Bjorn Lomborg: Climate strategy on a road to nowhere
Carbon taxes could play an important supplementary role in funding research and development, but they are not the primary fix.
Indeed, putting a high price on carbon first, then hoping that alternative technology will catch up, is not a sound policy. Until the technology is ready to compete on its merits, carbon taxes will simply bleed the economy, while providing no real benefit to the climate.
After 20 years of wasted effort, we can no longer afford to squander more time continuing on this road to nowhere. We can only hope that December’s failure will be the jolt we need to once and for all drop the Rio-Kyoto-Copenhagen approach and start tackling climate change effectively.