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Economic news – Embassy 2 – October 2007
Preparing for a post-industrial age
Taking action on climate change makes business sense, commercial attachés heard at an International TradeNet meeting in October.
In a speech to an audience of over 70 diplomats at the Swiss Embassy, Senior Economist for Energy Policy at BERR Stephen Green outlined the economic arguments for action.
"The Stern Report shows the cost of taking action is far smaller than the cost of taking no action," he said.
Green went on to explain Britain's policy response to reduce its emissions by 60% by 2050. These include the fivefold expansion of the Emissions Trading Scheme from Europe to the largest 20 pollutors in the world; R&D into cleaner technologies, such as carbon capture, renewable energy, the use of biomass and biofuels from sustainable sources; and incentivising more efficient energy use by businesses and households.
As an example of a successful 'green' business, Richard Sowter of Canadian company Carmanah then explained to diplomats how their solar LED technologies were now powering all of London's bus shelters. |
