Examination of Witness (Questions 220-222)
PROFESSOR LORD
STERN OF
BRENTFORD
11 MARCH 2009
Q220 Richard Burden: You do not think
there is a danger perhaps that if the logic is to bring them together,
and the logic has got to be "it needs more money put behind
it", that we could end up with bringing together not enough
more money to put behind it and the result could be that actually
money could get diverted away from, say, health projects, and
so on?
Professor Lord Stern of Brentford:
I was with you right up to the last sentence. I think there is
a danger, but the danger is about the overall resources being
too small in relation to the extra challenges from climate change.
It is not that very last issue, which is diverting money. Investment
in human capital, in the jargon that we sometimes use in health
and education particularly, can be very important for dealing
with climate change. A lot of this is about human resilience,
a lot of it is about finding different kinds and more diversified
activities which education helps you find. So the danger is that
the inadequate resources are there and that those will be inadequate
resources. I do not think the diversion question is the right
way to look at it.
Q221 Chairman: It is three o'clock.
I know Lord Stern has to catch his plane to Copenhagen to join
that discussion, so I think we should let you do that, because
I think we need you to be there. My apologies for the interruption
that obviously took some time away, and thank you for giving us
this opportunity to have an exchange. I think we can all only
hope that Copenhagen will be about securing a deal and that the
Americans, even if they cannot deliver everything that we want,
come with a positive attitude and also the EU, because with Italy
cutting aid and with Xavier Solana saying they should only fund
a third of the developing countries' requirements against the
expectation of 100 %, there are big gaps, so I guess we need you
and others to try and use all your eloquence to show them the
gaps to bridge.
Professor Lord Stern of Brentford:
It is very nice to talk, Chairman. There are so many things to
talk about, obviously. You should certainly let Mr Solana know
that this is a security issue. Big numbers of people are already
moving and the numbers who would have to move in the context of
unmanaged climate change would be in the hundreds of millions,
and what we would then have is a very protracted world conflict,
because large numbers of people moving lead to conflict—surely
a lesson of the last two or 300 years. So I fear those are mistakes
that you describe, but we should try to argue strongly against
them because they are just analytical errors.
Q222 Chairman: Thank you very much
and bon voyage.
Professor Lord Stern of Brentford:
Thank you very much. It was nice to talk to you.
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