LONDON, Oct. 29 (UPI) -- A British report warns that failing to curb global warming will be far more expensive than the steps needed to control it, The Times of London reported.
The report by Sir Nicholas Stern, former chief economist to the World Bank, was requested by Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown. It is to be submitted Monday.
Brown is expected to announce that he accepts Stern's major recommendation for global trading of carbon credits to curb greenhouse gas emissions. He also plans to retain former U.S. Vice President Al Gore as an adviser.
Stern estimates that reducing greenhouse gas emissions now would cost about 1 percent of global GDP a year, while dealing with the effects of a significant increase in worldwide temperature would cost 5 percent to 20 percent of global GDP. He said about 200 million people would be forced to move if the temperature rises by 3 degrees centigrade (5.4 degrees F) and that 40 percent of the species on Earth might become extinct.
