Earth Hour is bad for the poor

2013-04-22 USA Today Year after year, we are treated to a message of environmental doom and gloom and admonitions on Earth Day. On the back of this sentiment in wealthy countries, governments have invested billions of dollars in inefficient, feel-good policies such as subsidizing solar panels and electric cars. But there are far better ways to improve environmental prospects for humanity and our planet. On Earth Day, we need more fracking, more wealth, smarter investments and fewer inefficient subsidies. Read the full commentary here

The suburb of Alajo is about as far from the posh hotels of Paris as you could get. But the bureaucrats and politicians here in France are negotiating a climate treaty to ‘help the world’s poorest’ including billions of dollars of guarantees of "climate aid" to developing nations.

I’ve argued in this blog that this kind of aid isn’t what’s wanted. I’ve pointed to a massive global survey of 8 million people showing that people in the world’s poorest countries rank climate policy last after other policy priorities.

NewsTalk WJR 760am April 18, 2012. Bjorn Lomborg, adjunct professor at the Copenhagen Business School, where he founded and directs its Copenhagen Consensus Center, author of The Skeptic Environmentalist and Cool it, regarding Germany and China cutting back on subsidies for green energy.