The economics of climate change: expert comment

31 October 2006

UNSW has a number of climate, energy, policy and economics experts who are available to comment on the Stern Review on the Economics of Climate Change.

One of the findings of the review was that climate change will cost the global economy at least five percent of GDP each year “now and forever” and that the damage bill could rise to more than 20 percent of GDP.

Associate Professor Tony Owen, of the Centre for Energy and Environmental Markets at UNSW, has urged the Australian government to introduce measures including carbon trading, to try to halt climate change and its economic consequences.

“Putting a price on carbon emissions is not an unfair impost on consumers, it is simply ensuring that the ‘polluter pays principle’ is adopted, and that the implicit subsidies given to polluting activities are withdrawn,” said Professor Owen, from the Faculty of Commerce and Economics.

Professor Matthew England is a climate scientist in the Climate and Environmental Dynamics Laboratory (CEDL), School of Mathematics and Statistics, UNSW.

"Australia has to get with the times on this. We are very susceptible to extremes in climate. Add climate change to the equation and things get worse," he said. "The farming sector is all too aware of this. The insurance sector is on board - their annual damage claims bill is soaring. What is needed is a commitment to international agreements to cut greenhouse gas emissions. This needs unilateral participation."

Frank Muller is an Adjunct Professor at the Institute of Environmental Studies, UNSW. He is a policy expert with specific interests in greenhouse and sustainable development policy.

"The report totally transforms the climate change policy debate. It shows that strong action on climate change is the pro-growth, pro-prosperity path, while continued inaction by governments will bring long-term economic peril," he said. "It reinforces calls for Australia to adopt a carbon price signal, ratify the Kyoto Protocol and engage positively in international negotiations for a stronger agreement beyond Kyoto."

Dr Mark Diesendorf is Director of the Sustainability Centre in Sydney and Senior Lecturer at the Institute of Environmental Studies, UNSW.

"The Stern Report confirms, with clear and rational analysis, that doing nothing of substance about human-induced climate change is not an option. Not only would this lead to huge social, environmental and health damage, but Stern shows that it would also cause massive economic damage in the longer term, far greater than the costs of mitigation. By doing little, we would be sentencing our children and grandchildren to much suffering."

The Stern Review can be found in full here

Contact details: Susi Hamilton, UNSW Media unit, 9385 1583 or 0422 934 024.