Brown pledge to lead climate effort - The Guardian

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uklatest/story/0,,-6179602,00.html

Press Association

Monday October 30, 2006 2:58 AM

Gordon Brown is to promise to lead the international effort against climate change as a major Government report predicts irreversible economic damage unless the world acts now.

The warning comes after it emerged that ministers are considering a raft of new eco-taxes designed to curb harmful greenhouse gas emissions.

Sir Nicholas Stern, in his long-awaited review of the economic costs of global warming, will say there is still time to avoid the worst effects of climate change.

But without urgent global action, the world risks major disruptions which would be "difficult or impossible to reverse".

Mr Brown, who commissioned the report, will seize on its findings to demand a concerted international push to reduce carbon emissions.

The Chancellor, who has recruited former US Vice President Al Gore as an international environment adviser, will pledge to lead the global response.

"The truth is, we must tackle climate change internationally, or we will not tackle it at all," he will insist.

"I can say that Britain will lead this global effort."

The Stern review, billed as the most comprehensive assessment ever of the financial consequences of climate change, will say that the up-front price of tackling global warming will pay off in growth over the long-term.

Sir Nicholas sets the cost of reducing emissions at 1% of GDP - a figure which will rise massively in the years ahead if action is not taken now.

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