Analysis
Climate Change
Our position
Climate change is real, caused by human greenhouse gas emissions and land use change, and a wicked problem that will be managed rather than solved. But representations of climate change as an existential threat to humanity have broken loose from scientific assessments. Long-run emissions trends track macroeconomic forces and technological change, not the stringency of climate rhetoric or targets. Weather-related disaster impacts upon humans and the economy hinge far more upon wealth, resilient infrastructure, and government capacity than they do upon the level of warming, emphasizing the critical importance of adaptation measures and human development. Catastrophism persists not because the evidence demands it or because of any meaningful political results it produces, but because professional incentives and political identity reward vivid rhetoric.
Start here
Three pieces the team says to read first
Ten Words You Can't Say About Climate Change
There Is No Climate Tipping Point
Analysis
Do Climate Attribution Studies Tell the Full Story?
Climate Change work
Research, analysis and everything we have put on the record: comments, testimony, statements, letters and endorsements.
Showing 67–72 of 79
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Analysis
The December Holiday Case for Advanced Nuclear Energy
How the carbon-free energy source can cut down on holiday emissions.
· Matthew L. Wald
Analysis
Nature Won't Save the Planet
Advocates like to hype nature-based adaptations as solutions for developing countries. That's not what those countries need.
· Juzel Lloyd
Analysis
The “Failure” to Ban Fossil Fuel Projects in the Developing World at COP27 May Actually Save Lives.
For low-income countries, economic development necessitates more, not less, greenhouse gas emissions in the near term.
· Patrick Brown
Report
Human Deaths from Hot and Cold Temperatures and Implications for Climate Change
Given the large number of deaths affected by temperature, there is significant public and scientific interest in the impact of global warming on human mortality.
· Patrick Brown
Analysis
Does the Loss and Damage Fund Need Nuclear?
As the details of the fund are hashed out, it would be wise to make use of the obvious pathway that it creates for including nuclear energy as a climate solution.
· Charlyne Smith
Analysis
How Electricity Deregulation is Shaping Advanced Nuclear Reactor Designs
A deregulated market discourages decarbonization, and shapes what kind of reactors are likely to be built.
· Matthew L. Wald
67–72 of 79
Who to talk to
Ted Nordhaus
Founder and President Email
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Questions
Is climate change real?
Yes. Earth’s global average temperature is warming, primarily because human activities have increased atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations.
How much of climate change is caused by humans?
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) concludes that essentially all observed global warming since the late 19th century is attributable to human influence. Greenhouse gas emissions have caused substantial net warming that dwarfs the effects from natural factors.
Can climate change be reversed?
Climate change can be slowed and eventually stabilized through decarbonization. However, due to the long residence time of carbon dioxide and some other greenhouse gases in the Earth’s atmosphere, reversing climate change after stabilization has been achieved will be very difficult without carbon removal at vast scales.
Will the world still be livable in 2050?
Climate change will create serious challenges but will not make the world uninhabitable by 2050. Pathways for the Earth’s future warming diverge relatively later in the 21st century, such that climate and weather variability in 2050 will feel relatively indistinguishable in most regions from the climate of today.