Press Release New paper on Global Warming
Battling global warming will be a poor investment if the world focuses exclusively on cutting greenhouse gas emissions, according to new research for the Copenhagen Consensus Center …
Copenhagen, Denmark (May 14, 2008) – The research, by IPCC contributor and environmental economist at Wesleyan University, Gary Yohe, and two other environmental economists, argues that climate change cannot be ignored. However, it finds that an assault on climate change on many fronts simultaneously makes best economic sense. Although the world has focused on mitigation (reducing carbon emissions), spending $800 billion over 100 years solely on curbing or mitigating emissions would lose money overall with returns of just $685 billion. For each dollar we would get 90 cents of fighting global warming. In comparison, $800 billion spent on helping people adapt to the impacts of warming, funding research into new technology and curbing emissions at the same time could yield benefits of $2.1 trillion. Here we would get a $2.7 return. According to the new paper, ensuring that research and development is part of the world’s climate change response portfolio would make mitigation efforts more efficient and significantly enhance the ability of any mitigation effort to reduce carbon emissions over the next century. Copenhagen Consensus Center director Bjorn Lomborg said the report showed that the current global focus on mitigation is too narrow. "We need to look at the best solutions, and this drives home the message that a blinkered focus on mitigation just isn’t a sound approach," Dr Lomborg said. “The solution we’ve seen with the highest return on the investment comes from the Copenhagen Consensus paper by economist Christopher Green who demonstrates that investing purely in research and development costs $75 billion and holds an astonishing $1,186 billion reward. That’s a $16 return on a $1 investment!” In the last week of May, the Copenhagen Consensus 2008 Expert Panel of stellar economists, including five Nobel Prize laureates, will compile a ranked list of the suggested solutions to climate change, along with other global challenges such as malnutrition and terrorism. Note to editors: the authors of both papers and Bjørn Lomborg are available for interview. Recent articles on Copenhagen Consensus research: Reuters: Security spending fails to curb terror toll - study (March 5, 2008), Micronutrients, education keys to end hunger - study (April 4, 2008), Study urges UN force to back coup-risk democracies (April 22, 2008) For interviews, comments or to enquire about media accreditation to the Copenhagen Consensus 2008, contact Head of Communication Tommy Petersen, tp.ccc@cbs.dk, +4538152252. For the full paper and more details on Copenhagen Consensus 2008, visit www.copenhagenconsensus.com
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