Economics and ethics for sustainable development in a changing world: risk, growth and public action

Tanner Lectures on Human Values

This paper was presented by Nicholas Stern in two parts at Stanford University on 12 and 13 March 2026 as the Tanner Lectures, organised by the McCoy Family Center for Ethics in Society. The paper covers:

• The science, received economics and technology
• Growth, economics and public action
• Rights, justice and the state

Conclusions: making the case

In his concluding remarks, Lord Stern writes:

“The opportunities embodied in the new growth story, set out in the Tanner Lectures and this paper, show that climate action and growth are not in competition. There is no horse-race between sustainability, on the one hand, and development, on the other. Indeed, sustainable development should be the objective of public policy. The potential is rich. Climate action will drive this new form of growth. Its achievement will need major investment and strong structural change. Further, we saw that the next two decades were decisive and that the bulk of the necessary investment for climate action and sustainable and resilient growth would take place in the developing world. That investment, part of a broader strategy for sustainable development, can yield great advance across all the dimensions of the Sustainable Development Goals.”

DOI: https://doi.org/10.21953/researchonline.lse.ac.uk.00141392