[Netnews-action] resources: Stern lecture

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Climate Change, Ethics and the Economics of the Global Deal
06 Dec 2007


Audio file and slides from Sir Nicholas Stern's RES Annual Lecture 2007.
Sir Nicholas Stern of the LSE visited the University of Manchester on 29
November to talk about 'Climate Change, Ethics and the Economics of the
Global Deal'.

Delivering the Royal Economic Society's annual public lecture ahead of
this week's world summit on climate change in Bali, Sir Nicholas
emphasised that targets and trading must be at the heart of a global
agreement to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The problem of climate
change involves a fundamental failure of markets: those who damage
others by emitting greenhouse gases generally do not pay. Climate change
is a result of the greatest market failure the world has seen. The
evidence on the seriousness of the risks from inaction or delayed action
is now overwhelming. We risk damages on a scale larger than the two
world wars of the last century. The problem is global and the response
must be a collaboration on a global scale.

Sir Nicholas proposed a programme of change which requires rich
countries to lead the way in taking action. That means adopting
ambitious emissions reduction targets; encouraging effective market
mechanisms; supporting programmes to combat deforestation; promoting
rapid technological progress to mitigate the effects of climate change;
and honouring their aid commitments to the developing world.

For a full record of the event, you can download an audio file of Sir
Nicholas Stern's lecture and a copy of his Powerpoint slides from the
University of Manchester website at:
http://www.manchester.ac.uk/medialibrary/sirnicholasstern/