August 12, 2008

Prioritizing actions and resources to address challenges facing the state while avoiding undue political pressure was the message delivered by Bjørn Lomborg of the Copenhagen Consensus Centre (CCC) at the Salt Lake Chamber today. 

Lomborg addressed business leaders, environmental groups and elected officials, laying a foundation for prioritizing action on energy issues and their affects on both the state’s economy and environment. The Utah Legislature requested the Salt Lake Chamber and the Hinckley Institute of Politics co-host the study by the CCC.

The CCC’s methodology is relatively simple as it seeks to inject research, science, calculations and facts into public policy decisions and alleviate, as much as possible, political motives and media coverage. The concept is that financial resources are limited and prioritization takes place whether we base it on evidence or not. Thus, accepting prioritization as a process and seeking to base decisions on evidence is the most responsible method for allocating limited resources. 

“The intent is to provide a groundwork for prioritizing solutions to Utah’s energy needs,” said Lomborg, one of Time magazine’s 100 Most Influential People. “Removing self-interest and bias from the equation and focusing on evidence is essential to determining the best use of available resources to deal with Utah’s energy demand.”

The CCC works to improve the prioritizing between various efforts to mitigate the consequences of the world's biggest challenges. Regarding Utah’s unique energy outlook the CCC states, “Sustainable development of energy resources in Utah and the intermountain region involves a delicate interplay of multiple-use and environmental protection, public lands access, water resources, and the impact of energy use on climate change.” 

The CCC also says policies addressing this interplay must be better prioritized based on actual resource constraints. Otherwise, time and money spent on inefficient policies will have limited benefit while more effective solutions will go neglected or unfunded. 

“Energy policy is unquestionably a top interest for the Chamber,” said Lane Beattie, President and CEO of the Salt Lake Chamber. “We look forward to working closely with elected officials at all levels of government in crafting wise, long-term energy policy.”

About the Copenhagen Consensus Centre
The Copenhagen Consensus Centre operates under the auspices of the Copenhagen Business School. Through the commissioning and conveying of research, they work to improve the prioritizing between various efforts to mitigate the consequences of the world's biggest challenges. In particular the focus is on the international community's effort to solve the world's biggest challenges in the most cost-efficient manner.

About the Chamber
The Salt Lake Chamber is Utah’s largest business association and Utah’s Business Leader. With roots that date back to 1887, the Chamber has been standing as the voice of business, supporting its members’ success and championing community prosperity for over 100 years. The Chamber represents over 4,200 businesses statewide and one in every three jobs in the Utah economy. Chamber affiliate organizations include the Downtown Alliance and World Trade Center Utah.

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