Bjorn Lomborg: Global warming policies hurt the poor

As I mentioned in the second article in this series, on deaths from heat and cold, high energy prices literally kill people — especially poor people. Cold homes are a leading cause of deaths in winter because of their influence on strokes, heart attacks, and respiratory diseases. Researchers looked at the natural experiment that happened in the United States around 2010, when fracking delivered a dramatic reduction in the cost of natural gas. The massive increase in the availability of natural gas drove down the price of heating. The scientists concluded that every single winter, lower energy prices from fracking save about 12,500 Americans from dying. Flipping that over, a hike in energy prices would kill an additional 12,500 people each year, all else equal.