There is also the constant conflating of climate policy with climate science in order to make subjective and ideological policy choices seem as if the science dictates those choices. But science informs policy, it does not provide objective answers to policy questions. However, those who disagree with the climate policy choices favored by extremists are labeled with offensive terms like deniers.
The Competitive Enterprise Institute rejects climate policies that assume Americans and humans all over the world must sacrifice their quality of living, be guilted into radical life changes, and give up on improving their standard of living in the name of fighting climate change. Even if the United States no longer existed, there would be little to no meaningful impact on global temperatures. Therefore, the myriad of extreme policies are all costs and no gain.
Using the force of government to impose policies that severely hurt humans today, especially the poor, without any meaningful benefits is not just foolish but indefensible. And when such policies are advanced, the proponents of those policies should always be expected to explain how their policy choices would meaningfully affect global temperatures. When they are unable to provide answers, which will be the case, their policy choices should be quickly dismissed.
The best way to deal with any genuine climate concerns is to remove government obstacles that hinder innovation, reduce wealth, and undermine prosperity and opportunity. Economic liberty benefits Americans generally, and at the same time, it is also the world’s best climate policy. After all, the wealthiest and most prosperous nations are far more likely to develop solutions to such problems than other nations.
Featured Posts
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UN report says tree planting can result in more greenhouse gas emissions
It is common knowledge that trees act as carbon sinks. Through the process of photosynthesis, trees take in carbon dioxide and release oxygen that we…
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Congress can end California’s EV mandates
This week, the House is expected to vote on three important Congressional Review Act (CRA) resolutions of disapproval that would repeal California waivers granted…
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Earth Day is broken—only private conservation can fix it
With this week’s 2025 Earth Day came the usual media and progressive lawmaker fanfare lauding government programs and regulatory solutions to environmental concerns. But…
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Newsletter
Vol. III, No. 7
Politics Senators Hagel and Murkowski to Introduce Global Warming Bill Senators Frank Murkowski (R-AK), Chairman of the Senate Energy…
Newsletter
The Ecological Benefits Of Increasing Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide Levels
Full Briefing available in PDF format. 2325 RAYBURN HOUSE OFFICE BUILDING UNITED STATES HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVESWASHINGTON, DC I…
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Vol. III, No. 6
Politics New Early Action Bill Introduced The latest attempt to smooth the way for ratification of the Kyoto Protocol is…
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Vol. III, No. 5
Politics Iceland Will Not Sign Kyoto The first major defection from the Kyoto Protocol comes from an unlikely source.
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Vol. III, No. 4
Politics Greens Oppose Early Credit Bill Several Green groups, including the Center for International Environmental Law, Greenpeace, National Environment…
Study
Early Action Crediting: Growing the Kyoto Lobby at Small Business’ Expense
View Full Document as PDF “Credit for early action” – a policy proposal developed by the Environmental Defense Fund and warmly…
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Vol. III, No. 3
Politics Clinton Asks for $4 Billion to Prevent Global Warming In a blatant attempt to implement the unratified Kyoto…
Study
Credit for Early Implementation: Kyoto Through the Front Door
Last year, in an attempt to safeguard the Senate’s constitutional prerogatives in treaty-making, Congress barred the Environmental Protection Agency and the Council on…
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Vol. III, No. 2
Politics Greens Criticize Early Emissions Bill A bill introduced by Sens. John Chafee (R-RI), Joseph Lieberman (D-CT) and Connie…
Op-Eds
Beware of the Kyoto Compromise: Kemp and Smith Op-Ed in NY Times
In November the Clinton Administration signed a treaty, negotiated in Kyoto, Japan, that purports to temper “global warming” by imposing a schedule of emissions reductions…
Newsletter
Vol. III, No. 1
Politics Debate Over Early Credits Heats Up Support is steadily building for proposed legislation that, if passed could seriously…
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Vol. II, No. 26
Politics GAO Report on Voluntary Emission Crediting A new attempt to implement the Kyoto Protocol without Senate ratification is underway. A…
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Vol. II, No. 25
Politics Early Credit for Emissions Reductions The latest attempt to implement the Kyoto Protocol without Senate ratification is a scheme to use the threat of…
Study
Is the Kyoto Protocol Dead?
View Full Document as PDF Is the Kyoto Protocol, the global warming treaty negotiated in December 1997, any closer to being…
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Could Kyoto Kill?
Whether or not the United States should ratify an international treaty to limit greenhouse gases is the most prominent question in today’s environmental policy debate.
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Vol. II, No. 24
Politics Combining Montreal with Kyoto Many issues were discussed at the climate change talks in Buenos Aires this month, but one of the most disturbing…
Newsletter
Vol. II, No. 23
Politics A Report from Our Team in Buenos Aires Only 2,000 people reportedly participated in the event’s first week, a far cry from the…
Study
Climate Change: Insights from Oceanography
Full Document Available in PDF The global warming establishment asserts that the science underlying…
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Vol. II, No. 22
Politics EPA Lacks Authority to Regulate CO2 Following the completion of the Kyoto Protocol, Carol Browner, Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), testified before…
Newsletter
Emission Credits: The Supply & Demand Gap
Full Briefing available in PDF format. Preface Last year, some 160 nations negotiated an agreement in Kyoto, Japan, that would require the…
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Vol. II, No. 21
Politics Little Progress Expected in Buenos Aires The fourth Conference of the Parties (COP-4) will meet in Buenos Aires, Argentina on November 2-13 to further…
Study
Temperature Data Still Riddled With Errors.
