Skip to main content

Patz: Climate Change: More Losers Than Winners

In his April 7 op-ed “An Overheated Climate Alarm” Bjorn Lomborg targets the recent Federal Climate and Health Assessment, focusing on the balance between cold-related deaths avoided and heat-related deaths caused by climate change. He complains that the report “not once” mentions that more people die of cold than heat—a complaint that is plainly false (see the chapter on temperature). Mr. Lomborg is right that cold-related deaths will decline, but quantitatively comparing this health benefit with the health penalties of hotter weather and more heat waves is complex, as the report clearly acknowledges.