporting is causing the same problem with ever-proliferating stories about extreme heatwaves, floods and fires. This gale of ghastly tragedies argues that out-of-control climate change is causing ever deadlier calamities. Yet this narrative is contradicted by the data.

Saying out loud what many people already think about electric cars, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s climate spokeswoman, Allegra Stratton, has received a lot of green flak. She says she’s not yet willing to trade in her old diesel car for a sparkling new electric, because it is inconvenient for her driving needs. In her honesty, Ms Stratton has highlighted the elitist illusion of much green thinking.

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.

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.