British Government Report Calls for Broad Effort on Climate Issues:
A report commissioned by the British government and scheduled for release Monday calls for substantial international cooperation to combat global warming and doubling public spending on research into low-carbon technologies.
The main findings of the 16-month study, led by Sir Nicholas Stern, the chief of Britain's economic service, were described over the weekend in several British news reports. The Reuters news agency quoted the report’s 27-page summary as saying, “The evidence gathered by the review leads to a simple conclusion: the benefits of strong, early action considerably outweigh the costs.”
The report, prepared for Tony Blair, the prime minister, and Gordon Brown, the finance minister, has been heavily promoted by Britain and environmental groups as one of the most authoritative reviews of climate costs, although some economists and energy experts at anti-regulatory research groups saw it as understating the cost of an accelerated transition away from the fossil fuels that provide nearly 90 percent of the world’s energy today.
The report, called the Stern Review on the Economics of Climate Change, will be published online at www.sternreview.org.uk.
More later; I'm getting this out early in order to scoop Tim, who is probably writing out a likelihood function right now.
Update: I've printed out the executive summary!
