OECD Secretary-General Angel Gurría welcomed the publication of the Stern Review on the economic consequences of climate change.

“The report is a necessary reminder that acting now is imperative to confront the many problems which will flow from climate change. I strongly endorse the major direction of the report that argues that the benefits of early action far outweigh the costs,” said Gurría.

He congratulated both British prime minister Tony Blair and the chancellor of the exchequer Gordon Brown for commissioning the study. The report was compiled by Sir Nicholas Stern, former chief economist at the World Bank.

Gurría added, “Many of the recommendations proposed by Sir Nicholas Stern are in line with propositions that the OECD has been putting to its member governments for many years, in particular, more market-based solutions to deal with carbon emissions.”

“I have already indicated to the UK government the OECD’s willingness to make further contributions to the detailed action programme needed to tackle the potentially devastating consequences of climate change.”

The OECD says that climate change is one of the greatest challenges we face – both in terms of its potential impact, and in terms of the scale of the international co-operation that is needed to confront it. The OECD says it is working to support its member countries in the development and implementation of effective and least-cost policies to tackle climate change.

“All countries have an interest in minimising the costs of reducing greenhouse gas emissions. A first step is to establish a “price” for carbon emissions,” it says, noting that OECD research has found that by using more economically efficient environmental policy instruments – such as taxes and tradable pollution quotas – the same environmental targets could be reached at 25% less cost.