Keeping Your Cool on the Climate Debate with Bjorn Lomborg

Recorded on March 4, 2021
Dr. Bjorn Lomborg is president of the Copenhagen Consensus Center, visiting fellow at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University, and visiting professor at Copenhagen Business School. He’s also been speaking and writing about climate science for almost 20 years. In this wide-ranging discussion with Peter Robinson, Lomborg analyzes the Biden administration’s plan to address climate change, lauds a slew of new clean energy technologies that are coming in the next decade, and discusses the upsides-and the downsides-of migrating the world from a carbon-based economy to one based on electricity generated by clean energy sources.
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[@that1chickinFL]

Once someone says "equitable" and "inclusive," you might as well stop listening; they have nothing truly useful to add to the conversation.

[@mobilecivilian6124]

Here's the climate debate in a nutshell. The end is nigh and only if you give us money can you be saved from eternal damnation.

[@suzettecalleja3122]

I love it.

[@danecrude]

Sounds just like a televangelist. Or any other cult.

[@TobeornottooB]

Nailed it.

[@tonycatman]

Close, but not quite right. First and foremost, and this is important, you MUST suffer in some way. Be pious. Be a victim. Self-flagellate. Live the life of an ascetic. Deny yourself pleasures. Judge others Only then shall ye be redeemed.

[@kylewatson5133]

I don't care if the world is ending, you don't steal money from people. If you think there is a problem, present your case and get money by persuasion.

[@paulg444]

@45:40 " most green subsidies go to the super-rich" ..and friends, that basically explains it.

[@saltyapostle44]

I worked for a company that was contracted to make steel plates for the Plant Vogtle nuclear expansion in Georgia. Soooooo much mnoney was wasted it was mind-boggling. Hundreds of thousands of dollars of steel plates that were going to be embeded in concrete to weld other equipment to were thrown away because they were cut 1/16" too large or too small - a defect that made ZERO difference to the function of the plate. Government inspector's were looking for any excuse to shut operations down to drag things out. The whole project is currently somethign like 3 billion dollars over-budget and 5 years late. It will be impossible to do anything on a large scale until realistic regulations and standards are put in place.

[@chrleegaard]

The Paris Agreement "It is not about how much good it does, it is about how good it makes us feel" Well put, Bjørn.

[@commiezombie2477]

The climate Experts he's talking about are UN marketing agency.

[@thomashammon930]

Both men failed to explain why Nuclear Power Plants are so expensive to build now. One need only look at U. S. policy demands and building these plants. Anyone that is truly SERIOUS about the issues would obviously want nuclear power.

[@scania1982]

Björn's living room alone has enough plants to absorb California's CO2.

[@patrickboos1919]

Its all about the money and the power .

[@billytetlow]

Peter Robinson is without doubt in my opinion the best interviewer in the world. He gets the best from his guest without having to resort to confrontational tactics, this makes the viewing experience a pleasure.

[@ricoman7981]

I live north of the 49th parallel. Graphing my city’s annual average temperatures from 1885 to current reveals an overall average of just 3.88 degrees C. The graph line moves above and below the average, as one would expect, but 2019 and 2020 fall right on the long term average. There is no upward trend to the graph. When running a 30 year rolling average two waves appear, the first upward wave in the 20’s and 30’s, the second in the late 60’s. The slope of the upward and downward sides of the graph are almost the same. If the steadily increasing CO2 was driving temperature I would expect to see a steady upward trend to my annual average graph. That doesn’t happen, the trend line is basically flat. The double wave pattern of the 30 year moving average line seems to indicate something cyclical is at play. My review doesn’t look at global average temperatures but I would be hard pressed to say my local area is being negatively affected by any climate change. We use natural gas or else we would freeze to death in the winter.

[@davesomeone4059]

There is a new you times article from 1989 that says we're all dead in 10 years. 30 years later we still have 10 years

[@daveseibert5543]

If co2 emissions are such a problem, why aren't we investing in nuclear power plants?

[@josephlavigne1495]

We are in a carbon drought ....more carbon is good and the source of all living things on earth

[@jiminverness]

A very good point raised some 16 mins into the video - The Keystone Pipeline would mean how many fewer oil tankers needed, and therefore how much less chance of an environmentally and financially disastrous oil spill such as the Exxon Valdez?

