Rethink climate policy! Open letter to the Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt.
Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt
Dear Mr. Prime Minister,
Now that Earth's temperature has not risen in more than a decade and the world is trying to recover from a financial crisis, it is necessary to radically rethink climate policy. It threatens to damage and destroy the basis for our prosperity and our future ability to protect our environment.
Shortly, world leaders will gather in Copenhagen to try to agree on the measures to be taken to reduce and eventually eliminate the emissions of carbon dioxide, which inevitably occur in any combustion of fossil fuels such as oil, gas and coal. Since 80% of the global energy supply is based on these fuels, this means a huge adjustment of our society. Efficient and reliable energy sources have made possible the modern social structure and will continue to be crucial for sustainability, the environment and human welfare.
There is still no scientific basis for linking the contribution of carbon dioxide to a decisive impact on the climate. New research, based on actual observations rather than models, further weakens the foundation of previous hypotheses in this direction (1). Yet the policy measures already in place have caused poverty, hunger and environmental degradation. One example is the ill-conceived efforts promoting biofuels, causing rising food prices and deforestation (2). It is clear that other proposed measures will aggravate these damages. A forced transition to ineffective and tax subsidized energy sources involves a huge waste of resources.
To justify such drastic actions, we must be sure that they are absolutely necessary, and above all that they have the desired effect. But such knowledge is still lacking. The only thing we do know is that the climate is constantly undergoing changes and that we do not know anything about the future. The illusion that we could control and manage the climate certainly lacks scientific basis.
We believe that our resources should be used to build and develop our society and our infrastructure so that they become resistant to all unavoidable climate changes. Resources are also needed to give people in poor countries the opportunity for a better life, and to protect vulnerable ecosystems such as oceans and forests.
We appeal to you now as Chairman of the EU that you dare challenge the established view among politicians and open a path towards a new climate policy. Political action should be based on what we know rather than what we do not know.
References
1. See the reference page under New Climate Science.
2. See the reference page under Biofuels.
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