Environmental Assessment Institute (EAI) (Danish: Institut for Miljøvurdering) is an independent body under the Danish Ministry of the Environment. It was established in February 2002 by the Liberal/Conservative Danish Government with the task of making environmental and economic cost/benefit analyses. The EAI's first Director was political scientist Bjørn Lomborg.
The EAI was seen by some as a vehicle created for Lomborg, whose book The Skeptical Environmentalist argues that many perceived environmental problems are vastly exaggerated by environmental lobby and that policy responses based on such exaggerated claims are often misguided. The Government appointed Ole P. Kristensen, an ex-professor at the institute where Lomborg worked, as the first Director of the Board. His job was to find the director and the other board members. Lomborg was soon announced as the director. Lomborg resigned from his chair in June 2004.
The EAI began operating on June 1, 2002. It currently has a staff of 25, including 17 academic researchers, and a seven-member board of directors.
The EAI has published a series of reports on environmental issues, from the value of a deposit/return system for drink cans to global warming. Most of them are in Danish.
In November 2003, five out of the seven board members resigned on the same day. Three of them did so because of disagreement about the Institute's involvement in the Copenhagen Consensus project, the others did so because of lack of time and conflicts of interest.
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