Lord Stern calls for investment in climate change measures to help tackle credit crunch

Tue 07 October 2008 View all news

The author of the ground-breaking Stern Review, Lord Stern of Brentford, has called on the Government to invest heavily in technology and other efforts to tackle climate change as a means of also stimulating economic growth and beating the credit crunch. Lord Stern said that inspirational leadership is now required to tackle the major risks threatening the economy and the environment.

Speaking to The Guardian in advance of a speech at the launch of a new climate change economics centre at the London School of Economics. Lord Stern said: there were "two kinds of danger" because of the current fears of recession.

"One [is] people can only concentrate on a limited number of things at the same time, and the second is people will be sensitive to cost increases, and those will have to be managed carefully," he said. "There's a danger: it needs leadership." 

Stern said that the current problems could help boost investment in tackling climate change because they have highlighted the dangers of not tackling risks early enough, and could create much more international cooperation. There were also more incentives to invest in energy efficiency during a recession and when oil prices were high.

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