Can poor countries afford a lid on greenhouse gases?

However, powerful interest groups have spent hundreds of millions of dollars convincing us that without urgent reductions in emissions of greenhouse gases, the climate may warm uncontrollably, with disastrous effects. As a result, there is considerable pressure on politicians to take action.

 Unfortunately, the organisation set up to advise governments on this question, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, is also biased towards alarmism. The most recent IPCC report repeats controversial claims of a dramatic rise in sea level and increased incidence of extreme weather events. By tragic coincidence, a massive cyclone struck the Bay of Bengal just as the Valencia meeting began, adding graphic weight to both claims--but adding no empirical weight to either.