FAES the political think-tank headed by former Spanish president Jose Maria Aznar has launched the Spanish version of the book by Nigel Lawson ‘An Appeal to Reason: A Cool Look at Global Warming.’ The book is published by FAES publisher ‘Gota a Gota.’

Mr Lawson an ex Energy Secretary and Chancellor of the Exchequer in successive Conservative Governments under Margaret Thatcher, rigorously examines the science behind the politics of climate change, and asks probing questions to determine how much we really know about climate, how scientific current debate on the issue is, and how much by way of speculation and falsehood has crept into it.

He also looks at what should and should not be done in respect of the problem.

Mr Lawson argues the case that, although global warming is happening and will have negative consequences, the impact of these changes will be relatively moderate rather than apocalyptic. He criticises those “alarmist” politicians and scientists who predict catastrophe unless urgent action is taken.

In this cautious and reasoned treatise on an issue that affects every one of us, Nigel Lawson, argues that it is time to take a cooler look at global warming. Lawson, father of famed cookbook author Nigella Lawson, looks at the facts behind the headlines and explains that science is only part of the story.

He argues that for governments to make informed decisions about the path ahead they must listen to economists as well as scientists, utilizing economic forecasting to assess the likely evolution of the world economy, and even more urgently, economic analysis: what is the most cost-effective way of tackling this issue? Mr Lawson also urges an understanding of exactly what measures are politically realistic on a global scale.

The book also looks at how in the 1960s the public was warned that the population explosion would lead to mass global starvation. In the 1970s the warning was that the planet was running out of natural resources and that world economic growth would grind to a halt within our lifetimes. When the planet’s temperature, which had been gently rising for some 400 years, appeared to be falling again, scientists warned that the world was facing the disaster of a new ice age.

In the past years, sensational warnings about climate change have dominated the headlines as we are told that global warming will have disastrous consequences in the very near future unless we take drastic measures now.

At a time when politicians and the media are stirring up public and political hysteria on the subject of climate change, Mr Lawson has written a timely disquisition urging us to take into account all the facts in order to deal with the threat of global warming.