Climate

Climate change as a political issue has changed dramatically over the last few years. With the publications of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Fourth Assessment report and the Stern Review on the Economics of Climate Change, the scientific consensus behind anthropogenic climate change has been demonstrated and it is now clear that mitigating against climate change will cost us less than dealing with the unconstrained effects of climate change.

However, there is no one ‘silver bullet’ that can halt climate change in its tracks – action across all fronts is important and therefore opportunities exist for a number of diverse players. Bold leadership on climate change has the potential to deliver significant economic benefits – through improvements in economic performance, increased energy efficiency, improved growth as a result of technological innovation, greater energy security and access to rapidly growing global export markets for low carbon technologies.

Providing the space for leaders to get into the detail of issues such as climate change allows them to develop their own responses and enables them to build up their own capacity for demonstrating leadership on this critical global challenge.

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