The Guardian reports today that long-time global warming contrarian Bjorn Lomborg has changed his tune a bit, and now acknowledges that climate change is “a challenge humanity must confront.”  In an interview with the paper, Lomborg calls for a carbon tax and a $100 billion annual investment in clean technologies and other solutions to climate disruption. 

Lomborg has never been among the outright climate deniers, acknowledging repeatedly over the years that he accepts the science confirming manmade global warming.  But until now he has downplayed the need for massive investment to solve the problem, and is often seen cavorting with the ExxonMobil-funded denier crowd.  In his 2007 book ‘Cool It,’ he argued that spending huge amounts of money to address climate change would do little to address the problem.  

Now it appears Lomborg has come to his senses, becoming an unlikely advocate for massive public investment in creating a low carbon energy future. 

“It’s about technologies, about realizing there’s a vast array of solutions,” he tells the Guardian.

Lomborg has even attracted the endorsement of U.N. climate chief Rajendra Pachauri – who once compared Lomborg to Hitler.  Dr. Pachauri supplied an unlikely endorsement of Lomborg’s forthcoming book, Smart Solutions to Climate Change.  “This book provides not only a reservoir of information on the reality of human-induced climate change, but raises vital questions and examines viable options on what can be done,” Pachauri wrote.

It will be interesting to see how the Exxon- and Koch-funded climate disinformation machine reacts to Lomborg’s new emphasis on fighting climate change.