Posted on 10/29/2006 8:30:01 PM PST by NormsRevenge
LONDON (AFP) - Global warming will cost the world up to seven trillion dollars in the next decade unless governments take drastic action soon, a major report will warn.
Former World Bank chief economist Sir Nicholas Stern was commissioned last year by Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown to lead a review into the economics of climate change and will deliver his findings Monday.
But the Observer newspaper published Sunday excerpts from his 700-page report, which adds that unchecked global warming could make 200 million people refugees from drought or flood.
Publication of the report is likely to fuel debate in Britain over whether the government should introduce a tougher regime of "green taxes" to cut carbon emissions.
According to the Observer, the Stern report says unchecked climate change would cost up to 3.68 trillion pounds -- more than World Wars I and II and the Great Depression of the 1930s.
It also warns that the world needs to spend about one percent of global gross domestic product -- equivalent to about 184 billion pounds -- on the issue now or face a bill up to 20 times higher than that in future, the paper says.
Stern also calls for a successor to the Kyoto agreement on greenhouse gases to be signed next year, not in 2010 or 2011 as planned, because the problem is so urgent, it adds.
Failure to act quickly would trigger a global recession, he reportedly adds, and calls for an international framework to tackle the issue.
The Observer says his report is the first heavyweight contribution to the debate on climate change by an economist rather than a scientist.
Environmental activist group Greenpeace said it removed any doubt about the need to tackle climate change.
"If we are to avert catastrophe then there has to be a real cost to emitting carbon and that means higher taxes on flying and gas-guzzlers. We owe it to future generations," a spokesman said.
Commenting on Stern's findings, environment secretary David Miliband quoted scientists as saying that action needed to be taken within 15 years to change the way energy was produced.
"I think it is very significant that the economics revealed by Sir Nicholas Stern's report should be that the longer we wait, and certainly the longer we wait beyond the 10-15 year timeframe that is set by the scientists, the more costly it will be," he told Sky News television.
Miliband added that discussions were "going on inside government" about green taxes but did not comment on a Mail on Sunday newspaper report that ministers had drawn up plans for taxes on fuel, cars, air travel and consumer goods to fight global warming.
Environmental issues were pushed up the political agenda in Britain last year by the election of David Cameron as leader of the main opposition Conservative party on a green platform.
Under him, the Tories have enjoyed a resurgence of public support, with many opinion polls putting the party ahead of Prime Minister Tony Blair's ruling Labour.
Cameron has so far avoided committing himself to detailed policies on the environment but indicated in a BBC television interview Sunday that he might tax air travel if he came to power.
He also said he would install wind turbines and solar panels at 10 Downing Street, the prime ministerial residence, if he wins the next general election.
Cyclists pass through thick pollution from a factory in Yutian, 100km east of Beijing in China's northwest Hebei province in July 2006. A major report will warn that global warming will cost the world up to seven trillion dollars in the next decade unless governments take drastic action soon.(AFP/File/Peter Parks)
And the British Government is working to put a chunk of those trillions directly in their pocket.
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." -Manuel II Paleologus
LOL...
Not me. If it warms, my fuel bills will go down and I'll have a longer growing season for my vegatable garden. Bring it on.
But the Observer newspaper published Sunday excerpts from his 700-page report, which adds that unchecked global warming could make 200 million people refugees from drought or flood.
Or we could not do anything and there'd be 200 million people refugees from drought or flood.
Catastrophe and Opportunity in an Ancient Hot-House Climate
Cindy Shellito
http://www.geotimes.org/current/feature_Geocatastrophes.html#Climate
Global warming may be a popular topic in the news this year, but Earth is no stranger to high temperatures. Geologic evidence suggests long periods of time existed in Earth’s history where global warming was the rule, rather than the exception.
(snip)
The word bullshit keeps coming to mind. I find it funny the only ways they seem to combat this is with higher taxes.
But what about the polar bears! Don't you care about the polar bears?
Sure. They're soooo cute.
We could just ship them to the Antarctic.
Or wait, this would be a perfect opportunity to see evolution in action. We can wait with breathless anticipation to see what they evolve into.
Yeah, right.
And just how much will it cost us if governments actually DO "take drastic action"?
I wonder why they don't say. Could it be because the price tag will actually be HIGHER?
Trillions of dollars in print costs to spread the hysteria, maybe...
has anyone noticed that Blair is the EU's
bigmouth on global warming?
emissions of the other countries going up.
It's not all that unproven. The case for electing Al Gore is unproven, but the case for global warming is pretty solid.
Migratory habits of animals are changing. Flowering seasons come earlier, and leaves fall later. Lakes and rivers of the North freeze later and thaw earlier than in times past. Glaciers recede. Ice sheets in the Antarctic have broken up. And CO2 levels rise to levels not seen in a long time, and they rise because we put it into the atmosphere like clockwork.
The political right is supposed to be the reality-based half of politics. That means facing even the facts you don't like. Global warming is here, it's real, it's because of our industry, and we have to either live with the consequences, or pay a price to mitigate it.
Governments will take "drastic action" and spend 14 trillion
dollars - for no effect on climate.
The big question is will this Treaty cover all countries or only the western industrialized nations and Japan?
Of course will they be able regulate the Sun and it's influence?
What if Krakatoa blows up again like it did in 535 AD and the earth suffers another 18 months of darkness?
Will they be quick to nullify the treaty?
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