Letter to the editor – No reason for climate panic
European climate policy has been on the wrong track for a long time. Björn Lomborg deals with this topic in his new book “Climate Panic”. Professor Lomborg is a co-founder of the Copenhagen Consensus Center think tank. Lomborg does not deny climate change or human impact. In his theses, he considers the climate policy of western governments to be wrong, since the costs far outweigh the benefits. He considers climate neutrality to be utopian and warns of the dangers of impoverishing societies, since this goal would devour astronomical sums. Prof. Lomborg sees the priority for most people to focus on tasks such as health, education, adequate nutrition, the fight against corruption and, last but not least, an adequate energy supply. The financial resources are limited and the climate policy that has been set is at the expense of important programs. Prof. Lomborg also addresses the fact that crop yields have risen sharply due to the warming of almost one degree since 1850 and the associated increase in humidity. The earth has become greener. The increase in biomass is roughly the size of North America. Like Prof. Hans Werner Sinn, Lomborg sees the solution in a global common taxation of carbon dioxide emissions. Panic, he said, was out of place. It is also not surprising when NASA says on its website that the IPCC scientists are not sure whether human activity in the past 50 years has led to a rise in global climate temperatures. Therefore, one believes to be able to conclude that human activities will continue to be the cause of the rise in temperature in the future? Prof. Lomborg also sees it as more important if even more money is put into research and development, which has been neglected up to now. It supports the expansion of new nuclear power plants or the capture and storage of carbon dioxide, which means that coal-fired power plants can continue to operate without problems. It should be borne in mind that innovation and ingenuity were never the result of politics, but always the ingenuity of private individuals. Adaptations to climate change, such as coastal protection, etc., only take up a fraction of the sums required to fight an imaginary enemy like a climate apocalypse. Even if the political class tries again and again to be able to overcome self-generated crises, the ghost trip will end very soon, as it collides with economic reality and the laws of physics.
Liberal Forum