[@PInk77W1]

Bali Climate Summit 2007 had 400 private jets Because they care so much about the environment. Notice how they don’t hold Climate summits in South Central Los Angeles or South Chicago

[@wendys390]

They are LIARS. That's what accounts for the difference.

[@Sheepdog1314]

thousands of acres have to be deforested to build wind mills to supply one city. It takes 120 tons of cement just for one to be posted and secured. Not counting the amount of carbon it will produce to make one, and they are hard to recycle.... not forgetting the mining of the rare earths for the batteries used in electric cars -- and how are they being charged?

[@glennmitchell9107]

Did American nuclear energy get too expensive because of the cost of cutting edge technological advancements in reactor design, or because of the cost of anti-nuclear regulations and extortion motivated lawsuits?

[@sporkeh90]

Time for a dose of sanity in this nutjob world.

[@volatile2805]

Why doesnt anyone talk about how anyone has done at reducing against India, China, and Africa and then lets do the math to see if our best efforts make a difference when offset by those.

[@ajb7786]

The cold weather in Texas was nowhere near as anomalous as people are pretending. What was anomalous was the power outages, and that was caused from poor central planning.

[@markwoodson2020]

What caused the previous warming periods that predate the industrial revolution? For example the Middle Age warm period where grapes were grown in England and farming was done in Greenland. The average temperature required for these was 2°+ current temps. Is it possible that the Earth does not have a perfectly stable climate regardless of what we do?

[@joycey4754]

It is not perfectly stable. But it is amazingly stable. checks and balances

[@ChicagoBob123]

So Democrats reward failure

[@Greg-xs5py]

What is not said is that the scientific community has played a slight of hand. The old scientific method, the one that brought us all the progress we enjoy today, had the paradigm of observation, theory/prediction of the future, test with reproducible experiment. The new paradigm is observation, model, tune model to predict past events, validate model with other past events, make unfalsifiable and untestable predictions about the future. These two models are simply not equivalent. While the new paradigm may prove to be as valid as the old paradigm there simply is no evidence that I am aware of at this point to believe it to be so. We shouldn't change the world based on new unproven scientific paradigms.

[@patekswiss9521]

There's a former Hoover fellow, name of Milton Friedman, who's rolling over in his grave at quite a bit of the stuff this guy is saying. It's "widely accepted" that market economies underinvest in innovation? Among academics who live off government grants and politicians who aggrandize themselves by handing them out, yes I'm sure its quite widely accepted. I'd like to hear what Mr. Sowell thinks of this as well.

[@buddyhirshfield5970]

You can’t have A climate debate Without first Addressing China and India

[@18754KRS]

no get us start about china。。coal power plants。。thank hoover institution for subtitles i no speak english so subtitle let me translate to my language。。america need give incentive to start green energy instead of regulation an focus more on nuclear。。

[@albertl623]

thank you finally!

[@johnadams5489]

China and India totally ignore the Paris accord. They have coal fired power plants with NO SCUBBERS. The Chinese don't care about their own people, much less the environment.

[@3gunslingers]

Yeah, exactly! We should finally catch up to China in terms of spending on green energy! Good point. There is no reason why we should fall back behind China.

[@robertseavor4304]

The International Climate Science Coalition says there is no global warming. I agree. Regarding the impact of the Industrial Revolution: that began in England in the 1740s, the middle of the Small Ice Age, so, yes, it's warmer now than then. But it's a lot cooler than the Roman Warm Period, the Medieval Warm Period and the first half of the 20thC. In fact, the planet seems to be cooling.

[@Sarah-ph2nb]

I'm so glad u corrected the 'Glasgow is in England ' comment lol hello from Glasgow 👋

[@tommymcgraw]

Bjorn argues that temperature is controlled by modulating CO2 gas and that a higher temperature is bad. Warm is good, cold is bad. CO2 gas is an effect of temperature change, not a cause. 95% of the the greenhouse gas effect is water vapor. Temperature has been rising at 0.8C per century since the peak of The Little Ice Age 350 years ago without change. Once, 300 million years ago, CO2 gas was as low as it is today.

