In 1990, average life expectancy around the globe was 65 years. By 2016, it had climbed to 72.5. In just 26 years, we gained 7.5 years of life.

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Bjorn Lomborg

A Better World Is Here

The belief that everything is getting worse paints a distorted picture of reality. The United Nations focuses on three categories of development: social, economic, and environmental. In each category, looking back over the last quarter-century, we have far more reason for cheer than fear. Indeed, this period has been one of extraordinary progress.

While getting the facts wrong can easily result in misguided, fear-based policies, a more balanced, fact-based recognition of what humanity has achieved enables us to focus our efforts on the areas where we can achieve the most good.

Read Bjorn Lomborg's new column for Project Syndicate in six languages. It was published by newspapers around the world, including Mail & Guardian (South Africa), Shanghai Daily (China), Arab News (Saudi Arabia), El Tiempo (Colombia), My Republica (Nepal), The New Times (Rwanda), The Times (Kuwait), Finmag (Czech Republic), Jornal de Negocios (Portugal) and Tageblatt (Luxembourg).

How Climate Policies Slam the World’s Poor

A new study has found that strong global climate action would cause far more hunger and food insecurity than climate change itself. Models suggest that climate change could put an extra 24 million people at risk of hunger. But a global carbon tax would increase food prices and push 78 million more people into risk of hunger, especially in sub-Saharan Africa and India.

Lomborg argues in New York Post that if we want to eradicate hunger, there are more effective ways, such as a global trade deal. And we need to get smarter about climate change, too, focussing on more investment into green energy R&D

Giving is a Very Serious Business

In India's largest business newspaper, The Economic Times, Lomborg and Prabhat Pani argue that companies engaging in corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives should take the same approach to giving as they do to every other aspect of their businesses: pay heed to the evidence and conditions, and seek to maximize returns. Empirical evidence can help them select the smartest investments.

The India Consensus projects are providing the economic evidence that helps governments and corporate givers alike to focus on policies that promise the highest social benefits for each rupee invested. Much can be achieved by focusing on a couple of ideas that economics shows should be prioritised.

The Smartest Policies for Haiti

If you were in the fortunate position of being able to direct how a large sum of money was spent to improve Haiti’s wellbeing and prosperity, what would you do? When anybody tries to answer this question, all of us encounter the same problem: there is little information on the cost of such interventions and even less on the benefits.

The new book "Haiti Prioritizes: costs and benefits for development solutions" (104 pages) is the result of our collaboration with more than 700 economists, experts, and researchers from Haiti and around the world, to identify and shift attention to the best policies for Haiti, giving its citizens a better chance at a more prosperous future.

In addition, the academic book "Haïti Priorise: un plan de développement alternatif" (617 pages in French) comprises edited versions of all 45 research papers, alongside the ranking and thoughts by each of the Eminent Panelists Ketleen Florestal, P.J. Raymond Magloire, Kesner Pharel, and Nobel Laureate Vernon Smith.

It is being distributed to government departments and universities in Haiti as a complement to accessing the research and recommendations on the Haiti Priorise website.

Lomborg on social media:

Vaccination rates in parts of Europe are lower than in some African countries

Vaccines wiped out polio

US normalized damage from landfalling hurricanes has not increased since 1900

Starbucks banned plastic straws, but new lids use more plastic than the old straw/lid combo

As problems get partially fixed, we tend to redefine the problem

European fire in 2018 is only about half the area burnt compared to the last 11 years

More global articles and interviews:

Are Wildfires Really Burning More Land?
BBC Radio 4, "More or Less"

Debatten: Kampen om klimaet
DR (Denmark)

To scenarier for verdensmålene i 2030
Mandag Morgen (Denmark)

El peligro de creer en las fórmulas milagrosas
El Tiempo (Colombia)

El Tratado de París, cada vez más lejos de cumplirse
Perfil (Argentina)

Hledejme levnou zelenou energii
Hospodarske noviny (Czech Republic)

Falscher Feueralarm
Basler Zeitung (Switzerland)

About Bjorn Lomborg and the Copenhagen Consensus

Dr. Bjorn Lomborg researches the smartest ways to improve the environment and the world, and has repeatedly been named one of Foreign Policy’s top 100 public intellectuals.

He is the author of several best-selling books, an adjunct professor at Copenhagen Business School and works regularly with many of the world’s top economists, including seven Nobel Laureates.

His think tank, the Copenhagen Consensus Center, was named Think Tank of the Year by Prospect Magazine, in US International Affairs. It has repeatedly been top-ranked by University of Pennsylvania in its global overview of think tanks.

Lomborg is a frequent commentator in print and broadcast media, for outlets including the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, The Guardian, CNN, FOX, and the BBC. His monthly column is published in 19 languages, in 30+ newspapers with more than 30 million readers globally.

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