Britain seeks ‘bold’ climate action, hires Gore

Report by senior economist says it's cheaper to fight than let it happen
MSNBC News Services

LONDON - Unchecked global warming will devastate the global economy on the scale of the world wars and the Great Depression, according to a major British report released Monday that seeks to quantify the costs and benefits of action as well as inaction. British Treasury chief Gordon Brown, who commissioned the report and who could very well become Britain's next prime minister when Tony Blair steps down next year, said former U.S. Vice President Al Gore, who has dedicated himself to warning about global warming, would advise the British government on climate change.

Introducing the report, Blair said unabated climate change would eventually cost the world between 5 percent and 20 percent of global gross domestic product each year...He called for “bold and decisive action” to cut carbon dioxide emissions and stem the worst of the temperature rise. And Blair called the report “the most important document on the future” that he had read since becoming prime minister...Blair emphasized that the scientific community agrees that the world is warming, and that greenhouse gas emissions from burning fossil fuels are largely to blame. “It is not in doubt that if the science is right, the consequences for our planet are literally disastrous,” he said. “This disaster is not set to happen in some science fiction future many years ahead, but in our lifetime. Unless we act now ... these consequences, disastrous as they are, will be irreversible,” he added. See Article: UK issues warming warning, hires Gore