Do Proposed Policies Efficiently Fight Global Warming?

Maybe not. That is the gist of an article in the WSJ, 1-28-2010 called Time for a Rethink on Global Warming: Mandated carbon cuts won't work by BJøRN LOMBORG. Here are the key exerpts:

"All the major climate economic models show that to achieve the much-discussed goal of keeping temperature rises under two degrees Celsius, we would have to impose a global tax on carbon emissions that, by the end of the century, would cost the world a phenomenal $40 trillion a year. Even the wealthiest of nations would have trouble paying that price."

"An expert panel including three Nobel Laureate economists concluded that devoting just 0.2% of global GDP—roughly $100 billion a year—to green-energy R&D could produce the kind of breakthroughs needed to fuel a carbon-free future. Not only would this be a much less expensive fix than trying to cut carbon emissions, it would also reduce global warming far more quickly."