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E-Publication on Symposium of the Stern Review
Video Presentation
On February 15, the Yale Center for the Study of Globalization
hosted a presentation and discussion of the Stern Review on the
Economics of Climate Change. The event highlighted Sir Nicholas
Stern and a group of climate change experts who have worked extensively
on the issue.
The Stern Review, launched in October of 2006 under the auspices
of the British government, along with the Report of the Intergovernmental
Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), released on February 2 in Paris,
together have brought new attention and intense focus to the issue
of global warming. They both have concluded that the cause of the
climate system’s warming is man-made, and have projected the
long-term effects of global warming should the international community
not take action now.
The Yale event gave voice to many of the contentious issues surrounding
the global warming debate. During the morning session, Sir Nicholas
Stern presented the report and its findings. Following this presentation,
Dr. Chris Hope of the University of Cambridge discussed the synthesis
of information from the science and economics of climate change
and the PAGE integrated assessment model that he developed and that
was used in the report. Dean Gus Speth of Yale’s School of
Forestry and Environmental Studies offered closing remarks.
The afternoon was devoted to a discussion of the Stern Review and
its findings by a group comprised of some of the most knowledgeable,
distinguished and eloquent scholars active today. Among the group
were vocal critics as well as supporters of the Review’s major
findings. Afternoon participants included William Nordhaus, Sterling
Professor of Economics at Yale; Jeffrey Sachs, Director of the Earth
Institute at Columbia University; Robert Mendelsohn, the Edwin Weyerhaeuser
Davis Professor at the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental
Studies; Gary Yohe, the Woodhouse/Sysco Professor of Economics at
Wesleyan University; Scott Barrett, Director of the International
Policy Program and Professor of Environmental Economics at Johns
Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies;
and William Cline, Senior Fellow at the Peterson Institute for International
Economics and the Center for Global Development.
Moderating both the morning and afternoon sessions was Ernesto Zedillo,
Director of the Yale Center for the Study of Globalization and the
former President of Mexico. The event at Yale was the most comprehensive
and rigorous discussion in the U.S. to date of the Stern Review
and the only one pairing Sir Nicholas and his team with such an
esteemed panel of experts.
The Stern Review, commissioned by the U.K. government, was presented
to Prime Minister Tony Blair and Chancellor of the Exchequer, Gordon
Brown on October 30, 2006, generating immediate publicity and sparking
intense debate about its findings and its policy proposals.
The report itself was a massive undertaking and resulted in a volume
of almost 700 pages. Under the leadership of Sir Nicholas Stern,
the former Chief Economist at the World Bank, the Stern Review was
produced by a team of over 20 individuals and consultants from around
the world. The team’s mandate was to bring analysis and evidence
to the table for the purpose of understanding, promoting action,
and shaping policy about climate change. The first part of the report
examines impacts, risks, costs and targets. The second half of the
report is devoted fully to policies.
2005 Conference - Global
Warming: Looking Beyond Kyoto
Copyright
2007 Yale Center for the
Study of Globalization
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