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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.
List of figures; List of tables; List of contributors; Acknowledgements; Introduction Bjorn Lomborg; Part I. The Solutions: 1. Climate engineering Eric Bickel and Lee Lane; 1.1 Alternative perspective Roger Pielke Jr; 1.2 Alternative perspective Anne E. Smith; 2. Carbon dioxide mitigation Richard S. J. Tol; 2.1 Alternative perspective Onno Kuik; 2.2 Alternative perspective Roberto Roson; 3. Forestry carbon sequestration Brent Sohngen; 3.1 Alternative perspective Sabine Fuss; 4. Black carbon mitigation Robert E. Baron, W. David Montgomery and Sugandha D. Tuladhar; 4.1 Alternative perspective Milind Kandlikar, Conor C. O. Reynolds and Andy P. Grieshop; 5. Methane mitigation Claudia Kemfert and Wolf-Peter Schill; 5.1 Alternative perspective David Anthoff; 5.2 Alternative perspective Daniel Johansson and Fredrik Hedenus; 6. Market and policy driven adaptation Francesco Bosello, Carlo Carraro and Enrica de Cian; 6.1 Alternative perspective Samuel Fankhauser; 6.2 Alternative perspective Frank Jotzo; 7. Technology-led climate policy Isabel Galiana and Christopher Green; 7.1 Alternative perspective Valentina Bosetti; 7.2 Alternative perspective Gregory Nemet; 8. Technology transfers Zili Yang; 8.1 Alternative perspective David Popp; Part II. Ranking the Opportunities: 9. Expert panel ranking Nancy L. Stokey, Vernon L. Smith, Thomas C. Schelling, Finn E. Kydland and Jagdish N. Bhagwati; Conclusion Bjorn Lomborg; Index.
Bjorn Lomborg is Director of the Copenhagen Consensus Center and Adjunct Professor in the Department of Management, Politics and Philosophy at Copenhagen Business School. He is the author of the controversial bestseller, The Skeptical Environmentalist (Cambridge University Press, 2001) and was named as one of the top 100 intellectuals by Foreign Policy and Prospect magazines in 2008.
"Clean energy is essential to our addressing the carbon climate problem. This research shows clearly that we must prime the pump on innovation now with increased funding for research and development, while putting incentives in place that allow the resulting new technologies to compete successfully in the marketplace."
- Bill Gates
"This book of research challenges readers to consider the costs and benefits of different responses to global warming. It introduces an important – and seldom heard – economic perspective to this policy discussion. The wealth of data and provocative arguments presented here make Smart Solutions to Climate Change a valuable resource for policy-makers, NGOs, academics, students, and everybody who is interested in learning more about the economic realities that face us as we confront this challenge."
- Douglass C. North, Washington University, St Louis, and Nobel Laureate in Economic Sciences
"This book provides not only a reservoir of information on the reality of human induced climate change, but raises vital questions and examines viable options on what can be done to meet the challenge. In the introduction itself Bjørn Lomborg catalogues the impacts of climate change, highlighting the problem of sea level rise, pressure on water resources, and declining food production in some countries, 'possibly becoming a source of societal conflict'. It allows different authors to articulate their views on a range of solutions, and then leaves the book's readers to form their own conclusions on what might be the best set of actions to adopt. Even though its pages present a diversity of options, at the end the average reader would stand better informed, and would have formed his or her own compelling logic on the answer to this planet's problem of climate change. I would recommend this book as much for the fact that Lomborg supports the view that we have 'long moved on from any mainstream disagreements about the science of climate change', as for the rich diversity of analysis it presents on a range of possible solutions."
- Rajenda K. Pachauri, Chairman, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
"In an environmental field where positions are too often frozen in orthodoxy – on the left and on the right – Bjørn Lomborg provides a much needed fresh perspective, grounded in a realism that still avoids pessimism. His work with the Copenhagen Climate Consensus is a vital, solution-oriented contribution to the economics of global warming – and the many other problems facing a growing planet."
- Bryan Walsh, Time
"The bad news is that the world seems poised to spend vast sums on ineffective global warming policies. The good news is that Bjørn Lomborg and the Copenhagen Consensus Center bring together the best advice from leading experts on smart ways to address climate change. The public and policymakers should take heed."
- Ronald Bailey, Science Correspondent, Reason Magazine
