Nicholas Stern

Responding to a speech today by Amber Rudd, the UK Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, Lord Stern of Brentford, Chair of the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment at the London School of Economics and Political Science and President of the British Academy, said:

“With this speech, Amber Rudd has continued to show the leadership on climate change policy that was so evident from her role leading the UK’s contribution to the High Ambition Coalition at the Paris climate change summit last December. The Paris Agreement was reached because countries recognise the attraction of low-carbon growth and development, which is more productive, more efficient and less polluting. The Secretary of State’s speech has provided reassurance that the long-term direction of UK climate change policy under the current Government has not changed. The Climate Change Act provides a strong legislative framework and it is essential that any future Prime Minister remains committed to its implementation and expresses clear and unequivocal support for it. Given the current uncertainties, it is vital that Government introduces as soon possible into Parliament the Fifth Carbon Budget, setting a target for the UK’s annual emissions of greenhouse gases for the five-year period between 2028 and 2032. The Government should follow the recommendation of the expert, independent Committee on Climate Change and set the Budget at a level that will mean annual emissions will be 57 per cent lower than in 1990 on average. This level is consistent with the Committee’s analysis of the most cost-effective path for the UK to follow towards its goal of reducing its emissions by at least 80 per cent by 2050 compared with 1990. But we should recognise that the UK may need even more ambitious targets as its contribution to the goal in the Paris Agreement of limiting global warming to well below two Celsius degrees. The Fifth Carbon Budget will provide some confidence for investors that the UK will, outside the European Union, continue the transition to a low-carbon economy, which offers enormous potential for sustainable growth and prosperity for decades to come. The UK’s commitment on climate change is longstanding and based on a understanding that it is global issue and should not be altered by its future departure from the European Union.”

 

For more information about this media release please contact Ben Parfitt b.parfitt@lse.ac.uk or Bob Ward r.e.ward@lse.ac.uk

 

NOTES FOR EDITORS

  1. Lord Stern is chair of the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment and the ESRC Centre for Climate Change Economics and Policy, as well as I.G. Patel Professor of Economics and Government, at the London School of Economics and Political Science. Since July 2013, Lord Stern has been President of the British Academy for the humanities and social sciences. Lord Stern was with HM Treasury between October 2003 and May 2007. He served as Second Permanent Secretary and Head of the Government Economic Service, head of the review of the economics of climate change (the results of which were published in ‘The Economics of Climate Change: The Stern Review’ in October 2006), and director of policy and research for the Commission for Africa. His previous posts included Senior Vice-President and Chief Economist at the World Bank, and Chief Economist and Special Counsellor to the President at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development. Baron Stern of Brentford was introduced in December 2007 to the House of Lords, where he sits on the independent cross-benches. He was recommended as a non-party-political life peer by the UK House of Lords Appointments Commission in October 2007. Lord Stern is also a Fellow of the Royal Society.

 

  1. The ESRC Centre for Climate Change Economics and Policy (https://www.cccep.ac.uk/) is hosted by the University of Leeds and the London School of Economics and Political Science. It is funded by the UK Economic and Social Research Council (https://www.esrc.ac.uk/). The Centre’s mission is to advance public and private action on climate change through rigorous, innovative research.

 

  1. The Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment (https://www.lse.ac.uk/grantham) was launched at the London School of Economics and Political Science in October 2008. It is funded by The Grantham Foundation for the Protection of the Environment (https://www.granthamfoundation.org/).

 

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