Stern: Rich nations will have to forget about growth to stop climate change | Environment | guardian.co.uk

Stern: Rich nations will have to forget about growth to stop climate change | Environment | guardian.co.uk: "Stern: Rich nations will have to forget about growth to stop climate change

Economic expansion cannot be achieved forever if greenhouse gases are to be curbed, warns the leading economist and author of the UK's government's report on climate change

* Jonathan Watts, Asia environment correspondent
* guardian.co.uk, Friday 11 September 2009 18.04 BST
* Article history

Sir Nicholas Stern

Lord Stern wrote the government's review on the economic costs of climate change in 2006

Rich nations will need to reconsider making growth the goal of their societies, according to the leading economist who wrote the government's report on climate change.

Lord Stern said that although robust expansion could be achieved until 2030 while avoiding dangerous levels of greenhouse gas emissions, rich nations may then have to consider reining in growth.

'Will other restraints kick in? Probably, they will,' said the former World Bank chief economist and author of the 2006 Stern review on the economic costs of climate change. 'At some point we would have to think about whether we want future growth. We don't have to do that now.' The priority, he told the Guardian"