Climate change is not a hoax, but as a political matter, it is a persistent pretext for expanding government control over the economy, redistributing wealth, and empowering unaccountable elites at the expense of voters and their elected representatives.

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.

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Newsletter

Vol. VIII, No. 4

Politics British Government Continues Attacks on U.S. on Climate Change   Following up his attacks on President Bush’s position on climate change…

Climate

Newsletter

Vol. VIII, No. 3

Politics   Illarionov Explains Russian Position on Kyoto Protocol in Washington   Andrei Illarionov, chief economic adviser to Russian President Vladimir…

Climate

Op-Eds

Extreme Measures

James Hansen, one of the fathers of global warming theory, commented in the online journal Natural Science in September last year, “Emphasis on…

Climate

Op-Eds

Time to Move on

No doubt trying to distract attention from the recent Bush-Hitler ad controversy and its sponsorship of an event where B-list celebrities used the F-word to…

Climate

Op-Eds

A Clear Mistake

The Clear Skies Initiative, President Bush's big environmental bill targeting power plant emissions, appears to be stalled in Congress.  In an effort to…

Climate

Op-Eds

Virtually Extinct

It seems that virtually every news organ in the English language has carried the story of new scientific claims published in Nature magazine that…

Climate

Newsletter

Vol VIII, No. 1

Politics   News of Kyoto’s Death Spreads   The realization that the Kyoto Protocol is as good as dead seems to…

Climate

Newsletter

Vol VII, No 25

Politics Little Happens at Gloomy COP-9   The ninth conference of the parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP-9),…

Climate

Op-Eds

An Improved Climate

Every year, environmental alarmists claim we have taken another step on the road to ruin. This year, they claim 2003 was the third-hottest…

Climate

Op-Eds

The International Green Agenda

Environmental groups were stunned when the cash-strapped Turner Founda-tion—which gave about $28 million to green causes in 2002—announced recently that it would temporarily suspend all…

Climate

Newsletter

Vol. VII, No. 24

Politics Energy Department’s Proposal Omits Transferable Credits On November 26, the Department of Energy unveiled its long-awaited proposals to “enhance” the Voluntary Reporting…

Climate

Newsletter

Vol.VII, No 22

Politics Senate Defeats Lieberman-McCain Bill to Cap Greenhouse Gas Emissions The U. S. Senate defeated a scaled-down version of Senators Joseph Lieberman (D-Conn.)…

Climate

Op-Eds

Lewis Letter to DOE

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Climate

Newsletter

Vol. VII, No. 20

  Politics   Moscow Conference Casts Doubt over Kyoto’s Future   The United Nations’ World Climate Change Conference, which concluded in…

Climate

Op-Eds

Russia Buries Kyoto ‘Consensus’

The most momentous event in the politics of climate change since <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = “urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags” />America's decision to shelve the Kyoto…

Climate

News Release

Global Warming Shakeup in Moscow

<?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = “urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags” /> Contact for Interviews:     <?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = “urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office” /> Richard Morrison,…

Climate

Newsletter

Vol. VII, No. 19

Politics Energy Conference Steers Clear of Climate Change So Far   House and Senate conferees working to produce a comprehensive energy bill…

Climate

Op-Eds

Are We All “Damn Fools”?

The accomplished British humorous songwriters <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = “urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags” />Flanders and Swann (Donald Swann put JRR Tolkien's various Middle Earth…

Climate

News Release

Hurricane Isabel a Byproduct of Industry?

<?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = “urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags” /> Washington, D.C., September 22, 2003—Upon learning of the World Watch Institute’s claim that Hurricane Isabel…

Climate

Op-Eds

Fixing the Game

<?xml:namespace prefix = v ns = “urn:schemas-microsoft-com:vml” /><?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = “urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office” /><?xml:namespace prefix = w ns = “urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:word” />Foreign countries are…

Climate

Op-Eds

CEI Does Cancún

From September 10 through September 14, the World Trade Organization will hold its fifth Ministerial meeting in Cancún, Mexico. The Competitive Enterprise Institute will be…

Business and Government

Newsletter

Vol. VII, No. 18

EPA Refuses to Label CO2 a Pollutant Attempts by environmental groups to circumvent congressional authority and achieve their goals through the back door were set…

Climate

Op-Eds

Greenhouse Hot Air

“Can This Man Save the World?” (Aug. 11, p. 54) first assumes there is a problem associated with greenhouse gas emissions that…

Climate

Op-Eds

ABOGADO GIGANTE!

In the October 2000 stretch run for the presidency, the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI), Senator Jim Inhofe (R-OK), Representatives Jo Ann Emerson (R-MO)…

Climate

News Release

EPA Decision on CO2 Regulation Cheered

Contact for Interviews: Richard Morrison, 202.331.2273 Washington, D.C., August 29, 2003—The Competitive Enterprise Institute cheers the Environmental Protection Agency’s acknowledgement this week that they do…

Climate

Newsletter

Vol. VII, No. 17

  Politics   Blackouts Mean Uncertainty for Energy Bill   The massive power outage that affected much of the northeastern…

Climate

Op-Eds

Environmentalists for Enron

CERES, the Coalition for Environmentally Responsible Economies, is terribly concerned about corporate governance. Worried by the recent corporate scandals, this coalition of environmental groups and…

Climate

Staff & Scholars

Sam Kazman

Counsel Emeritus

  • Antitrust
  • Automobiles and Roads
  • Banking and Finance

Marlo Lewis, Jr.

Senior Fellow

  • Climate
  • Energy
  • Energy and Environment

Ben Lieberman

Senior Fellow

  • Climate
  • Consumer Freedom
  • Energy

Jacob Tomasulo

Policy Analyst

  • Climate
  • Energy
  • Energy and Environment

Kevin D. Williamson

Writer in Residence

  • Climate
  • Energy and Environment