There is no question that global warming will have a significant impact on already existing problems such as malaria, malnutrition, and water shortages. But this doesn’t mean the best way to solve them is to cut carbon emissions.
BJORN LOMBORGThere is no question that global warming will have a significant impact on already existing problems such as malaria, malnutrition, and water shortages. But this doesn’t mean the best way to solve them is to cut carbon emissions.
BJORN LOMBORGWe need to invest dramatically in green energy, making solar panels so cheap that everybody wants them.
BJORN LOMBORGIf our starting point is to prove that Armageddon is on its way, we will not consider all of the evidence, and will not identify the smartest policy choices.
BJORN LOMBORGNobody wanted to buy a computer in 1950, but once they got cheap, everyone bought them.
BJORN LOMBORGThe second thing is, if you want to do something about global warming, you have to think much more long-term.
BJORN LOMBORGThe Kyoto treaty has an estimated cost of between US$150 and $350 billion a year, starting in 2010.
BJORN LOMBORGIf every country committed to spending 0.05 per cent of GDP on researching non-carbon-emitting energy technologies, that would cost $25 billion a year, and it would do a lot more than massive carbon cuts to fight warming and save lives.
BJORN LOMBORGOn average, global warming is not going to harm the developing world.
BJORN LOMBORGI tentatively believe in a god. I was brought up in a fairly religious home. I think the world is compatible with reincarnation, karma, all that stuff.
BJORN LOMBORGThe only thing that will really change global warming in the long run is if we radically increase the speed with which we get alternative technologies to deal with climate change.
BJORN LOMBORGOf course, the world is full of problems. But on the other hand it’s important to get the sense… are we generally moving in the right direction or the wrong direction?
BJORN LOMBORGThe fact that we’re catching more fish per person than we’ve ever done before doesn’t mean that there are not particular places where we’ve managed fisheries badly.
BJORN LOMBORGGlobal warming is real – it is man-made and it is an important problem. But it is not the end of the world.
BJORN LOMBORGMy suggestion is that we should first work to ensure the Third World has clean drinking water and sanitation.
BJORN LOMBORGMoney spent on carbon cuts is money we can’t use for effective investments in food aid, micronutrients, HIV/AIDS prevention, health and education infrastructure, and clean water and sanitation.
BJORN LOMBORGI’m an old member of Greenpeace. I worried intensely, as I think most of my friends did, that the world was coming apart.
BJORN LOMBORG