Bjorn Lomborg has a new article in The Times called At last, a Plan B to stop global warming. It’s paywalled, so I read it here. What Bjorn suggests is not only brilliant, but it’s so simple that it’s a wonder noone’s thought of it before. Bjorn suggests that
[i]f green technology could be cheaper than fossil fuels, everyone would switch, not just a token number of well-meaning rich nations. We would not need to convene endless climate summits that come to nothing. A smart climate summit would encourage all nations to commit 0.2 per cent of GDP – about $100 billion globally – to green R&D. This could solve global warming in the medium term by creating cheap, green energy sources, that everyone would want to use.
In a few simple sentences, Bjorn has illustrated the problem with what we’re currently doing. The problem is clearly that green activists have been advocating for renewable technologies that are more expensive than fossil fuels, rather than advocating for renewable technologies that are cheaper than fossil fuels. It seems obvious now that Bjorn’s explained this, so it really is amazing that this wasn’t realised earlier.
It’s ideas like this that illustrate why Bjorn is regarded by some as one of today’s leading thinkers. It’s also made me wonder if there are any other revolutionary, but simple, ideas that noone’s thought of before. I’m not in the same league as Bjorn so can’t think of any myself, but if anyone does have any ideas, feel free to suggest them through the comments.