The cover story in the Spectator this week is from economist and “rational optimist” Matt Ridley, arguing that climate change is good for the world. In it, he grandly declares that “the scientific consensus is that warmer temperatures do more good than harm”.
That’s simply not true. In the article, Ridley refers to a 2009 paper by economist Richard Tol, which summarises 14 studies (between 1994 and 2006) of the economic effects of future climate trends given a doubling of CO2. If you read the paper yourself, you’ll quickly see that Tol’s actual conclusion is that things start going downhill at about a +1C rise – which is projected to happen by 2030 regardless of what we do with emissions.
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