Time for a Stern Reaction

The Stern report on the economic costs of failing to address climate change has exposed Prime Minister John Howard's economic ineptitude, theAustralian Greens said today.

The British government commissioned report by former World Bank economist Sir Nicholas Stern, to be released later today, finds that the world needs to spend around 1 per cent of global gross domestic product(GDP) to address climate change now or risk climate chaos precipitatinga global depression with 200 million refugees.

Greens climate change spokesperson Senator Christine Milne said the report stood in stark contrast to the stubborn refusal of the Howard government to take climate change seriously.

"The report leaves Prime Minister Howard and Treasurer Peter Costello exposed," Senator Milne said in Canberra.

"The May Budget failed to recognise climate change and the drought as risks to the economy and only two months ago, Prime Minister Howard was staring down global scientific opinion, saying he would not commit Australia to making deep greenhouse emission cuts because it would cost jobs.

"The Stern report supports several Australian studies that show that acting to reduce greenhouse gas emissions now will cost far less than the consequences of not acting.

"Prime Minister Howard and Treasurer Costello say that addressing climate change will destroy the economy. In fact, it is the other way around.

"The Howard government has spent a decade refusing to take climate change seriously, fiddling at the margins and relying on voluntary measures which have failed to rein in Australia's greenhouse gase missions, exposing our unique ecosystems and wildlife to extinction.

"With just 10-15 years left to prevent catastrophic, irreversibleclimate change, the government must now admit it has been wrong and implement measures that will make a real difference, starting with a national greenhouse gas reduction target, a system of national energy efficiency targets, lifting the Mandatory Renewable Energy Target andputting a price on carbon."