Alan Moran

Alan Moran

Credentials

Background

Alan Moran is an economist and former employee of the Australian think tank Institute of Public Affairs (IPA), which has campaigned heavily against carbon price legislation. Moran’s personal website is called “Regulation Economics.” 4About,Regulation Economics. Archived October 12, 2021. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/b6V1e Australian opinion writer Tristan Edis described Moran as “one of the most vociferous and long-standing opponents of renewable energy and controls on greenhouse gas emissions in this country.”5Tristan Edis. “Alan Moran dumped by IPA โ€“ a lesson for Abbott?The Australian, August 26, 2014. Archived October 12, 2021. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/Qq8NC Crikey described Alan Moran and Bob Carter as “two darlings of Australiaโ€™s climate sceptic movement [who] have been dumped by their universities.”6Cathy Alexander. “Censorship? Climate sceptics culled from universities,” Crikey, July 12, 2013. Archived September 24, 2020. Archive URL: https://archive.is/ZP1xf

From 1996 to 2014, Moran was the director of the “Deregulation Unit”7People & Associates:Alan Moran,” Institute of Public Affairs. Archived August 31, 2007. Archive URL:https://archive.ph/n8NHg at Institute of Public Affairs (IPA). IPA has been funded by mining magnate Gina Rineheart.8Graham Readfearn. โ€œBillionaire Mining Magnate Gina Rinehart Revealed As Key Donor to Australian Climate Science Denial Promoter Institute of Public Affairs,โ€ DeSmog, July 17, 2018.

The Institute of Public Affairs fired Alan Moran in 2014, stating at the time that the cause was concerns about Moran’s “social media activity,” The Australian reported. Moran had recently tweeted, “Is there ever anything but evil coming from Islam?”9Tristan Edis. “Alan Moran dumped by IPA โ€“ a lesson for Abbott?The Australian, August 26, 2014. Archived October 12, 2021. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/Qq8NC

Moran is listed as a director of the Australian Environment Foundation (AEF), alongside Joanne Nova and Peter Ridd.10OUR PEOPLE,” Australian Environment Foundation. Archived October 12, 2021. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/RaKVV

Graham Readfearn, writing in The Guardian in 2018, described AEF as “an ‘environment charity’ that promotes views that wind turbines make you sick, that human-caused climate change isnโ€™t really a thing, and that environmentalists (the other sort) are killing farmers, fisheries and the economy.”11“Graham Readfearn. “Inside the AEF, the climate denial group hosting Tony Abbott as guest speaker,” The Guardian, June 14, 2018. Archived October 13, 2021. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/dbwVX

In a February 2006 speech, Australia Institute director Clive Hamilton described Moran as one of Australia’s climate change “dirty dozen”:12Clive Hamilton. “The Dirty Politics of Climate Change” (PDF), The Australia Institute, February 20, 2006. Archived .pdf on file at DeSmog.

“As the head of the Regulatory Unit at the Institute for Public Affairs, a right-wing think tank with close ties to greenhouse sceptics, Moran’s role has been to support the Government and the fossil fuel corporations with anti-environmental opinions about climate science, the costs of emission reductions and the pitfalls of renewable energy. As a bureaucrat in the Kennett Government he played a major role in stopping, for a time, the national adoption of energy performance standards for home appliances that had been agreed by all the states. The IPA has assisted the anti-wind lobby in Victoria, a move that appears to be driven by hatred of environmentalists and a relentless scepticism about climate change.”

Alan Moran was born and educated in the United Kingdom, where he worked as a market analyst in the automobile manufacturing industry. In 1974 he moved to Australia.13People & Associates:Alan Moran,” Institute of Public Affairs. Archived August 31, 2007. Archive URL:https://archive.ph/n8NHg

According to a version of his IPA website biography archived in 2007, in Australia Alan Moran “has worked in a range of positions with the Federal Departments of Trade and Industry and Commerce. He headed up the Commonwealth’s Business Regulation Review Unit and in 1990 joined the Industry Commission. He then joined the Tasman Institute as Research Director where he worked on privatization and environmental economics, before joining the Victorian Department of Agriculture, Energy and Minerals, where he was Deputy-Secretary of Energy.”14People & Associates:Alan Moran,” Institute of Public Affairs. Archived August 31, 2007. Archive URL:https://archive.ph/n8NHg

The now-defunct Tasman Institute was a neo-liberal think tank that, over the course of various mergers, became part of the consultancy ACIL Allen in 2002.15Welcome from our CEO,” ACIL Allen. Archived April 19, 2023. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/wip/tRck7

Alan Moran & Tobacco

February 1998

In an article for the Institute of Public Affairs publication IPA Review titled “The Sot Weed Offensive,” Alan Moran criticized the American tobacco industry’s multi-billion dollar settlement with the U.S. government, terming “anti-smoking crusades as a new puritanism.”16Alan Moran. “The Sot Weed Offensive,IPA Review Vol. 50. No. 2, Institute of Public Affairs, February 1998. Retrieved from IPA.org. Archived .pdf on file at DeSmog.

