Government departments are focusing on how to reduce the UK’s carbon footprint, so everyone can act sustainably without impacting negatively on the economy. But do their actions stack up? Let’s take a look at the evidence.

This is a two page article. First published in Spring 2007

Extract:
The chancellor commissioned the Stern Report (all 575 pages!), quoted around the world as an important piece of work for understanding the economics of climate change. In its 27 page summary the final point is ‘There is still time to avoid the worst impacts of climate change if strong collective action starts now ... Delay would be costly and dangerous’. Two words stand out – ‘worst’, which implies that it’s too late to bring the climate back into equilibrium and ‘now’. Stern points out that the impacts lag a period of decades from when the actions happened as will undoubtly be the case for remedial action to be felt. It is therefore critical that substantial remedial action is taken now, not in 2010 or 2020.