National Center for Policy Analysis (NCPA)
The National Center for Policy Analysis (NCPA) was an American nonprofit conservative think tank established in 1983, known for its focus on free-market solutions and limited government intervention in economic matters. Based in Dallas, Texas, and Washington, DC, the NCPA primarily drew funding from various foundations, corporations, and individual donors. It played a role in organizing other conservative entities while conducting independent analyses on a wide range of issues, particularly emphasizing environmental policies.
The NCPA was recognized for its skepticism regarding climate change, particularly through its E-Team, which opposed the Kyoto Protocol and expressed doubts about the scientific consensus on global warming. The organization contended that the economic costs of reducing greenhouse gas emissions would outweigh the benefits, suggesting that such regulations could lead to economic decline and further environmental harm. Their publications, including the 2007 report critiquing the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), argued against certain climate predictions and advocated for "focused adaptation" to changing conditions rather than costly regulatory measures. Ultimately, the NCPA ceased operations in 2017 due to financial challenges, marking the end of its influence in the policy landscape.
National Center for Policy Analysis (NCPA)
- DATE: Established 1983
Mission
An American nonprofit conservative think tank, the National Center for Policy Analysis (NCPA) promoted an environmental regulation program that sought to solve problems by relying on a competitive private sector rather than on government control and regulation. The NCPA maintained offices in Dallas, Texas, and Washington, DC. Well over half its funding came from foundations, with the rest from corporations and individuals. Acting as an organizer for other conservative groups, the NCPA also conducted its own free-market-oriented analysis of various issues. The NCPA ended its operations in 2017 because of financial difficulties.
Significance for Climate Change
The NCPA’s E-Team focused on environmental policy. The individuals who formed the E-Team were climate-change skeptics who opposed the Kyoto Protocol and also opposed any greenhouse gas (GHG) regulation. NCPA scholars held that the causes and consequences of global warming were unknown. Since it would be very expensive to reduce emissions substantially, they believed doing so would result in economic decline and increased environmental destruction with little or nothing accomplished to prevent global warming, whatever its cause.
A typical project of the group was an analysis of the 2007 Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Citing the purpose of the IPCC as being to provide a
comprehensive, objective, scientific, technical and socio-economic assessment of the current understanding of human-induced climate change, its potential impacts and options for adaptation and mitigation,
the NCPA concluded that, despite dire predictions of world temperature changes that could result in a global sea level rise, tropical disease spread, an accelerated rate of loss of glaciers and ice caps, and an increased severity of drought and flooding, forecasts in Chapter 8 of the report violated basic forecasting principles and were therefore invalid.
Because the NCPA was principally concerned with opposing government regulation in favor of promoting private alternatives. The group concluded, for example, that global warming regulation was a key portfolio risk for state and local pension funds and recommended that pension fund administrators not promote global warming legislation unless they could demonstrate how such regulation will benefit their portfolios.
The 2007 NCPA publication A Global Warming Primer maintained that predictions by some scientists that global warming would cause such things as droughts, floods, and hurricanes of greater intensity were not valid. Given its stance, the group recommended “focused adaptation,” taking steps to adapt to warmer conditions, rather than implementing measures that it felt would have more negative economic impact than was justified given the facts that the group accepted as valid regarding global warming.
"National Center for Policy Analysis (NCPA)." DeSmog, www.desmog.com/national-center-policy-analysis/. Accessed 23 Dec. 2024.
"National Center for Policy Analysis." Influence Watch,www.influencewatch.org/non-profit/national-center-for-policy-analysis/. Accessed 23 Dec. 2024.