[@Herzankerkreuz67]

Thank you 🙏 Indeed this whole discussion is purely based on insecurity, especially by the so called climate alarmists/ experts. The only thing as a society that remotely has contributed to some warming is the construction of huge cities do to the ability of heat absorption of concrete. But the co2 discussion is getting old, really. As a matter of fact it will probably save us from the impact of an ice age . Cancel all the climate accord efforts and focus on the real problems we as a society are facing, like corruption, inequality , and how to deal with an ever aging population. But since politics is all about fearmongering and control and not dealing with reality this charade will probably still go on for some more time........🤦‍♂️

[@Herzankerkreuz67]

For the misinformed: Just listen to Tony Heller 👍 Another light of sanity in an insane world/ society/ humanity.

[@jeffg7478]

This is ridiculous. The human race will adapt, when there’s no choice we adapt. Second, the west expects the rest of the world to halt their development? What are we advocating for here? Poverty would reduce emissions but increase suffering. It’s such a dangerous neurosis. A global neurosis.

[@suzy1750]

Of course you're right, it doesn't take a think tank to realize that humanity will survive - we always do, even if things get pretty miserable for a large number of us. However, while I realize this point wasn't a matter of concern to the speaker or his interviewer, many people such as myself don’t just see the challenge of climate change as about whether or not people will have access to air-conditioning. We also take into account the devastation caused to the rest of the natural world and other species. However, yes, we are also aware that these spiritually evolved sentiments will probably not do very well against the reality of billions of people in developing countries with exploding population numbers, who, quite understandably, want the same creature comforts that are enjoyed by those in developed countries…

[@glennmitchell9107]

Does a female CEO of GM have to mean a woke all electric near term future? I am okay with GM going all electric, as long as there is no legal prohibition on other manufacturers building competing internal combustion automobiles. My farm isn't going to feed anybody if I have to depend on electric farm trucks and electric tractors.

[@BrianSmith-gp9xr]

How ridiculous. Stop the climate from changing? You are out of your mind. Try change the ocean current. Try dim the sun. Try slow down the spin of the earth. Making a political comparison is even more ridiculous. Grow up.

[@peterm.eggers520]

As far as I've seen, the net effect of increasing atmospheric CO2 has a very positive effect. I have never seen any data showing that atmospheric CO2 has any effect on global temperature.

[@williambaikie5739]

Good stuff. But reality is we don't need to do any CO2 mitigation at all. But at least Bjorn's attitude isn't insane.

[@ozarkrenew1019]

Most of the nuclear waste could power the best technology of breeder reactors for many decades, maybe century and half.

[@leedufour]

Thanks Bjorn and Peter.

[@roberttruax7089]

They are guessing and they are wrong!!! The problem is they don’t know what will actually improve the environment and they want We The People to just throw stacks of cash at an issue hoping that it works and I for one don’t have enough money to pay my bills let alone give it to the Government to squander on issues that are might work! I will spend my money on things that actually help my family and the Government well they can kick rocks!!! MAGA

[@dan8402]

What I find fascinating is how joining a non binding agreement and throwing hundreds of millions of dollars at it, has any expectation of outcome. Having a wide ranging strategy for energy isn't bad, but it should be inclusive and overlapping. What we saw happen in Texas as an example was that energies across the board were effected by the weather and green energy sources got hit the hardest. That placed a strain on more traditional systems which were also effected to a lesser extent.

[@NeverForget1776]

Pushing electric cars is also a good way to get rid of as many non computerized vehicles as possible. Whats the importance behind that? Control over the vehicle by government agencies ( like law enforcement) via back doors built into the cars software by the manufacturer and if you think that's not happening your a fool.

[@alcoholfree6381]

Finally a person that makes sense and is easy to listen to. The bumbling Biden prefers the screeching adolescent deriding us for endangering her life unless we direct all of our energies to “fix” the overblown problem.

[@mikedeitz2924]

They hvae literally been saying 12 yrs since 1990

[@robertadams2857]

I still feel “it’s the sun, stupid” isn’t discussed enough. Some say it’s the easy answer and we somehow need to make Man the cause of everything. It just may be the sun.

[@mking776]

As CO2 emissions grow, so does plantlife. Global warming isn't caused only by human activity; just given a bit of a boost. The earth's climate has risen & fallen throughout its history. Otherwise how did oil deposits form at the north pole?

