Our Impact

Making Real Impact on Policy

Examples of Copenhagen Consensus projects changing policy makers’ decisions and philanthropists’ behavior:

•  Denmark's Overseas Development Aid strategy of $2,900 million yearly was revised after the first Copenhagen Consensus conference in 2004, to spend more on HIV/AIDS.
• Copenhagen Consensus cost-benefit analysis helped convince the United States Bush administration to launch the $1,200 million President's Malaria Initiative.
• Copenhagen Consensus research on the benefits of investing in nutrition was cited by Prime Minister David Cameron when $4,150 million was pledged by governments at G8 meetings for Global Nutrition for Growth. 
• The NGO alliance InterAction quoted Copenhagen Consensus findings when it pledged $750 million on nutrition.
• Copenhagen Consensus research was “one of the main drivers” that led to the International Zinc Association and UNICEF launching the Zinc Saves Kids initiative, with the Association investing $3 million to help save children dying from zinc deficiency-related issues.
• Colombian President and Nobel Peace Prize winner Juan Manuel Santos repeatedly referred to Copenhagen Consensus research on biodiversity when he created a new marine reserve, declaring this research was "the reason why when President Obama was in Hawaii... when we gathered with President Correa and the President of Costa Rica, we declared that we were going to quadruple protected areas around Malpelo."
• Haitian President Jovenel Moïse undertook to require wheat to be fortified with vital micronutrients within one year, after being presented with Copenhagen Consensus research.

Making Real Impact on Opinion

The Copenhagen Consensus Center’s research work is covered by the world’s top global newspapers and media outlets, leading to global recognition: 

• You can see coverage on our latest project, Post-2015 Consensus, in The Economist, New Yorker or the Hindustan Times.
• A selection of all key media about the Center is listed on our News page.
• The Center’s director, Dr. Lomborg, writes a monthly column for the world’s top syndication service, regularly published in 40 papers in 19 languages with more than 30 million readers.
• For his work with Copenhagen Consensus, Dr. Lomborg was named one of the world’s 100 most influential people by Time Magazine, one of the 75 most influential people of the 21st Century by Esquire magazine, and one of the 50 people who could save the planet by the UK Guardian. 
• He has repeatedly been named one of the top 100 public intellectuals by Foreign Policy.
• The University of Pennsylvania's annual study "Think Tanks and Civil Societies Program", which asks thousands of think tanks, journalists, public and private donors, and policymakers from around the world to nominate and rank the world's best think tanks and achievements, has repeatedly found the Copenhagen Consensus Center to be among the top-20 go-to think-tanks. The Copenhagen Consensus Center outranks think-tanks with up to 100 times its budget.

Making Real Impact on Academic Education

The world’s oldest academic publisher, Cambridge University Press, has published seven volumes of Copenhagen Consensus Center research.

The Copenhagen Consensus Center provides free access to nearly every single research paper it has ever commissioned, providing a valuable resource for students and scholars on costs and benefit analysis.

The book “The Skeptical Environmentalist” is used as a standard text in environmental policy studies at universities across the world. It was called "probably the most important book on the environment ever written" by the Daily Telegraph, UK.