Bjørn Lomborg. Stillbilde: TED Archive / YouTube.

Politikken for null­utslipp vil bli verdens­historiens dyreste, og kostnadene er i ferd med å bli uutholdelige, men makteliten høyner likevel innsatsen i klima­politikken, hevder Bjørn Lomborg.

I en tekst på InsideSources.com som er blitt offentliggjort i Las Vegas Review-Journal skriver den danske miljø­tenkeren at kløften mellom den globale eliten og den virkelige verden øker for hver dag som går. Folk flest bekymrer seg over dyrere mat og høyere energipriser, mens eliten er mest opptatt av klimaendringer.

Temaet kunstgjødsel, som øker både matproduksjonen og utslippene av klimagasser, setter motsetningen på spissen:

Almost 1 billion people are at risk of starvation this year, exacerbated by climate-concerned opposition to fertilizers made with fossil fuels.

Klimaendringer er et reelt problem, men vilt overdrevet i mediene, mener Lomborg:

Climate change is a real, man-made problem that deserves attention. It is also wildly overblown in the media, with every weather “event” turned into a televisual catastrophe. Last year, newspapers overflowed with stories of devastating hurricanes. Yet, 2021 had the fewest hurricanes globally since satellites started consistently monitoring the world in 1980.

I mange år er vi blitt servert illusjoner om avvikling av fossile energikilder, fortsetter han:

The costs of the climate and environmental policies pushed at establishment talkfests are quickly becoming unbearable. For decades, we have been told that ending fossil fuels is cost-free or even beneficial. Now, we are seeing the immense economic and security costs of such untethered promises.

I Nederland vil regjeringen desimere landbrukssektoren på grunn av klimapolitikken, samtidig som sulten i verden øker, og rettsvesenet stadfester beslutningen, observerer Lomborg:

The Netherlands has been roiled by protests since the government introduced policies that would decimate the agricultural industry in the name of the environment. The policies threaten the production of the world’s second-largest food exporter right when global hunger is rising, yet the government cannot change course because environmentalists have taken legal action to lock in the lopsided policies.

Den logiske konklusjonen på denne utviklingen heter Sri Lanka:

Egged on by elite campaigners and the World Economic Forum to go organic, the government banned synthetic fertilizers in April 2021. Predictably, food production collapsed, and the currency defaulted. Large-scale protests from hungry and dissatisfied citizens who overran the presidential palace have now forced the resignation of the government.

Det må bli slutt på den krampaktige satsingen på «fornybar» energi og organisk landbruk, krever Lomborg:

The rich should stop making food more expensive by insisting on organics. They should stop making energy more expensive by dictating intermittent renewables.

Lomborg er slett ikke imot miljøvennlig teknologi, men fremholder at utviklingen må ta den tiden den trenger:

Instead, we should increase research and development into better seeds to deliver more food with a lower environmental footprint. We should drive green-energy breakthroughs that could make drastic carbon-dioxide reductions cheap and feasible.

I stedet handler alt om en ekstremt dyr etterstrebelse av et umulig mål:

Net-zero will be the costliest policy that the world has ever embarked upon. The price tag just for paying for renewable assets and infrastructure alone will be more than $5 trillion every year for the next three decades, according to McKinsey &Co., a global management consulting firm. This equates to more than one-third of the global tax intake.

I tillegg vil energiregningene fortsette å øke som følge av det uunngåelig forgjeves forsøket på å oppnå nullutslipp.

Konsekvensene av dette vil bli opprør og politisk kaos, spår Lomborg:

When people are cold, hungry and broke, they rebel. If the elite continues pushing incredibly expensive policies that are disconnected from the urgent challenges facing most people, we need to brace for much more global chaos.

Før eller senere vil mange foretrekke kaos fremfor seigpining. Det risikerer å bli stygt.

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