Under “Recent IPA Publications,” the same issue mentioned a policy analysis by Alan Moran, “Soaking the Poor: Discriminatory Taxation of Tobacco, Alcohol and Gambling,” published in December 1996 by the IPA as part of its Tax Reform Project. The blurb stated that the paper “vividly describes [the] punishing effects” of alcohol, tobacco, and gambling taxes “on low-income learners [and] critically examines the incidence and effects of these taxes and concludes that they need to be radically reformed, as part of a general reform of the tax system.”17Alan Moran. “The Sot Weed Offensive,IPA Review Vol. 50. No. 2, Institute of Public Affairs, February 1998. Retrieved from IPA.org. Archived .pdf on file at DeSmog.

November 1997

Alan Moran was mentioned in a November 1997 letter from Mike Nahan of the Institute of Public Affairs to Bob Deards of the Tobacco Information Centre. “We are planning a number of things that will be of interest to your members,” the letter began, going on to outline Moran’s work in a third item:18[Letter from Mike Nahan to Bob Deards regarding death and sickness among Australian smokers], Institute of Public Affairs, November 14, 1997. Held by the Truth Tobacco Industry Documents collection at the University of California, San Francisco Library. UCSF Library URL: https://www.industrydocuments.ucsf.edu/docs/stfd0204

“Alan Moran is writing a feature article for the December 1997 edition of the IPA Review. It draws from three contemporary pieces of work: the revamped ‘blue book’ prepared by ACIL on the cost & benefits of smoking, a recent article by Robert Bork defending people’s choice to smoke and the Alan’s analyses in ‘Soaking the Poor’. The article will address the issues from the viewpoint of the economics and morality of individual choice.”

The letter also mentioned that the IPA planned to publish a book titled “Science Without Sense: The Risky Business of Public Health Research” by Steven Milloy, who Nahan described as “an American public health specialist and lawyer.”

Stance on Climate Change

August 13, 2021

In a column for the Spectator, Alan Moran dismissed the findings of the recently-released Sixth Assessment Report on climate science by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC):19Alan Moran. “The IPCC buries two millennia of fluctuating temperatures,” Spectator, August 13, 2021. Archived October 14, 2021. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/OwQtL

“Climate scientists have a vested interest in discovering human-induced adverse spillovers from market based economic activity. The global warming agenda, cultivated over the past 30 years, has catapulted scientists from white-coated boffins who were decidedly low on the public sector pecking order, to the arbiters of national policies with all the perks and funding this entails.”

Referring to assertions by “the world’s most distinguished and celebrated atmospheric physicist Richard Lindzen,” Moran downplayed the risks of climate change:20Alan Moran. “The IPCC buries two millennia of fluctuating temperatures,” Spectator, August 13, 2021. Archived October 14, 2021. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/OwQtL

“Lindzenโ€™s fastidious reliance on science, positions him as estimating that a (human-induced) doubling of atmospheric CO2 will mean a 1.1ยฐC global temperature rise. On his estimates, almost all of this has already occurred and it will not markedly shift the climateโ€™s hospitability to man, beast and flora.”

Alan Moran also quoted a tweet from Alex Epstein, in which Epstein described the IPCC as “primarily a religious and political organization that manipulates science.”

January 24, 2014

Moran wrote the following in the IPA’s publication, IPA Review:21Alan Moran. “The Heavy Cost Of Renewable Energy Requirements,” IPA Review, January 24, 2014. Archived October 12, 2021. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/W6z0u

“Climate alarmists latch onto every climate catastrophe as evidence that mankind is destroying the planet. Even the recent NSW bushfires were attributed to previous emissions of carbon dioxide, with dark mutterings that Tony Abbott would exacerbate matters, in spite of the fact that the most recent IPCC report had been forced to acknowledge that there had been no increases in temperatures or extreme events over the past 10-15 years.

