Prague - Fear of global climate change has no serious basis - this is what a resolute stance of all rational, freethinking and freedom-loving people should be.
Czech President Václav Klaus is going to say this in his speech at the Mont Pelerin Society meeting in Tokyo, Japan on Monday September 8.
His speech was published in advance by Lidové noviny daily. In the text, president Klaus warns that the public debate on the issue is controlled not by the science of climatology, but by an ideology that he calls "climatism".
"Our response to this ideology should be clear and uncompromising, because we are convinced that we know enough about the delicate and vulnerable human society, and how dangerous all efforts are to direct it from above," Klaus is going to announce in Tokyo.
The Mont Pelerin Society is an association of liberally oriented economists, businessmen and intellectuals.
Read more: Global warming to affect European birds drastically
Market forces irreplaceable
Klaus believes that the discussion is dominated by one-sided propaganda about the Greenhouse Effect, while serious economic arguments such as cost/benefit analyses of measures that are proposed are not voiced as frequently.
"We shouldn't let anybody try to play with the market and dictate who should produce what, how it should be produced, what inputs shall be used and what technologies implemented. This would cause a new, this time global, catastrophe and a real 'impoverishment of the masses', especially in developing countries. Some indications of this are already visible," Klaus say.
Technological progress is a solution
However, advances in technology will bring major developments that may transcend global climate changes.
Klaus claims that the only thing that can stop progress is the victory of the environmentalists.
Applying the Kuznets curve to the problem of environmentalism, Klaus comes to the conclusion that well-off people will demand greater protection of the environment. In the future, richer people will be able to decide rationally what to do over the issue, predicts the president.
In his speech, Klaus will also refer to Nicholas Stern, a British economist and the former vice-president of the World Bank who released a groundbreaking report in 2006 in which he concludes that addressing the issue of climate change as soon as possible is the best economic choice, stressing that the ethics of the issue can not be ignored. Stern attempted to make an estimate of the impact of global warming, which Klaus is to criticised.
Klaus will also comment on the emission limits trade, claiming that emission limits are nothing more than a different type of taxes. "In this case, I prefer explicit bans. They are much more comprehensible and can be removed more easily."
Read more: Study: Czech Rep. can cut its emissions in two
It is all about freedom
The emission caps trade, subsidized energy, or cultivation of crops for bio-fuels at the expense of food production are all the types of activities only certain interest groups benefit from, Klaus believes.
"The controversy is not about climatology, it is about freedom, prosperity and living conditions of millions. In order to avert a catastrophe, we should believe in human rationality and consequences of the social evolution more than in benefits of political activism," Klaus concludes in his speech.
