UK Research Centre to Tackle Climate Change Economics and Policy

A new UK centre to lead research on climate change economics and policy was launched at the end of January by the University of Leeds and the London School of Economics and Political Science. The Centre for Climate Change Economics and Policy will be chaired by Lord Stern of Brentford, who was Head of the UK Government Economic Service between 2003 and 2007 and author of the highly influential report on ‘The Economics of Climate Change: The Stern Review’ in 2006.

Lord Stern said: “We are at a crucial stage in the battle to avoid the worst potential impacts of climate change, which could have devastating social and economic consequences for people around the world. I am determined that this Centre should generate rigorous and innovative research to inform public and private action. We really need to put our best researchers to work on the difficult problems that we face in substantially reducing emissions of greenhouse gases and preparing effectively to deal with those effects of climate change that we cannot now prevent.”

Professor Andy Gouldson, who is Director of the Centre at the University of Leeds, said: “We know the climate is changing and that governments are adopting ambitious new policies in response. Some countries, communities, businesses and individuals will be
more able to respond than others, both by reducing their own carbon footprint and by adapting to life in a changed climate. The Centre’s ambitious programme of research will build our understanding of how we can best reduce our impact on the climate as well as the climate’s impact on us, so that everyone, and particularly the most vulnerable, can adapt to this changing world.

” Professor Judith Rees, who is Director of the Centre at the London School of Economics and Political Science, said: “The members of the Centre want to advance climate-change policy and increase the capacity of public and private decision-makers to respond to one of the most critical challenges facing the world today. The research carried out at the Centre should support a ‘new global deal’ on climate change, through a formal state agreement and a wider set of actions worldwide, by improving both the evidence base and the tools and implementation strategies available to decision-makers."

The Centre will have five research programmes: Developing climate science and economics; Climate-change governance for a new
global deal; Adaptation to climate change and human development; Governments, markets and climate-change mitigation; The Munich
Re Programme: and Evaluating the economics of climate risks and opportunities in the insurance sector.

The Centre is funded by a £5 million grant from the UK Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC). It also receives £3 million
in support from Munich Re, one of the world’s leading reinsurance companies.