Scientific opinion on climate change
Which Policy to Address Climate Change?
IPN Opinion article
Carbon control doesn't look like a very smart solution to climate change.
Poverty: The Real Threat to Health
IPN Opinion article
Philip Stevens challenges the conclusions reached by a recent study in The Lancet about climate change and health.
UN Climate Plans vs. The Poor
IPN Opinion article
Despite the breakdown of UN climate-change talks in Bali last December, the same themes were still being pushed at the late August week's meeting in Ghana--but now developing countries have begun to question the effects on the world's poorest. They must fight for greater realism in the climate debate: their livings and even their lives depend on it.
Hot air and human health
IPN Opinion article
The WHO has overstated the health implications of climate change in order to call for strict caps on carbon emissions. By undermining economic growth, this would have very serious consequences for health in developing countries.
Adaptation not emissions cuts is policymakers' best approach
IPN Opinion article
Current climate change talks in Bali are focussing on a "Kyoto-2" with global caps on emissions of greenhouse gases. But such a treaty would harm the poor, hampering their adaptability to climate change, while doing little to prevent it.
Development, not climate control
IPN Opinion article
The world's poorest people suffer most because of climate -- not climate change. This article argues that restricting greenhouse gas emissions in poor countries would be misguided and counterproductive.
Nature's Revenge: Hurricanes, Floods and Climate Change
IPN Opinion article
From the introduction: "How society responds to climate change has extremely important implications for the future of social and economic development. For some, the potential threats posed by a warmer climate are regarded as necessitating significant action now, particularly to reduce the level of human-produced carbon dioxide emissions. For others, the economic consequences of such actions are regarded as being far more harmful to the future well-being of people than the possible impacts of climate change and a major hindrance to the ability of future generations to respond to the environmental changes that they encounter."
Climate Change and Policy: Making the Connection
IPN Opinion article
This study is a comprehensive analysis of the state of climate science based on the work of a group of science and policy experts convened by the American George C. Marshall Institute. As the US Government moves closer to final policy recommendations on climate change, this ESEF study offers science policy recommendations to improve the relevance and value of climate science research. The study is the result of an extensive review by a distinguished group of scientists and public policy experts of the science behind recent findings of the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). [PDF version]