“Even if greenhouse gases were bringing about harmful climate change, there is nothing that Australia can do to mitigate this โ€“ 90 per cent of the world emissions are now attributable to nations which will not moderate such activity within their own domestic economies.

“With the carbon tax to be terminated, attention therefore needs to be turned to repealing the renewable requirements.”

Key Quotes

October 12, 2014

Alan Moran was a guest on the talk radio show of Michael McLaren to talk about climate change. Moran said: 22Greenhouse,” Regulation Economics. Archived .mp3 on file at DeSmog.

“The actual cost, if the global warming were to take place along the lines foreshadowed, would be quite small. It would be like the amount over 100 years less than half a year’s growth in the world economy and even that has got a lot of things in which you’re gilding the lily and would suggest that even that’s a gross exaggeration. So, you know, this is not there’s no catastrophic outcomes likely to emerge from warming, even if it takes place.

[…]

“The point is, who knows, are the temperatures going to go up, down or sideways? Nobody knows. I mean, there is a theory attached to the increase in carbon dioxide that they would go up somewhat a little bit. That theory is not being sustained by the evidence over the past 18 years. It may well be true, the theory. But then again, if it is true, the answer is that there would be a slight increase anyway. It will only be an increase of over one and a half or two degrees centigrade. And that increase will have a trivial cost to the economies of the world. By trying to combat it, as we found out in Australia with, you know, you talked about energy poverty or we’re seeing industries disappearing because the costs have gotten too high, trying to combat it will have a catastrophic effect on the economy.”

May 31, 2013

In a piece for the IPA Review, Alan Moran criticized carbon taxes as pointless:23Alan Moran. “Burying The Truth About Global Warming,IPA Review, Institute of Public Affairs,24 May 31, 2013. Archived October 12, 2021. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/LmlhB

“Even if mankind is causing the earth to warm the carbon tax always relied on vacuous credulity, since its success assumes the rest of the world will follow Australiaโ€™s leadership.

[…]

“So what is it we know about human induced global warming? The most important emission is carbon dioxide, the atmospheric content of which has varied between 0.15 and 0.3 per cent over the past half million years. It is only harmful to humans or other animals at concentrations of over 10 per cent and life actually evolved when the atmospheric content was about 7 per cent.

“A doubling of carbon dioxide content to about 0.6 per cent is likely over the coming century. Almost all scientists agree that the main direct effect of this is to increase average global temperatures by slightly over 1ยฐC (beyond a doubling of its share, further carbon dioxide increases have a negligible climate effect).

“Most models estimate that this is compounded by feedbacks bringing 2-4ยฐC temperature increases. But those feedback effects are unproven and their impact may even be negative. This is at the heart of the differences between โ€˜warmistsโ€™ and โ€˜deniersโ€™.

“Higher temperatures stemming from carbon dioxide emissions are likely to compound what most scientists speculate is a trend recovery from the cooler climate experienced during the โ€˜Little Ice Ageโ€™ (which ended a century and a half ago).

“Each summer brings โ€˜the hottest day everโ€™ claims for some area. Sometimes we hear โ€˜the coldest day everโ€™ claims. And many cite these occurrences and well publicised storms as proof that โ€˜climate changeโ€™ (the new euphemism for โ€˜global warmingโ€™) is taking place. But these extreme weather events turn out to be unexceptional.”

September 28, 2005

Speaking to columnist Gerard McManus of the Herald Sun, Alan Moran proposed making Australia the permanent home for the world’s nuclear waste:25Gerald McManus. “Hawke’s cash-for-waste idea,” Herald Sun, September 28, 2005. Archived October 31, 2005. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/NTnvr

“Institute of Public Affairs economist Alan Moran said Australia would earn massive and steady income by offering to solve the problem of a permanent home for the world’s nuclear waste.

“‘It poses no threat, there have been no mishaps since 1944, but Australia could provide a permanent solution to other countries’ problems,’ he said.”

Key Actions

February 2021

Alan Moran appeared on Sky News Australia to discuss a net zero emissions plan. “We’ve gone through the situation where we’ve demonized coal so much and we’ve subsidized wind and solar, so much that wind and solar are now 20 percent of our supply, which plays havoc with the stability of the supply as it massively increased the costs has increased other costs,” said Moran. “In fact, the net zero is basically a continuation of this, an intensification of this, and it really runs amuck in terms of what it could do to our industry.”

