By now you probably have heard of the Stern Review on the economics of climate change, especially if you’re living in the UK. Essentially, Sir Nicholas Stern, Head of the UK Government Economic Service, and a former Chief Economist of the World Bank was commissioned to study in a comprehensive manner that effects of a changing environment on the world economy. The report was published a few days ago, and is now available for download.

If you don’t read anything from the Review, at least read the Executive Summary. The first sentence is striking:

The scientific evidence is now overwhelming: climate change presents very serious global risks, and it demands an urgent global response.

It gets better:

The evidence shows that ignoring climate change will eventually damage economic growth. Our actions over the coming few decades could create risks of major disruption to economic and social activity, later in this century and in the next, on a scale similar to those associated with the great wars and the economic depression of the first half of the 20th century. And it will be difficult or impossible to reverse these changes. Tackling climate change is the pro-growth strategy for the longer term, and it can be done in a way that does not cap the aspirations for growth of rich or poor countries. The earlier effective action is taken, the less costly it will be. At the same time, given that climate change is happening, measures to help people adapt to it are essential. And the less mitigation we do now, the greater the difficulty of continuing to adapt in future.

You can download the Stern Review final report or buy it from Cambridge University Press.

[tags]Stern Review, environment, economics, climate change[/tags]