News Round-Up: Actual Cost of 'Net Zero', Myth of Dangerous CO2 and Arrest of the New Zealand's Whistleblower

Every week, the editorial team of Freedom Research compiles a round-up of news that caught our eye, or what felt like under-reported aspects of news deserving more attention.

Over the past week, the following topics attracted our attention:

Renowned economists: 'Net Zero' means a significant economic contraction.

New Zealand: a whistleblower who published vaccine death figures was arrested.

MIT professor: calling climate change an existential threat is propaganda.

Covid-19 test study: unreliable rapid tests could increase transmission.

COP28 president and the science of phasing out fossil fuels: he seems to have found it after climate activist’s outcry.

Renowned economists: 'Net Zero' means a significant economic contraction

When asked whether humanity could achieve 'Net Zero' by 2050, three world-renowned economists answer in the affirmative. It is simply a question of the price that humanity will have to pay to implement such a plan.

Robert O. Mendelsohn, environmental economist and Professor of Economics at Yale University, along with David Maddison, Professor of Economics at the University of Birmingham, and Daigee Shaw, an economist currently working at Academia Sinica in Taiwan, write in the November issue of Climate Change Economics that the cost of achieving 'Net Zero' will be high for humanity.

Danish political scientist Bjorn Lomborg, who writes on climate issues, referred to the same journal on social media and pointed out that the costs of the "Net Zero" are almost 6 times higher than the benefits. Photo: screenshot.

Analysing various papers published on the subject, they conclude that it is, of course, possible to reduce humanity's carbon emissions to the point where so-called 'Net Zero' is achieved by 2050. "But the sacrifice that the world must make to achieve this plan is steep. The people living between 2030 and 2060 could lose as much as 15% of their consumption. The world after 2060 could be 10% poorer. The short timeline to achieve a very large transformation will be far more disruptive to the economy than planners hope," the researchers write.

They point out that a change of political course is likely to eventually hinder progress towards the target. "Countries invariably will be reluctant to give up control of their land and spend so lavishly on a global benefit. Europe and the United States, who will allegedly lead this effort, could easily find themselves making deep sacrifices for very little national gain. The sacrifice will be made, but if not by all, the climate will warm anyway," the scientists note. They add that, while the current target is linked to a temperature rise of no more than 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, relaxing this to 2 degrees would be much cheaper on the one hand and would not dramatically increase the alleged climate damage on the other.

New Zealand: whistleblower who published vaccine death figures was arrested

New Zealand authorities arrested a former statistician from the country's health agency, Te Whatu Ora, last Sunday, accused of illegally disclosing a large amount of vaccination data.

In late November specifically, Young published information compiled from his former employer's vaccination databases that does not show the safety of Covid vaccines in a good light. Depending on the batch of vaccines, the numbers are staggering. For example, deaths in one batch of vaccines reached 21.38% of those vaccinated in that batch, while more than 4% of those vaccinated in a particular batch died in as many as ten batches.

Social media users have been sharing this table which shows the central claims Barry Young made based on the data. Photo: screenshot.

That the data does indeed come from the country's health agency is acknowledged by representatives of the state and the agency itself. However, Te Whatu Ora's chief executive Margie Apa commented that Young has no background or experience in vaccines and that she believes he has been trying to spread misinformation. "Vaccination is safe and effective, and everyone should keep up to date with their shots to protect themselves, whanau, and their communities. We assure people there is no evidence whatsoever that vaccination is responsible for excess mortality in New Zealand," he said.

Coming from government officials and politicians, the story is more likely to revolve around the fact that there has been large-scale and illegal data leakage. However, it is asserted that the data released is all anonymous. This is the case, for example, of the country's Prime Minister, Christopher Luxon, who says that no sensitive data of individuals has been leaked. It is precisely the data leakage that opposition leader Chris Hipkins is concerned about.

Young was already in court on Monday this week after his initial arrest, where he was released on bail. He could face up to 7 years in prison.