June 30, 2017

Alan Moran released a report commissioned by far-right Australian Senator Malcolm Roberts to “critically assess the Finkel Final Report” on the future security of Australia’s national energy supply. In his report, which was highly critical of the Finkel report’s recommendations, Moran described his “client” Sen. Roberts as someone with “considerable business experience in coal mining, processing and transport [who] has developed a key expertise in climate change data and facts.”26Alan Moran. “The Finkel Reportโ€™s Recommendations on the Future Security of the National Electricity Market: Impacts on the Australian Economy and Australian Consumers” (PDF), Regulation Economics, June 30, 2017. Archived .pdf on file at DeSmog.

The Finkel Report was commissioned by the energy ministers of the Coalition of Australian Governments, as an “independent review of the national electricity market to take stock of its current security and reliability and to provide advice to governments on a coordinated national reform blueprint.” Alan Finkel, Australia’s chief scientist, chaired the expert panel that conducted the review.27Independent Review into the Future Security of the National Electricity Market,” Australian Government Department of Industry, Science, Energy and Resources. Archived October 13, 2021. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/OQOeO 28Alan Finkel, Karen Moses, Chloe Munro, Terry Effeney, Mary’OKane. “Independent Review into the Future Security of the National Electricity Market – Blueprint for the Future,” Commonwealth of Australia, June 1, 2017. Archived April 20, 2023. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/wip/PTO1I

Alan Moran wrote that “the Finkel proposals should be rejected and regulatory distortions on energy supply should be removed.” He suggested that Australia should “abolish the Commonwealthโ€™s Renewable Energy Target (RET) and the subsidies” and “cease all government subsidies through the budget including guarantees to bodies like the Clean Energy Regulator and the Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC).”29Alan Moran. “Independent Review into the Future Security of the National Electricity Market,” Australian Government Department of Industry, Science, Energy and Resources. Archived October 13, 2021. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/OQOeO

May 2017

Alan Moran was the “prime author” of a submission on climate change policies โ€“ commissioned by the Australian Environment Foundation โ€“ to the Australian Department of Environment and Energy.30Alan Moran. “SUBMISSION TO DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENT AND ENERGY: 2017 REVIEW OF CLIMATE CHANGE POLICIES” (PDF), Australian Environment Foundation, May 2017. Archived .pdf on file at DeSmog.

The submission contended that “pursuit of policies designed to supress [sic] emissions of carbon dioxide and other ‘greenhouse gases’ is severely harming the Australian economy with no compensatory environmental benefits:31Alan Moran. “SUBMISSION TO DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENT AND ENERGY: 2017 REVIEW OF CLIMATE CHANGE POLICIES” (PDF), Australian Environment Foundation, May 2017. Archived .pdf on file at DeSmog.

“The measures addressed in this submission are only some of those Australia has introduced to
pursue a meaningless and impossible goal of reducing global carbon dioxide emissions. The
measures should be rescinded at the earliest opportunity.”

Near the submission’s conclusion, Alan Moran cited work by Richard Lindzen that supposedly disproved “the notion that 97 per cent of scientists agree that dangerous global warming is taking place,” and claimed that Lindzen had proven that “there has been no increase in extreme weather events and shows that in a warmer world such events should be reduced.”

June 2015

Alan Moran was a guest speaker at the Heartland Institute‘s Tenth International Conference on Climate Change. Moran’s presentation was titled “Global Cost of Emission Restraints and Challenges Posed by Renewable Power.32Alan Moran, ICCC10 (Panel 10),” ClimateConferences.Heartland.org. Archived .mp4 on file at DeSmog.

January 12, 2015

Alan Moran, identifying himself as “chief executive officer, Regulation Economics,” made a submission33Submissions received by the Committee,” Parliament of Australia Select Committee on Wind Turbines. Accessed October 13, 2021. to the Select Committee on Wind Turbines established by the Australian Senate. In his introduction, Moran claimed global warming had not been occurring for 15 years, citing work by Richard Lindzen:34Alan Moran. “Submission to Senate Committee on Wind Turbines,” Regulation Economics, January 12, 2015. Archived .pdf on file at DeSmog.

“The world was warming for two centruries [sic] before human induced emissions of greenhouse gases were at a level that might influence climate and the possible augmentation these may cause is small. Moreover, the world has not shown any discernable [sic] warming for the past 15 years in spite of increased emissions of greenhouse gases.”

Moran claimed in his submission that “renewable energy, at least in its dominant form through wind turbines is not becoming relatively cheaper compared with other forms of electricity.”35Alan Moran. “Submission to Senate Committee on Wind Turbines,” Regulation Economics, January 12, 2015. Archived .pdf on file at DeSmog.

