Climate Change: Act Now before it's too late!

Do you want your income cut by 20%?

Would you take a 50% risk – i.e., a flip of a coin – that average global temperatures rise by 5 degrees, causing sea levels to rise, displacing 200 million people and destroying up to 40% of species?

Probably not!

The good news is that if we don’t want to be poorer, and don’t want to risk global environment catastrophe, a new report by a leading economist, Sir Nicholas Stern, says there’s still time to change.

There are 2 dangers. First, that people dismiss this as “alarmist”.  Second, that we don’t achieve the international action we need.

So, is Stern alarmist? No, he is measured, focusing only on “probability”: he’s not saying climate change will do all this. He simply says science suggests a 75% chance temperatures will rise by 2% to 3%, if nothing changes, and then examines the implied costs and impact on our lives.

Can we get international action? Maybe. Europe has started – with a scheme, however imperfect, called the European Emissions Trading Scheme. This is designed to reward big business cleaning up – and punish those that don’t.

The challenge is to improve and extend such schemes - to the USA, China, India and the rest of the world. And to implement everything from green taxes to tougher regulations for energy efficiency, so we all change our behaviour.

Difficult – but Stern shows we have no choice.