Lomborg Recants
Well, this is interesting (via Grist):
The world’s most high-profile climate change sceptic is to declare that global warming is “undoubtedly one of the chief concerns facing the world today” and “a challenge humanity must confront,” in an apparent U-turn that will give a huge boost to the embattled environmental lobby.
My understanding is that Lomborg never actually denied the existence of global warming; he only argued that resources spent on mitigation could be used more effectively elsewhere. Unfortunately, the article never really gets around to explaining why his views changed so suddenly, something I’d be very interested in reading.
I don’t think this is as much of a reversal as people make it out to be. His position has long been that R&D and adaptation are better approaches than immediate cuts in emissions. His previous book, Cool It, recommended a $2/ton carbon tax and a $25 billion per year expenditure on alternative energy R&D. The numbers have gotten larger, but the basic idea is the same.
It appears that his most recent position is due to giving greater consideration to alternative solutions, rather than focusing on carbon reduction (this is what he says in the article).Report