GOVERNMENTS AND CLIMATE CHANGE ISSUES: THE CASE FOR A NEW APPROACH

摘要

I would like to begin with a twofold tribute. First, I would like to congratulate Timbro on convening this meeting. Second, I would like to congratulate Professor Richard Lindzen on being the first recipient of the Leo Prize, and to say that I consider it an honour to appear alongside him as a principal speaker in today's programme. Unlike Richard Lindzen, I am not a climate scientist, and I am a relative newcomer to climate change issues. I am an economist, and I became involved with the subject, almost by accident, three and a half years ago. My initial main involvement was with some economic and statistical aspects of this vast array of topics, but over time my interests and concerns have broadened. Increasingly, I have become critical of the way in which issues relating to climate change are being viewed and treated by governments across the world. In particular, I have become a critic of the role and conduct of the chosen instrument of governments in this area of policy, namely, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).