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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Europe’s heat wave tragically demonstrates the need for air conditioning
Western European nations take a very different approach from the United States on many issues — immigration, defense, welfare, energy, health care, and more.
Blog
RCP8.5: Climate establishment officially retires extreme scenario (Part II)
Part I can be found here. Victim of its own success? Perhaps to save face or even boast of being right…
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RCP8.5: Climate establishment officially retires extreme scenario (Part I)
Thanks to the scholarship, courage, and perseverance of a handful of independent researchers, notably Roger Pielke, Jr., Justin Ritchie, and Hadi…
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Newsletter
Vol. III, No. 15
Politics Early Action Credits: Road to Kyoto Early action crediting is being promoted as a way to protect industry in the event that the…
News Release
Kemp to Testify Before Congress Against Early Action Legislation
Washington, DC, July 13, 1999 – “Will corporations fall for global-warming trickery?” asked the Honorable Jack Kemp, Distinguished Fellow at the Competitive Enterprise Institute…
Newsletter
Vol. III, No. 14
Politics Court Ruling Defeats Kyoto In May the federal appeals court invalidated the Environmental Protection Agency’s standards for ozone and particulate matter on the grounds…
Study
Market-Based Chimera: Emission Trading Fails to Deliver
View Full Document as PDF The Clinton-Gore Administration is trying to persuade the American people that the Kyoto Protocol, the most ambitious…
Newsletter
Vol. III, No. 13
Politics Bill to Ban Early Action Crediting Recent attempts to implement the Kyoto Protocol have come under the guise of giving emission credits to companies…
Newsletter
Vol. III, No. 12
Politics Implementation Sans Ratification A leaked EPA document dated April 23, describes an April 7 meeting between EPA and White House staffers, and private…
Study
Alternative to Kyoto Protocol Concedes Too Much
View Full Document as PDF The Energy and Climate Policy Act of 1999, S. 882, has been introduced as an alternative…
News Release
Sea-Level Rise: Is Global Warming To Blame?
Washington, DC, May 27, 1999 – A packed house of staff and media gathered today on Capitol Hill to hear about sea-level rise from…
Newsletter
Sea Level Change
Full Briefing available in PDF format. Preface Good afternoon. What I would…
Newsletter
Vol. III, No. 11
Politics Texas Governor Declares Belief in Global Warming Theory The GOP presidential frontrunner, George W. Bush, may have conceded the global warming debate to Vice…
News Release
Sea Level Debate is Flooded with Misinformation: Research scientist is cool to EPA’s global warming claim
Washington, DC, May 25, 1999 – The Environmental Protection Agency continues to peddle unfounded fears about global warming and sea level rise even though…
News Release
Hurricane’s a-comin’–Should I Sell My Car? Questions and Answers About Hurricanes and Global Warming
Summer's almost here, and the weather is on everyone's mind. In “hurricane country” that's a very special concern, and last year's devastation from Hurricane…
Newsletter
Vol. III, No. 10
Politics New Bill to Implement Clinton-Gore Agenda Just when it looked like the Clinton Administration’s global warming agenda was…
News Release
Jack Kemp Named Distinguished Fellow At Competitive Enterprise Institute
Washington, DC, April 29, 1999 – The Competitive Enterprise Institute is pleased to announce that the Honorable Jack Kemp has been named CEI’s first…
Newsletter
Vol. III, No. 9
Politics Senate Bill Would Spend $2 Billion to Prevent Global Warming On April 27 Senators Frank Murkowski (R-Alaska), chairman…
News Release
Where’s the Warming? Unusual Weather Does Not Equal Climate Change
The debate over human-induced global warming is far from settled. Listening to radical environmental activists and Vice President Al Gore, however, would give one…
Newsletter
Vol. III, No. 8
Politics Green Activists Criticize Gores Environmental Record If Al Gore wants to become the next president of the United…
News Release
Media Advisory: Earth Day Experts
Most Americans want a clean environment. That is no surprise. What surprises traditional environmental activists is that most people don’t support extensive federal regulation.
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…
Newsletter
Vol. III, No. 6
Politics New Early Action Bill Introduced The latest attempt to smooth the way for ratification of the Kyoto Protocol is…
Newsletter
Vol. III, No. 5
Politics Iceland Will Not Sign Kyoto The first major defection from the Kyoto Protocol comes from an unlikely source.
Newsletter
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…
Newsletter
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…
Newsletter
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…
Newsletter
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…
Newsletter
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…
Products
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.
Newsletter
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…
Newsletter
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…
Newsletter
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…
Newsletter
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…
Newsletter
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…
Newsletter
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…
Newsletter
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…
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