Major reductions in carbon emissions are not worth the money.

The panelists in the latest Intelligence Squared U.S. debate included (from left) Bjorn Lomborg, Philip Stott, L. Hunter Lovins, Oliver Tickell and Adam Werbach. Longview Photography

Intelligence Squared Debate (Tuesday, January 13, 2009)

Presented by John Donvan from New York six panellists debated the motion:

Major reductions in carbon emissions are not worth the money.

With potentially staggering costs involved, are efforts to make major reductions in carbon emissions even worth it? Would the money be better spent elsewhere? Or, does the amount of money involved become less important when considering the possible consequences of climate change?

A panel of experts recently took on these questions in an Oxford-style debate. The motion for the Jan. 13 debate, part of the Intelligence Squared U.S. series, was: "Major Reductions in Carbon Emissions Are Not Worth the Money."

Three experts argued in favor of the motion; three against. Before the debate, the audience at Symphony Space in New York City voted 16 percent in favor of the motion and 49 percent against, with 35 percent undecided. By the end of the debate, those arguing for the motion had changed the most minds: Forty-two percent voted in favor of the proposition "Major Reductions in Carbon Emissions Are Not Worth the Money," while 48 percent voted against it and 10 percent were still undecided.

John Donvan is a correspondent for ABC News Nightline. He has served over a career of more than two decades in the following capacities for ABC News: chief White House correspondent, chief Moscow correspondent, Amman bureau chief, Jerusalem correspondent and correspondent for the ABC News magazine Turning Point.

Donvan's most recent major assignment was covering the war in Iraq as a unilateral reporter, for which the Chicago Sun Times named him one of the ten war stars.

Speakers for the motion

Peter Huber
Most recent book is The Bottomless Well (2005), co-authored with Mark P. Mills. He is a partner of the Washington, D.C. law firm of Kellogg, Huber, Hansen, Todd, Evans, and Figel, a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute, and a columnist for Forbes. Huber served as an assistant and later associate professor at MIT for six years.

Bjorn Lomborg
The author of the bestsellers Cool It and The Skeptical Environmentalist. He was named one of the 100 most influential people in the world by Time magazine in 2004, one of the "50 people who could save the planet" by the UK Guardian in 2008, one of the world's 75 most influential people of the 21st century by Esquire in 2008. He has written for numerous publications, including the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and the Economist. He is presently an adjunct professor at the Copenhagen Business School.

Philip Stott
An Emeritus Professor and biogeographer from the University of London, UK. Although a scientist, for the past ten years he has also employed modern techniques of deconstruction to grand environmental narratives, like “global warming.” Stott was editor of the internationally-important Journal of Biogeography for 18 years. He broadcasts widely on TV and radio, and writes regularly on environmental issues for The Times of London, among other publications

Speakers against the motion

L. Hunter Lovins
President of Natural Capitalism Solutions. Natural Capitalism creates practical tools and strategies enabling companies, communities and countries to increase prosperity and quality of life. Lovins consults for industries and governments globally, advising the Energy Minister of Afghanistan, briefing senior management of Wal-Mart, and writing the Economic Case for Climate Protection. Named 2008 Sustainability Pioneer and Time magazine Millennium Hero for the Planet. Her first climate book, Least Cost Energy: Solving the CO2 Problem was published in 1981.

Oliver Tickell
The author of Kyoto2 (2008) in which he sets out a novel international framework for the control of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere which promises to be effective, efficient and equitable—in contrast to the existing Kyoto Protocol and its failing flexibility mechanisms. Tickell’s extensive environmental knowledge and understanding was acquired as a journalist writing on environmental issues over a career going back some 20 years. He has written for all the UK's broadsheet newspaper titles and numerous magazines including New Scientist, the Ecologist and BBC Wildlife. He also spent a period as dedicated environment correspondent for the Independent.

Adam Werbach
Global chief executive officer at Saatchi & Saatchi S, is regarded as one of the world’s premier experts in sustainability. At age 23, he was elected as the youngest president ever of the Sierra Club, the oldest and largest environmental organization in the United States. In 1998, he founded sustainability agency, Act Now, to engage the corporate and media world in social, environmental, cultural and economic change. After ten successful years, Act Now merged with global ideas company Saatchi & Saatchi to form Saatchi & Saatchi S, the world’s largest sustainability agency. Werbach serves on the Advisory Board for the National Academy of Sciences, Climate Change Communications.

Ergebnisse:
Vor der Debatte // Nach der Debatte // Änderung
Für : // 16% // 42% // + 26%
Gegen : // 49% // 48% // - 1%
Unentschieden : // 35% // 10% // - 25%

Genauer Ablauf und alle Meinungen wurden als PDF- Datei zur Verfügung gestellt unter:

http://www.intelligencesquaredus.org/TranscriptContainer/CarbonEmissions011309.pdf