Smart Solutions to Climate Change: Comparing Costs and Benefits

by Bjørn Lomborg (Editor)

Watch Bjorn Lomborg on how Al Gore "oversold the message" on climate change and how we should be spending more on alternative energy The failure of the Copenhagen climate conference in December 2009 revealed major flaws in the way the world's policy makers have attempted to prevent dangerous levels of increases in global temperatures. The expert authors in this specially commissioned collection focus on the likely costs and benefits of a very wide range of policy options, including geo-engineering, mitigation of CO2, methane and ‘black carbon', expanding forest, research and development of low-carbon energy and encouraging green technology transfer. For each policy, authors outline all of the costs, benefits and likely outcomes, in fully referenced, clearly presented chapters accompanied by shorter, critical alternative perspectives. To further stimulate debate, a panel of economists, including three Nobel laureates, evaluate and rank the attractiveness of the policies. This authoritative and thought-provoking book will challenge readers to form their own conclusions about the best ways to respond to global warming.

Genres: Science, Environment

436 pages, Paperback

First published September 30, 2010

About the author

Bjørn Lomborg is a Danish author and president of his think tank, the Copenhagen Consensus Center. He is former director of the Danish government's Environmental Assessment Institute (EAI) in Copenhagen. He became internationally known for his best-selling and controversial 2001 book, The Skeptical Environmentalist, in which he argues that many of the costly measures and actions adopted by scientists and policy makers to meet the challenges of global warming will ultimately have minimal impact on the world's rising temperature.

Reviews

[Thom · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a collection of scholarly papers and replies to those on some solutions for global climate change. Cost and benefits are analyzed, along with research on effectiveness. In the final section of the book, and expert panel ranks the proposals as a group; their collected opinions and observations on those selections are also included.

The findings of these researchers mostly match Bjørn Lomborg's - throwing money at carbon reduction through taxes is the least effective method. Some of the most effective methods were very interesting to read about; this collection of experts really knows what they are talking about. Some of the statistics were a little over my head, but then I'm no economist. I couldn't get this book at a library, but instead through inter-library loan from the University of Idaho.

In summary, I am impressed with the knowledge in this textbook. Adding knowledge to the climate debate can only be a good thing, and some of these ideas would certainly work - reducing the impact of man on the world. Doing nothing is not an option.

[Ixby Wuff · Rating 3 out of 5]

Watch Bjorn Lomborg on how Al Gore "oversold the message" on climate change and how we should be spending more on alternative energy research: The failure of the Copenhagen climate conference in December 2009 revealed major flaws in the way the world's policy makers have attempted to prevent dangerous levels of increases in global temperatures. The expert authors in this specially commissioned collection focus on the likely costs and benefits of a very wide range of policy options, including geo-engineering, mitigation of CO2, methane and 'black carbon', expanding forest, research and development of low-carbon energy and encouraging green technology transfer. For each policy, authors outline all of the costs, benefits and likely outcomes, in fully referenced, clearly presented chapters accompanied by shorter, critical alternative perspectives. To further stimulate debate, a panel of economists, including three Nobel laureates, evaluate and rank the attractiveness of the policies. This authoritative and thought-provoking book will challenge readers to form their own conclusions about the best ways to respond to global warming.