Wednesday 28 March 2007

Green guru says cuts won't hurt

Australian Financial Review
Wednesday 28/3/2007 Page: 3

British economist Nicholas Stern said yesterday that Australian action on climate change will cost far less than inaction. Mr Stern, a former World Bank chief economist who wrote the Stern Review on the economics of climate change for the British Government, estimated that cutting greenhouse emissions by 60 per cent by 2050 would cost around one per cent of gross domestic product, whereas taking no action could cost up to 20 per cent. He said that Australia needed to adopt an emissions trading scheme as soon as possible. The comments have undercut Prime Minister John Howard's reasons for his inaction - that it would cost jobs and hurt the economy - over the last decade.

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