Podcast: Adj. Prof. Bjorn Lomborg: Climate Change: A Way Forward

The challenging issue of climate change continues to generate debate and controversy among many sectors of the community, including scientists in Australia and overseas.  Many support the idea that global warming is a clear threat to humanity, that it is largely caused by human activity, and that solutions to the problems of climate change must be found urgently.  Others challenge the view that world warming is caused by humans or that it poses a serious risk. In a sign of shifting political attitudes, President Obama’s recent State of the Union speech did not mention climate change, but focused instead on ways to make low-carbon energy cheaper, rather than taxes or schemes to make oil and coal more expensive. To discuss this crucial topic, we welcome to the Institute Adjunct Professor Bjorn Lomborg, author of 'Cool It' and 'The Sceptical Environmentalist'. He accepts that global warming is real, and also thinks that it can be solved at relatively low cost without compromising social and economic development.  Bjorn Lomborg is adjunct professor at the Copenhagen Business School.  He is the organiser of the Copenhagen Consensus Centre, which brings together some of the world's top economists, including 5 Nobel laureates, to set priorities for the world. 'Time' magazine named him as one of the world's 100 most influential people in 2004.  In 2008 he was called "one of the 50 people who could save the planet" by the 'Guardian'; "one of the top 100 public intellectuals" by 'Foreign Policy' and 'Prospect' magazine; and "one of the world's 75 most influential people of the 21st century" by 'Esquire'.