Welfare, growth and environment: A sceptical review of The Skeptical Environmentalist by B. Lomborg

Lomborg's best-selling attempt to demolish environmental concerns has been praised by the Economist and the Financial Times, in stark contrast to the reactions of environmental scientists. We show in detail here how Lomborg selects statistics to support his optimistic views, and systematically neglects relevant but unfavourable evidence. He also ignores much of modern environmental economics, such as the use of genuine investment that captures environmental degradation, 'double dividends' from green taxation in the presence of unemployment, and local health benefits from abatement of emissions.