Showing 1 - 10 of 11
Climate fixation fails world's poor
Oped, Bjorn Lomborg, Published on 17/04/2026
» This week in Washington, more than 10,000 delegates, finance ministers, and central bankers are gathering for the World Bank and IMF Spring Meetings. Their stated goal: accelerate global development, drive economic growth, and lift billions out of poverty.
Climate week fanfare hides the poverty gap
Oped, Bjorn Lomborg, Published on 24/09/2025
» As world leaders converge on New York for the UN General Assembly and Climate Week, two incompatible visions are about to clash: rich-world elites obsessed with climate change versus developing nations battling poverty, hunger, and disease.
Pricey policies to curb climate change 'dead'
Oped, Bjorn Lomborg, Published on 28/11/2024
» The latest climate summit has been as hypocritical and dysfunctional as every one before, with most world leaders not even bothering to turn up. Still, 50,000 people flew in from across the world, while essentially telling the rest of us to stop flying. Poor-country politicians performatively staged a "walk-out", and rich nations ended up promising a climate slush fund of US$300 billion (about 10 trillion baht) a year.
Rich world raids development funds for climate
Oped, Bjorn Lomborg, Published on 27/01/2024
» Too many rich-world politicians and climate campaigners forget that much of the world remains mired in poverty and hunger. Yet, rich countries are increasingly replacing their development aid with climate spending. The World Bank, whose primary goal is to help people out of poverty, has now announced it will divert 45% of its funding toward climate change, shifting some US$40 billion annually away from poverty and hunger.
COP28 won't admit real cost of net zero
News, Bjorn Lomborg, Published on 06/12/2023
» The spectacle of another annual climate conference is getting underway in Dubai. Like Kabuki theater, performative set pieces lead from one to the other: politicians and celebrities arrive by private jets; speakers predict imminent doom; hectoring NGOs cast blame; political negotiations become fraught and inevitably go overtime; and finally: the signing of a new agreement that participants hope and pretend will make a difference.
Development goals need to be prioritised
Oped, Bjorn Lomborg, Published on 20/09/2023
» The world is failing on its development promises. These are known as the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), agreed by all governments in 2015 to be achieved by 2030. Progress across all these promises -- including in areas as important as eradicating poverty and ending hunger -- is happening at less than one-fourth of the pledged speed. On current trends, the world will reach its 2030 promises half a century late.
Why malaria still persists in much of Africa
News, Bjorn Lomborg, Published on 12/06/2023
» We think of malaria as a problem faced only by humid, hot countries. But just over a century ago, the disease thrived as far north as Siberia and the Arctic Circle, and was endemic in 36 states of the US. We don't have specific data that far back for Thailand, but back then, malaria is estimated to have killed 2.5 million people each year in the Western Pacific, Middle East and South Asia.
Two education policies to make a difference
News, Bjorn Lomborg, Published on 15/05/2023
» One thing that taxpayers and politicians agree on practically everywhere is that more money should be spent on children's education. This seems like a no-brainer: better education means children get a better start in life. But we need to be careful. Many popular educational investments deliver little or no learning, while we rarely hear about the most effective investments.
The digital solution to corruption
News, Bjorn Lomborg, Published on 27/03/2023
» Corruption is an enormous, global challenge, likely costing more than $1 trillion annually, or $120 (4,000 baht) for every person in the world. World leaders have long promised to tamp down on corruption, but unfortunately, we're getting nowhere. Now, new research identifies a surprisingly straight-forward, cheap way to reduce corruption that can also make countries hundreds of millions or even billions of dollars.
Time for a new 'green revolution'
Oped, Bjorn Lomborg, Published on 24/02/2023
» One of humanity's biggest achievements in the last century was making a huge increase in food production. From 1900 to 2000, there was a six-fold jump in crop harvests while the global population increased less than four-fold, meaning that on average people today have around 50% more food available than their great, great grandparents.