Alan Moran also claimed that “the costs to Australia in continuing to force electricity customers to incorporate uncommercial renewable energy within their aggregate supply are considerable.”36Alan Moran. “Submission to Senate Committee on Wind Turbines,” Regulation Economics, January 12, 2015. Archived .pdf on file at DeSmog.

Moran also testified at the hearing via teleconference, and posted the transcript on his website. “The truth is that regulations that force the spending of money and the creation of jobs in ventures that require subsidies mean less overall income and, with the wage inflexibilities which we have in Australia, fewer jobs. Capital and labour are diverted from more productive activities, and everyone except the direct recipients of the government largesse is worse off,” Moran testified.37“Transcript of Alan Moran’s testimony to the Select Committee on Wind Turbines,” January 12, 2015. Archived October 13, 2021. Archive URL: https://web.archive.org/web/20211013211809/https://35b1ca50-ea91-45c2-825d-3e16b7926e46.filesusr.com/ugd/b6987c_7d8337088454417db987ef6dd694dcde.pdf

“I would add that there is the issue about the ultimate justification for the renewable scheme, which is a means of reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Whatever the case may be for this, it is clearly not optimal to do it by specifying a particular means of meeting the goal in terms of renewables.”

During the hearing, there was an exchange between Alan Moran and Anne Urquhart, Senator for Tasmania, regarding Moran’s views on climate change and renewables:

Anne Urquhart: “Thanks, Dr Moran, for that opening statement. Do you disagree with the vast majority of climate scientists and global bodies that human activity is having a significant impact on climate change?”

Alan Moran: “No, I do not necessarily disagree with that, although I am reluctant to dip my foot in that water. It is not my area of expertise. I read the literature, as indeed you have, and I think most people would suggest that human activity has had some effects. The issue is what effects, whether it has been trivial or whether it has been quite substantial. It certainly has increased the amount of carbon dioxide and similar gases in the atmosphere, and there is a physics equation of this with higher levels of temperature.”

AU: “In your submission you have said that there has been no discernible warming for the past 15 years, but the UN’s World Meteorological Organization say that 13 of the hottest 14 years have occurred this century. They have also said that the last three decades have been warmer than the preceding ones. So do you disagree with those claims?”

AM: “I do not know about the first one, but the second one is probably true because the earth has been warming for about a hundred years, for reasons that have nothing to do with the greenhouse phenomena. What is certainly trueโ€”and three sources of satellite data confirm thisโ€”is that there has been no discernible warming for the last 15 or 17 years, depending on what series of data you use. I do not think that is controversial. Certainly the interpretation of that is controversial. Some say that it is simply a pause and that the heat is hiding in the deep ocean, or wherever it is, and that it will resume in the future, but certainly the evidence from all the satellite data is that there has not been a warming for the last 15 or 17 years.”

AU: “You have also argued against the RET. What role do you think renewables should
play in Australia’s economic transition as the mining boom recedes?”

AM: “Zero role. Anything that renewables doโ€”certainly as a result of subsidiesโ€”would detract
from economic growth and job creation.”

March 2014

Alan Moran was credited as editor of the 2014 edition of the IPA’s publication “Climate Change: The Facts.”38Climate Change โ€“ The Facts 2014,Institute of Public Affairs, March 10, 2014. Archived October 12, 2021. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/jqgbN Moran contributed a chapter titled “Costing climate change” and also wrote the introduction.39Alan Moran. “Climate Change: the facts 2014,” Catallaxy Files, December 16, 2014. Archived October 31, 2016. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/KFWhs

“My own chapter (Alan Moran) sets the context of the debate by examining the costs of taking action (which are considerable and massively understated by the IPCC) and any benefits of doing so (which are slender and overstated by the IPCC),” Moran wrote in the introduction. “And the chapter notes that any gains rely on the unlikely event of a comprehensive international agreement.”

October 1, 2010

Alan Moran spoke at the Heartland Institute-sponsored “Pac-Rim Conference on Climate Change” in Sydney, Australia. His speech was called, “Lower CO2 Levels: Costs, Benefits and Possibilities.” Robert (Bob) Carter, Chris de Freitas, David Evans, Jim Lakely, Barun Mitra, and Joanne Nova also spoke at the event. 40Lower CO2 Levels: Costs, Benefits and Possibilities,” ClimateConferences.Heartland.org. Accessed October 13, 2021. Archived .mp4 on file at DeSmog.

