This was nothing short of spectacular.

A new study claims that loss of productivity because of climate change could result in a 19% reduction in the world economy by 2049. Despite the number being significantly higher than previous studies, the authors claim their numbers are conservative and could be as high 29% of the global GDP. Climate activists were quick to latch onto the study, calling for more aggressive measures to prevent climate change and fund mitigation efforts.

The study, The economic commitment of climate change, was published in Nature on April 17 by researchers at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, also known as PIK, a non-profit organization funded by the German government.

The author, Jon McGowan, then weighs in. Despite not being an economist, he is an attorney who has a background in litigating ESG cases.

While I am not an economist, in my opinion the data seems flawed. According to a study published by NOAA in January 2024, the average temperature has risen 2° F since 1850. In that same period, the global GDP increased from $1.73 trillion to $134.08 trillion. If we accept the climate projection models used in the study, it dismisses the resiliency of human nature and our ability to overcome economic challenges.

You can read the manuscript here. As McGowan correctly reveals, even if the study’s authors are not hypothesizing (which they admit doing so in the study’s text), there are valid reasons to question the scientist’s forecasts. Even if the .5 degree Celsius of warming occurred, it would not be any different than what humans have experienced anyway.

Additionally, the basis of the NOAA study are climate model predictions despite a lack of evidence to support any assertions that serious weather disasters are the result of climate change. However, it is very likely that continued warming will be a net benefit from humans, and not a liability. Four years a ago. a Canadian study revealed that thousands of new acres of agricultural land in Canada and Russia will be available for crop production over the next 20 years.

Thanks to Luminar Technologies CEO Austin Russell, Forbes is no longer the woke publication it used to be resulting from its (now former) Chinese owners. Commentaries like this and news reports, like their recent uncovering of a renewable energy scam, would have been unheard of over a year ago.