Center on Climate and Environmental Policy

Environment

The Heartland Institute's Center on Climate and Environmental Policy produces an ambitious program of research and educational projects in defense of free-market environmentalism. It has assembled a team of leading scientists and economic experts to participate in the production of books, videos, a monthly public policy newspaper, events, and other public relations activities.

The environmental movement needs voices devoted to sound science and market-based, rather than government-based, solutions to environmental problems. The nation's air and water quality, the safety of its food, and the health and productivity of its forests all depend on bringing the best-available science and economic research to bear on protecting the environment.

Heartland has organized and hosted six International Conferences on Climate Change, events that attracted extensive international attention to the debate taking place in the scientific community over the causes, extent, and consequences of climate change.

Press Releases: Environment

Ideas

  • Hydraulic Fracturing

    New natural gas discoveries in shale rock formations and rapid technological advances to recover the gas have improved the U.S. domestic energy outlook. Shale extraction has proven remarkably safe for the environment and the newfound abundance of domestic natural gas reserves promises unprecedented energy prosperity and security.
  • CAFE standards sacrifice lives for oil

    CAFE standards require car and truck manufacturers to produce fleets of vehicles that meet government –determined fuel economy levels. The Obama administration has dramatically raised those standards, which will increase the cost of cars and trucks by thousands of dollars. High CAFE standards also increase highway fatalities and don’t significantly reduce emissions. Instead of increasing CAFE, Congress should abolish them.
  • Global Warming: Not a Crisis

    How much of the warming of the second half of the twentieth century was natural and how much was man-made? Did the warming continue into the twenty-first century? What are consequences of moderate warming? What, if anything, should be done? These are all legitimate questions that people all around the world are asking. The Heartland Institute, “a major force among climate sceptics” (according to the science journal Nature), publishes books and studies, produces videos, and hosts international conferences on this important topic.