May 2010

Speaking on “Emissions Abatement Measures: Their Clear Costs and Unlikely Benefits.” at the Heartland Institute‘s Fourth International Conference on Climate Change, Alan Moran said the “actual cost” of climate change, “even on the adverse assumptions being made, is quite trivial.”41Alan Moran, ICCC4,” ClimateConferences.Heartland.Org. Archived .mp4 on file at DeSmog.

Alan Moran: [00:02:45] So the storyline is that at a price of $50 a tonne of CO2, or perhaps even $100 a tonne of CO2, we can reduce emissions and stabilize companies on a global basis. $50 a tonne, of course, means doubling the cost of electricity, and for it to bring about the abatement requires quite bold assumptions, I think, involving the energy substitutes and supply flexibilities. [00:03:14]

[00:07:14] all of these estimates are basically done by economists who just take the science as given, and they more or less accept the costs of the doom laden aspects of scientific notions. Thus most of the the public statements and costs of living harp on about things like dengue fever and another long defeated disease that could only show a resurrection, as Jay Lehr said actually, with DDT could only show a resurrection if we decided that we were going to ban DDT as we have, which is allowed to resurrect malaria. And some of the now discredited cost elements that are associated with the intensification of hurricanes or lower production of food in Africa. And even things like the reduction of the the coastal areas, inundation of coastal areas. Even the IPCC has tended to downplay that so much more recent report . So that the cost benefit, the costs of the global warming, you know, relatively even at the most, the subjects are, it would cost the world plus two or minus two point five percent of GDP. [00:08:29]

[00:09:08] So what we’re actually talking about is a cost which, even on doom-laden forecasts, is about 2.5 percent of GDP at most, in the context of world GDP growing many, many times more than that, perhaps 900 percent. So, you know, in that sense, the actual cost of that of global warming, even on the adverse assumptions being made is quite trivial. [00:09:37]

Moran concluded:

[00:20:20] What we can see is that there will not be a new international carbon tax. Absolutely out of the question. The economics has fallen prey to reality, the costs involved. So it’s now time to take the offensive. And I think we’ve got to think in terms of a variation of the the peace dividend that occurred once the Soviet Union was overturned following the Cold War. That waste that was involved in armaments, et cetera, is similar to the way it’s been accompanied by the great climate scare over the past 15 years. [00:20:52]

DeSmog research on the co-sponsors of the conference found that 19 of the 65 sponsors, including Heartland itself, had received more than $40 million in funding from ExxonMobilKoch Industries family foundations or the Scaife family foundations since 1985.42Brendan DeMelle. “Denial-a-palooza Round 4: ‘International Conference on Climate Change’ Groups Funded by Exxon, Koch Industries,” DeSmog, May 13, 2010.

March 2008

Moran was a speaker at the Heartland Institute‘s first International Conference on Climate Change (ICCC1). His talk was titled, “Economic Implications of Climate Change Measures.”43Alan Moran, ICCC1,ClimateConferences.Heartland.Org. Archived .mp4 on file at DeSmog.

Alan Moran: [00:06:18] “Now we had a bit of a discussion about reducing carbon dioxide emissions by other forms of fuel and of course, there’s absolutely no question about it: wind and and any other, solar is basically in a dead end, at least any technology we can think of. But nuclear isn’t.” [00:06:37]

[00:08:05] “This chart, I think, which just happens to be Australia, but other countries are pretty much the same, it really just illustrates the impossibility of meeting the emission reductions by replacing coal with nuclear […] the fact is that electricity is only about 35 percent of the CO2 equivalent emissions. So if you reduce, use it all, we don’t have anything like to the sort of levels we have been talking about to get that world per capita level two and a half tons, which is again is quartering the existing OECD level.” [00:08:50]

[00:11:52] “So we’ve seen energy costs already rising strongly in OECD countries and the likely to be self-inflicted measures to reduce emissions. But the task is sought by those who want to achieve what the diversion of avoiding catastrophic human-induced warming would require quite massive disruption. Things that we’ve never even considered before. It’ll bring an additional loss of income as we are diverted from buying things from countries and also from countries which are low cost energy sources. Of course it will retard, probably making possible the growth of the developing countries.” [00:12:39]

Affiliations

Social Media

Publications

“Greenhouse Articles”

Alan Moran has listed more than 200 “Greenhouse Articles” on his Regulation Economics website. Note: DeSmog has not checked the veracity of the following links.

Other Resources

Resources

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