[@rockymntnliberty]

I always wonder about the law of unattended consequences. Which is better, thriving economies around the world who gradually develop and implement more and more renewable energy sources, or a billion campfires and every major city on fire? Which of these two outcomes has the most greenhouse gas emissions? Seems pretty clear to me that if you try to force very very very rapid and extremely expensive changes you will collapse the economies of the world and people will be heating by campfire or wood stove, because the infrastructure of the world has died.

[@chaws725]

Think about the huge problem of battery disposal!

[@peeetteerr]

This is such a very important interview, how I wish many, many more would watch and LISTEN. But it's Gretta who holds sway.

[@joycey4754]

Gretta is the great grand daughter of a renowned scientist from Sweden who looked forward to more CO2 since the world is better off for having more CO2. He thought their forestry business would excel in Sweden. Gretta's great grand daddy would be ashamed of her usefulness to the commies.

[@donutemptycircle8717]

Must be really tough to be schooled by a schoolgirl! Suck it up, sad losers.

[@order9066]

Why should Texas winterize power plants? Environmental soothsayers asserted for a decade that Texas winters would be mild. I installed a whole house generator back in 2015, so my family was fine in Austin Texas.

[@paulg444]

I like Bjorn but Im not convinced that even 1 degree C is due to fossil fuel consumption.

[@ajb7786]

There is a preponderance of evidence that the "overall" global temperature has been fluctuating for thousands of years. There literally is zero evidence that the climate poses any threat to humanity. Also, I've yet to see anyone cite any coherent evidence that the planet has a) warmed because of people, b) that this warming is in any way atypical. The evidence we do have is that human activity has released more carbon into the air; BUT, we have no evidence that is a bad thing, and, in fact, releasing it from the ground may be a good thing. We also have evidence that there has been some man-made destruction to the oceans, which was done through ignorance far more than maliciousness and seems to be reversible.

[@paulg444]

@@ajb7786 The totalitarian would rather plunder us and torment us by allowing public forests to burn than to allow one human being to be warmed by a wood burning stove.

[@thomassenbart]

Pure scientific research is the goose that lays the golden eggs.

[@unclecarl309]

Pure scientific research has died and been buried under tons of Theoretical science, Theoretical science is published to the tune of the oppinion of the person with the money

[@ozarkrenew1019]

And approximately 70% not even reproducible, hence, not true science

[@marktullis6484]

John Kerry makes Joe McCarthy look like a reasonable, measured leader in America (which of course he wasn't).

[@luckyone7878]

Carbon dioxide is not dangerous unless its used as a tax grab .

[@DouglasLippi]

The dog was so disgusted he had to walk out. 🤣

[@dennisstrasburg7105]

I lived in Los Angeles in the 1950's, 60's and other California locations in the 70's and I have to correct a couple of ideas presented here. Namely smog in Los Angeles was caused mainly by automobiles burning leaded gas and elimination was due to the catalytic converter being invented. While cars did contribute, they were only one of three big reasons and a multitude of smaller. The inversion factor was/is/will be the biggest reason and no one has come up with a plan to eliminate that. The most aggrevating was because there were incinerators in the back yard of every home and the smoke and smell were aweful. The first tried to bring it under control by making people burn their trash every other day - didn't work. Finally, proper trash pick-up was instituted and when the central, trash burning began cleaning the smoke billowing from the smoke stacks, things got a lot better. The switching from leaded to unleaded gas was another step, because the catalytic converter foul up quickly. The elimination was a tremendous benefit to the health of all - including less smog. Coupled with the catalytic converter, we have a real winner. BUT!!!! the number one villian was the backyard incinerators. I would say R.I.P. but it should burn in hell . . . 😡 🤨 🤣

[@Paul-ou1rx]

Our future is carbon. Learn to work with it.

[@Nicofloretti]

Thank you for asking the question concerning the funding of innovation. I am clearer about Bjorn's thought on this now. Appreciated.

[@kevinstaggs5048]

It is the utmost in hubris to think that we humans can change the climate. If the climate is truly changing the best we can do is adapt and overcome.

[@merlin3921]

Hi Peter, please interview Tony Heller on this climate change situation. Thanks for your consideration.

