The Fraser Institute, web image
VANCOUVER — A new report from the Fraser Institute, a conservative think-tank based in Vancouver, says climate change is real but argues some claims about its effects are overstated and that many climate policies impose significant economic costs and trade-offs.
The project, called Climate Change: A fact-based assessment of costs, trade-offs, and results, was produced with Danish political scientist Bjørn Lomborg and his Copenhagen Consensus organization. It is intended to examine both the risks associated with climate change and the costs of policies designed to address it. Pasted markdown
“Climate change is real, and it’s an issue that Canadians and policymakers must contend with, but it is not the existential threat to humanity that alarmists make it out to be,” said Elmira Aliakbari, the institute’s director of natural resource policy and co-ordinator of the project. Pasted markdown
The first five essays in the series were written by Lomborg and examine heat- and cold-related deaths, wildfires, natural disasters and food production, among other issues. Pasted markdown
One essay argues that while rising temperatures have contributed to an increase in heat-related deaths globally, deaths associated with cold have declined substantially.
Another points to a decline in the share of the world’s land surface burned annually, while a third argues human and economic vulnerability to natural disasters has fallen when population growth and increasing wealth are taken into account.
The project also examines global food production and malnutrition, arguing agricultural output has continued to increase while deaths from malnutrition have declined. Pasted markdown
The institute says the goal is to give Canadians more information about the relative risks of climate change and the economic and social trade-offs involved in government responses.
“There is a lot of misinformation circulating around the climate change debate, and without a fact-based assessment of the actual risks of climate change and the actual costs of climate policies, governments are unlikely to get the balance right,” Aliakbari said. Pasted markdown
Lomborg is president of the Copenhagen Consensus and a visiting fellow at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution. He has written extensively about climate policy and argues governments should weigh the costs of emissions-reduction measures against other competing public priorities. Pasted markdown
The Fraser Institute describes itself as an independent public policy research and educational organization with offices across Canada. It does not accept government grants or research contracts. Pasted markdown
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