Climate change and the Stern Review : the implications for Treasury policy, fourth report of session 2007-08, report, together with formal minutes, oral and written evidence

Climate change is one of the biggest challenges facing the world today and requires an urgent response from Government, industry, and the individual.

This inquiry was triggered by the January 2007 publication of the "Stern Review on the Economics of Climate Change" (ISBN 0102944202, available below), which stressed the need to stabilise carbon emissions sooner rather than later and warned of potentially catastrophic impacts if that was not achieved.

The Review framed the climate change debate in terms of economic choices and considered the use of economic tools such as environmental taxation and permit trading schemes as economically efficient mechanisms for cutting emissions."Climate Change and the Stern Review: The Implications for Treasury Policy (HC 231)" recommends that the Government give primary consideration to the use of economic tools in combating climate change.

The Treasury's policies and action in this regard were the main focus of the inquiry.

The report looks at work on this topic by the Treasury and other select committees, assesses the economics of the Stern Review, and examines the Government's approach to reducing emissions.Further sections cover emissions trading schemes, environmental taxes, and adaptation (designed to counter the negative impacts caused by time lags in global and local ecosystems). The Committee calls for a twin track approach involving both adaptation and mitigation.