[@RealBadgerScrutiny]

Hans engelsk er fantastiks, jeg kan næsten ikke høre st han er Dansk. Respekt her fra Bjørn

[@thingsthatgobumpinthenight487]

With a range of 40 miles, It would take me two charges to go to the store or doctor!

[@budphillips5968]

God help us. GM can't even build a decent reliable gas car

[@toddsullivan1949]

Thank you for the red pill

[@1mom77]

Now we can continue to put the oil on trucks and ships and continue to creat extra pollution rather then using a safe pipe line.

[@phamnuwen9442]

I don't get Lomborg's idea that a free market wouldn't innovate. Take his example of producing oil on the ocean with algae. If this indeed looks like it could be profitable, i.e. cheaper than fossil fuels, can you imagine the amount of venture capital Venter could raise in order to build a prototype production facility and secure the IP rights for the technology? This is a potential multi trillion dollar business. You would have to fight investors off with a sharp stick.

[@rogerculver4511]

Innovation is a right path. Things like molten salt reactors or things yet unknown are to be sought. Climate doom in a few years is self deluding.

[@unclecarl309]

inovation and adaptapting, we can not stop the planetary shift caused by teraforming the northern developed nations, Trillions of tons of infrastucture on the surface of the very big spinning sphere is moving it south. Anyone who things they can stop it is deluded or a polititian.

[@barrettstearns2948]

When is the Hoover Institute going to interview Alex Epstein? I want Peter to basically do this same interview with Alex. Bjorn brushes off conclusions that would appear overtly political. He seems to want to take this middle road. Alex Epstein addresses the philosophical nature of the climate problem. He goes into the economics. He makes the moral case for fossil fuels. I would like to see how he and Peter would tackle this subject.

[@williambaikie5739]

Bjorn's take-away was governments need to spend on innovation and private entities can't really innovate due to patent laws and long return on investment. Problem is governments don't make the best choices, and often make poor ones. I agree, let's let government continue DARPA like investment, but let's make sure we don't crowd out and stiffle free market innovation which in my opinion will probably be more fruitful.

[@ROGUEX96]

He put it into perspective on how much and how quickly we need to cut emissions by listing the number of pandemics we need to have to meet that goal... This will never happen unless we destroy the economy by shutting it down and in turn, destroy live as well. The set goal is unattainable.

[@clivelewis3924]

Love the dog on the couch!

[@miller8084]

Thank you for the reasoned and thoughtful discussion that is evidentiary based. We need more of this.

[@jamesreynolds2241]

Freedom is getting us off this planet not tyranny and dictatorships

[@IIVVBlues]

An intelligent conversation, but several questions were not asked. What happens to the earth with regards to humanity, if CO2 levels continue to climb? Sea levels have not changed as predicted. The polar bears have increased in population, not declined. Is a rising CO2 level really a negative for mankind or a benefit or is the natural rise of CO2 with industrialization a natural benefit which allows the planet to accommodate a larger population? Is rising CO2 really an mass extinction event?

[@cooldudecs]

Looks like KZbin doesn’t like debate with the commie tags

[@phamnuwen9442]

"You can make a lot of money from green subsidies" You can say that again. The biggest climate profiteer on Earth recently became the wealthiest person on Earth.

[@mexicansoutherngirl]

The Fukushima Plant lost cooling due to an Tsunami that carried thier auxiliary power and fuel for the diesal; that event was not man made

[@weatherphobia]

Fukushima is the MOST non man made of all nuclear power incidents. But Liberals love to mention it due to the HUGE amount of video that they can say 'see how terrible nuclear power is see it kills see'.

[@adcaptandumvulgus4252]

52:44 dog sitting down to listen in. lol

[@TheCaliRhino]

20:20 “The Biden New Deal” Freudian slip!!

[@DouglasLippi]

He said "Chinese innovation" 🤣🤣🤣🤣

[@simonheaney8721]

British Columbia Canada . Site C hydro dam. The year 2021 1100MWoutput. Current overuns in cost to reach 16 Billion CAD . Arguably the most costly powerplant ever based on total power output/cost.

[@claytonmccormick622]

the chemistry of the batteries will greatly affect how clean they are.

[@josephthibeault9919]

Working, I'd love it when the Japanese engineers would politely say, I would not recommend that.

