Climate sceptic lashes out after losing funding

As the Copenhagen Consensus think tank loses government funding, its director, the renowned 'sceptical environmentalist' Bjørn Lomborg, says he is the victim of the personal politics of the Danish Prime Minister

by Mike Young

Copenhagen Consensus Centre, directed by the high profile opponent of tackling global warming Bjørn Lomborg, is to close in July after the Danish government cut its funding. Now the much-criticised author has told 'the Ecologist' that he is the victim of a vendetta, reports Seven59.dk and the Guardian.

Lomborg, who has a PhD from the University of Copenhagen, accepts that climate change is happening, but argues that current policies for reducing emissions are failing and are a waste of money. Instead we should focus on adaptation, he says, investing in renewable technologies and tackling poverty.

Denmark’s new government is less keen to support his views and will cut the funding to Lomborg’s centre.

Few willing to donate

But in an interview to be published next week, Lomborg tells the Ecologist that he was the victim of personal politics and a vendetta.

»I met with the woman who’s now Prime Minister [Helle Thorning-Schmidt, ed.]« I said: »I’d love to show you how the Copenhagen Consensus is a good idea,« and she looked at me and said: »I think that probably might be right, Bjørn, but I will just get so much more mileage out of criticising you.«

Lomborg, who is searching for new benefactors ahead of the June deadline, fears he is looking at a limited pool of donors.

miy@adm.ku.dk

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