Nicholas Stern - on the economics of climate change in the age of COVID-19

Planet A - Talks on Climate Change

In the third episode of Planet A, Dan Jørgensen talks with Professor Lord Nicholas Stern, Chairman of the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment at the London School of Economics.

Jørgensen and Stern discuss the economics of climate change, climatic change feedback mechanisms and the need to build sustainable infrastructure in the coming decades.

Stern argues that the consequences of climate change is “far, far worse” than he anticipated in his 2006 report “The Economics of Climate Change”. Nevertheless, the rapid development of renewable energy technology, has meant that Stern is optimistic that humankind can tackle climate change.

Finally, Stern talks about need to rebuild the economy in the wake of COVID-19-crisis and touches upon the lessons we can learn from the failure to double down on climate action in response to the 2008 financial crisis.

Stern has distinguished himself as a professor of economics at a number of the world’s leading universities and as the World Bank’s Chief Economist. However, he emerged as the global thought leader on the nexus between economics and climate change, when he authored the landmark report “The Economics of Climate Change” (also known as the Stern Review) for the British government in 2006.