[@tulipsontheorgan]

5:34... ??!?! Climate has been better and worse before humans existed.

[@joycey4754]

Why do we need to reduce temperatures that may be naturally going up? No one has proved to me that the earth is not warming naturally as we live our lives in the age of warming instead of the Ice Age. Has the world ever had a normal temperature? The earth has had an amazingly stable climates. When the earth heats up we have more evaporation and more clouds. Plants grow better, bigger and faster with more CO2. We are at a low point in CO2. CO2 is not a pollutant.

[@miked8236]

$500 Billion will make a lot of people rich...........amen brother........

[@bushido6882]

only a million views? this should be widespread…

[@SelfDestruct.]

Awesome video. Thank you guys for this , among the unrest and the lockdowns I definitely didn't see any benefit to Kerry basically giving us a doomsday clock and spreading fear among people without laying all the facts on the table. That was very irresponsible on their part I get we have to read the fine print but most people don't need pessimism right now.

[@darwinrisdon7141]

Why doesn't the world listen to this man?

[@jkill13131313]

To add, I think one problem is alot of the people in power don't really understand innovation does not occur without alot of mistakes, money and redos. They want to hear a solid plan that works right away theoretically. Thank you, this really educated me.

[@johnhanson5943]

How can man fix volcanic eruptions and varying solar activity? Both hugely massive influences on the climate relative to man’s influence. As would be significant hits on the earth’s surface via other heavenly bodies. Is it a climate problem or an over-population (Third World), toxic pollution, deforestation, land erosion, over-development problem of a chiefly environmental, ecological, humanitarian, criminal and political nature? The whole discussion is built on a false premise - which is offered as an automatic fact. Reducing western CO2 levels won’t ‘fix’ anything - but it will enable dishonest career politicos a false agenda and their mega money corporate / oligarch masters (the ‘few’) superb super-profiteering opportunities at the expense of the ‘many’ and the environment and our planet’s ecology. Despicably disingenuous! Reflecting the Democrats today and the German CDU/SPD/Green one-party state of Berlin.

[@claytonmccormick622]

if there is 1 green thing to do it would be molten salt reactors to burn up the waste from light water reactors . it is cheap it is safe and it would offset much co2. and it would get rid of the most toxic waste ever made by man.

[@Playsitloud1]

Yea this guy seems informed but I dont see actual proof of anything. I see political opinions. He should probably put some sources up for some claims he makes.

[@joycey4754]

Exactly.

[@andrewchadbourne1203]

Bjorn's rational, nuanced arguments are the "Context" that KZbin should be putting on videos.

[@paul_bellini]

When he said 14 seconds of battery power... LOL

[@jonathanshowman5988]

It's disingenuous how KZbin places "context" flags on videos like this. It does nothing but make a discussion seem discreditable to those who would have no opinions on the topics being discussed. Basically subconsciously swaying those in the middle to think the video is incorrect rather than coming to a conclusion themselves.

[@logosnomos3794]

EVs presently pollute more than regular gas vehicles

[@fredwelf8650]

No mention of the necessity for drainage and irrigation to counter the continuing climate crisis of floods, fires and droughts.

[@TheCaliRhino]

One of the issues I have with Hybrids is that they haven’t figured out how to direct energy from the gas engine output to recharge the electric battery after it has been drained.

[@alexandrawhitelock6195]

Mass hysteria...makes billions for many...🤔

[@presidentgateway]

Lomborg is a voice of sanity in this debate. However, he makes two fundamental errors, that Robinson should have noted. First, Lomborg accepts the Warmists' claim that "most" of the warming since the industrial revolution was caused by human activity, and even worse that left unchecked the warming will be several degrees Fahrenheit higher by the end of the century. No science supports those claims. Even the IPCC can't dispute that ALL of the scores of climate models on which they rely consistently and grossly over-predict warming. Second, Lomborg does not consider the real possibility, supported by science, that this brief warm hiatus between ice age glacials is already several thousand years longer than any previous hiatus. It is likely that human activity is what is delaying the natural return to ice age conditions. In which case, ending CO2 emissions is exactly the wrong thing to do. Climate change can also produce cooling. Lomborg conveniently ignores that scientific possibility.