Bjørn Lomborg

One of the most overlooked development success stories right now is that the population without access to electricity has fallen below 1 billion for the first time since records began. New data from the International Energy Agency (IEA) shows that in 2017, 120 million people gained access to electricity, meaning more people today have access to electricity than ever before.

India has electrified all its villages; in Indonesia, the electrification rate is 95%, up from 50% in 2000. Kenya’s access rate has increased from 8% in 2000 to 73%, and Ethiopia has lifted access from 5% to 45% in the same time.

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I recently traveled to Ghana's capital Accra to discuss how to prioritize between many worthy opportunities for the country.

I met with high-level politicians as well as representatives from business, labor, clergy, academica and the donor community. It was encouraging to see how much support there was for a Ghana Priorities project, which would highlight smart policies in specific areas and produce a menu of spending options.

Together with Dr. Charles Mensa of the Institute of Economic Affairs, I wrote in Ghana's most influential newspaper, The Daily Graphic, that if just two per cent of the spending increase in Ghana's new budget would be spent even more effectively because of Copenhagen Consensus research, this would, over the next decade generate social benefits larger than the entire Ghanaian GDP last year.

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The climate summit in Poland has been given a boost in recent weeks by well-timed climate change reports shaping the news agenda. But if we dig deeper than most of the media did, these reports demonstrate what is wrong with global warming policy discussion.

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Over the past quarter-century climate change has received so much attention that it is sacrilegious to even point out that we face other vast, complex, expensive challenges including war and domestic violence, super-killers like tuberculosis and HIV, hunger and a lack of clean drinking water, gender inequality – and the list goes on. Many of these global challenges actually have a greater cost – and have policy responses that are better understood, more easily implemented, and will help humanity much more than our current response to climate change.

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One of the most overlooked development success stories right now is that the population without access to electricity has fallen below 1 billion for the first time since records began.

Having powered its own development through fossil fuels, rich countries now suggest poor countries to go without reliable energy sources in the name of the environment. That’s the wrong approach.

Find my latest article for Australia's highest circulating newspaper The Herald Sun and much more in my latest newsletter: http://ow.ly/4Jvz30nkzXc