- Addressing climate issues now rather than later is better, both from an environment as well as economic point of view, said former Senior Vice-President of the World Bank, Sir Nicholas Stern.Stern, who led the 2006 Stern Review, was the key speaker during the seminar "Meeting the climate challenge".
He presented the key findings of the review which found that the benefits of strong and early action far outweigh 1the economic costs of not acting. The presentation was then followed by a panel discussion consisting of:
- Christian Azar, Professor of Energy and the Environment, Chalmers University of Technology
- Bert Bolin, Professor of Meteorology, Stockholm University
- Karl-Göran Mäler, Professor of Economics, Beijer Institute and Stockholm Resilience Centre
- Carl Folke, Professor of Natural Resource Management, Beijer Institute and Stockholm Resilience Centre
- Sir Nicholas Stern, Head of Stern Review, HM Treasury
- Martin Weitzman, Professor of Economics, Harvard University
- Barbara Wohlfarth, Professor of Quaternary Geology, Stockholm University.
Stern disagreement
However, some members of the panel disagreed on the Stern concludings. Professor Weitzman from Harvard University mentioned the fact that the Stern conclusions are not shared by all financial experts.
Weitzman questioned some of the risk assessments conducted in the review and claimed that some of the recommended actions are not financially viable.
