Smart Solutions to Climate Change

Copenhagen Consensus on Climate culminated with the publication of Smart Solutions to Climate Change, edited by Bjørn Lomborg. This book, published by Cambridge  University Press, 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.  

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.

Testimonials

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 in St Louis, 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 Bjorn 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-Bjorn 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 Bjorn 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

A constructive book that focuses seriously on finding effective ways to combat global warming, and the differences of opinions it expresses are stimulating and enlightening [...] Smart Solutions marks symbolically the end of one stage of thinking about climate change and the beginning of another."

- Nature