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Greenhouse Gas Reductions: Not Warranted, Not Beneficial

Public Policy Sources by Kenneth Green

In this paper Kenneth Green addresses the issue of regional climate change (rather than global climate change). According to Green, the debate over climate change is increasingly moving towards alarmist regional climate predictions. He cites a report published by the Union of Concerned Scientists as an example. This report focuses on the Great Lakes region and the environmental threats it faces. According to Green, however, regional climate modeling of this sort is highly flawed.

As Green notes, there is a high level of disagreement among climate scientists regarding the extent of climate change seen in the last 150 years; accordingly, he poses questions about the cause of this change, and the risks it poses. He argues that regional climate modeling is even more uncertain because the spatial scale of focus is so small. Even worse than the flawed science of climate change, Green argues, are the policy prescriptions suggested on the basis of regional climate forecasting. He contends that proposed solutions, such as establishing greenhouse gas registries, will ultimately do more harm than good.

Green acknowledges that the threat of rapid climate change needs to be taken seriously. He believes, however, that it is equally important we understand what is really happening with our climate. In his view, we must be absolutely certain of the causes of climate change before we divert resources into policies to prevent environmental damage.

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Policy Publication Details

Author(s):	Kenneth Green;
Publisher:	Fraser Institute [ Visit Website ]
Year Published:	2003;	Publisher Type:	Research Institute
Publicly Available:	Yes	Research Focus:	National;
Registration Required:	No	Language:	English
Payment Required:	No	Publication Format:	Adobe PDF

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Subjects / Categories:

Policy Articles / Environment & Climate / Climate Change
Policy Articles / Environment & Climate / Climate Change / 2003
Policy Articles / Environment & Climate

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Keywords / Tags:

regional climate change; Union of Concerned Scientists; regional climate modeling; policy solutions; causes of climate change;