Climate Policy Holy Wars: Clashing Secular Religions and Stubborn Economic Realities

Last month, President Obama gave environmentalists a rare climate policy victory by shelving, at least for now, the Keystone XL Pipeline. Yet this month's UN climate summit in Durban, South Africa, is widely expected to fail—perhaps allowing the Kyoto Protocol to expire without a replacement.

For 20 years proposals to make deep cuts in fossil fuel use have dominated the world's climate policy agenda; and for 20 years emissions have gone on rising. What are the alternatives, and on what basis should we assess them?

Further Reading

Lee Lane, History, Ideology, and U.S. Climate Policy, Hudson Institute Report (December 2011)