MIT professor: calling climate change an existential threat is propaganda

Richard Lindzen, Professor Emeritus of atmospheric sciences at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), notes that while global warming due to the greenhouse effect is real, it poses no existential threat, reports The Epoch Times. According to him, the greenhouse effect is mainly caused by water vapour and clouds. However, CO2, methane, and nitrous oxide are minor constituents of the greenhouse effect.

According to Lindzen, even if we double CO2 emissions compared to current levels, climate change would not really be extensive – it would mean less than one degree of warming. But he added that even the three degrees of warming that some climate models are promising us is not really much.

According to Lindzen, calling climate change an existential threat is propaganda. He pointed out that even the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which is constantly working on the issue, has not actually called climate change an existential threat. According to Lindzen, the IPCC report says that climate change will reduce GDP by 3% by 2100. "Assuming the GDP has increased several times by then, that doesn't sound existential to most people," Lindzen noted.

Lindzen also said that CO2 reductions seem to be more of a dream of regulators. "If you control CO2, you control breathing; if you control breathing, you control everything. So this always is one temptation," he said. "The other temptation is the energy sector. No matter how much you clean fossil fuels, they will always produce water vapor and CO2," Lindzen explained. CO2 is treated like a poison and most people believe that CO2 is dangerous, he continued, but they forget that CO2 is essential. "This is a very strange pollutant; it's essential for plant life," Lindzen said. "Yet, because it is the inevitable product of fossil fuel burning in the energy sector, it's being attacked," he added.

Covid-19 test study: unreliable rapid tests could increase transmission

Self-testing recommendations for Covid-19 infection are back again in many parts of the world this virus season.

However, Vinay Prasad, a professor in the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics at the University of California in the United States, and Tracy Beth Høeg, his epidemiologist colleague at the same university, say in a newly published study that such continuous testing may actually increase the spread of the virus.

Professor Vinay Prasad and her colleague Dr. Tracy Beth Høeg show in their newly published study that continuous Covid-testing might actually increase the spread of the virus. Photo: screenshot.

The authors write that, based on studies, the diagnostic sensitivity of commonly used rapid antigen tests is less than 30%. Prasad and Høeg also point out that the PCR test, which is presented as the gold standard, also have a sensitivity at or near 0% the first 48 hours of infection. "Reliance on tests with low sensitivity could paradoxically increase transmission risk through false assurance. Furthermore, widespread testing has substantial direct and indirect costs, while its effectiveness for diminishing Covid-19 disease burden or improving overall community health is unclear," the study authors state.

In the absence of proven benefits from testing, Prasad and Høeg oppose both continued testing recommendations and public funding for such testing.

COP28 president and the science of phasing out fossil fuels: he seems to have found it after climate activist’s outcry

Comments by Sultan Al Jaber, President of this year's UN climate conference COP28, himself a UAE Minister and head of the national oil company, that there is no science behind phasing out fossil fuels and that this direction will lead people back into caves, caused quite a stir in climate activist circles in the first half of the week.

For example, climate scientist Michael Mann, known for his alarmist stances on climate change and the author of the widely quoted 'hockey-stick' climate graph misleadingly showing 20th century temperature rises, accused Al Jaber of making a complete mockery of the climate conference. There were many more condemnatory comments from activist scientists who advocate theories of the climate-destroying effects of anthropogenic CO2.

COP28 president Sultan Al Jaber caused quite a stir with his ‘no science behind phasing out fossil fuels’ comment. Photo: Wikimedia Commons.

Against a backdrop of great turmoil, Al Jaber took several steps back from his initial statement on Monday. First, he said he had great respect for science and that he himself had a background in both engineering and economics. He also reaffirmed that he still supports a move away from fossil fuels. "I have said over and over that the phase down and the phase out of fossil fuel is inevitable," he said.

On the other hand, one may wonder whether and how sincere all this is on his part. Even before the COP28 started, leaked documents revealed that the UAE was planning to use Dubai conference to sign new oil deals.

Allegedly, some 2,500 oil lobbyists are also present at the conference this year.

Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, President of the United Arab Emirates, hosted Russian President Vladimir Putin this week for talks on oil production as well.