Global warming risks underestimated, Stern report says

Uchenna Izundu
International Editor

LONDON, Apr. 17 -- The risks of global warming were underestimated in the Stern report on climate change, its author said, and urgent action is needed to address the problem.

"However, I'm optimistic about an international agreement," said Nicholas Stern at the IHS Energy Symposium in London. He called for global leaders to agree by next year on an action plan to reduce carbon emissions and stem world temperatures.

Stern is hopeful that participants at the next environmental summit in Copenhagen will agree to such action. The 700 page report he wrote examines the economic impact of climate change and says 1.5% of the world's gross domestic product needs to be invested in stabilizing emissions at 500 ppm by 2050. "We need to move quickly," he said.

However, deforestation and agriculture are also major causes of emissions, Stern warned, and he called for urgent policies to tackle the problems.

Carbon capture and storage for hydrocarbons would be important in reducing carbon emissions as would other energy sources such as nuclear and renewables, he said.

Stern recommends carbon trading and taxation, quotas, and auctions of greenhouse gas emissions, which he says are all necessary to change behaviors.

"Poor countries want flows of finance and the transfer of technology to deal with this. We need a clean development mechanism that is better than this one, which is too small and too micro."

After publishing the report 18 months ago, Stern, a former World Bank chief economist, was severely criticized for "scaremongering." He has since met with the Chinese and Indian government to discuss how they can address climate change.

Contact Uchenna Izundu at [email protected].