With the evidence for man-made global warming becoming more tenuous each year, green activists like Vice President Al Gore have been reduced to…
Study
Doomsday Déjà vu: Ozone Depletion’s Lessons for Global Warming
Full Document Available in PDF The Kyoto Protocol to…
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Vol. II, No. 20
Politics U.S., EU Move Toward Consensus? Following two days of informal ministerial meetings in Tokyo, Japan on September 16-17, negotiators from the United States and…
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Vol. II, No. 19
Politics New Tax Credit Plan Unveiled The Clinton Administration’s tax and spend plan to avert global warming is being resurrected in the form of the…
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Vol. II, No. 18
Politics Energy Secretary: Global Warming Message Not Getting Out The Clinton administration’s new Energy Secretary Bill Richardson recently remarked that the administration has been “out-gunned…
Study
Federal Government Doles Out Millions in Greenhouse Pork
View Full Document as PDF The Kyoto global warming treaty may pose a threat to the U.S. economy, but it has spawned…
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Vol. II, No. 17
Politics EPA’s Propaganda Machine Rolls On The EPA is “spending untold millions on propaganda about ‘global warming,’” according to Investor’s Business Daily (August 4, 1998).
Newsletter
Hot Times Or Hot Air: The Sun in the Science of Global Warming
PREFACE The global warming scare assumes that human emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases are the dominant driving force in recent…
Newsletter
Vol. II, No. 16
Politics Heated House Hearings On July 29, the House Committee on Small Business became the scene of a heated debate about the science of global…
Study
Warming Without Regrets: A Free-Market Approach To Uncertainty And Climate Change
Vice President Al Gore proclaims that "people are sweltering," recent hot spells demonstrate that human-induced global warming is here, and the world must adopt…
Newsletter
Global Warming And Vector-Borne Disease: Is Warmer Sicker?
PREFACE One of the scarier claims made by supporters of an international climate treaty is that global warming will spawn epidemics of deadly "tropical…
Newsletter
Kyoto Economics: The Costs and Follies of Eco-Energy Planning
Full Briefing available in PDF format. Preface If ratified and implemented, the Kyoto Protocol would inaugurate an era of international eco-energy planning.
Newsletter
Vol. II, No. 15
Politics Gore’s Global Warming Sideshow On July 14 Vice President Al Gore took advantage of warm summer temperatures to browbeat Congress into accepting the Administration’s…
Study
Clinton-Gore and the Costs of Kyoto: Numbers Out of Thin Air
View Full Document as PDF How does the Clinton-Gore Administration arrive at its estimate that the Kyoto climate treaty would cost…
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Vol. II, No. 14
Politics Little Progress Made in Bonn The Clinton Administration’s prospects of meeting the conditions set under the Byrd/Hagel resolution diminished significantly at the meeting of…
Newsletter
Vol. II, No. 13
Politics GAO Critiques Clinton Climate Policy The Clinton Administration’s blueprint for implementing the Kyoto Protocol lacks quantitative goals, specific time frames, and cost benefit analyses,…
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Vol. II, No. 12
Politics Gore Spins El Niño On behalf of the White House Vice President Al Gore announced at a June 8 press conference that each of…
News Release
Second Cooler Heads Lecture On Global Warming
Washington, DC, June 5, 1998 — The Cooler Heads Coalition, a working group within the broader National Consumer Coalition founded by Consumer Alert, today…
Newsletter
How Reliable Are Climate Models?
Full Briefing available in PDF format. Preface Predictions of harmful global warming from human-generated greenhouse gases are largely…
Products
Out of Thin Air
"If we do it dumb, it will cost a lot; if we do it smart, it won’t cost much." Thus sayeth theKyoto apologists in…
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Cashing in on Global Warming
The Kyoto global warming treaty may pose a looming threat to the U.S. economy, but it has spawned a cottage industry based in the…
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A Time and Place For Solar
The Clinton Administration’s "Comprehensive Electricity Competition Plan" announced on March 25, 1998 proposes a Renewable Portfolio Standard that would require 5.5 percent of all…
Study
Mitigation of Climate Change: A Scientific Appraisal
Full Document Available in PDF Contrary to President Clinton, the science…
Newsletter
Vol. II, No. 11
Politics House Version of Ashcroft Drops On May 7 Rep. Joseph Knollenberg (R-MI) introduced a bill (H.R. 3807) that, like the Senate version introduced by…
News Release
First Cooler Heads Lecture On Global Warming
Washington, DC, May 22, 1998 — The Cooler Heads Coalition, a working group chaired by the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) within Consumer Alert’s broader…
Newsletter
Climate Change: Insights from Oceanography
Preface Full Briefing available in PDF format. Preface The global warming establishment asserts that…
Newsletter
Vol. II, No. 10
Politics UN Readies “Buenos Aires Mandate” The UN Conference on Trade and Development has developed recommendations for the proposed Buenos Aires Mandate to be completed…
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Vol. II, No. 9
Politics Anti-Kyoto Science Petition Tops 17,000 Names A petition circulated to scientists urging lawmakers to reject the Kyoto…
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Vol. II, No. 8
Politics Environmental Ministers Meet Environmental ministers from 29 member countries of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development and the G-8 Ministers (“The Group of…
Staff & Scholars
Sam Kazman
Counsel Emeritus
- Antitrust
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Marlo Lewis, Jr.
Senior Fellow
- Climate
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- Energy and Environment
Ben Lieberman
Senior Fellow
- Climate
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Jacob Tomasulo
Policy Analyst
- Climate
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- Energy and Environment
Kevin D. Williamson
Writer in Residence
- Climate
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