Climate change: the risks we can't afford to take (five part series)

In the run up to the 2009 budget, we asked five leading commentators explain how they see the risks of climate change and to set out why these are risks that we can't afford to take.

At the end of 2008 the UK’s Committee on Climate Change published its first report detailing recommendations to government about how fast greenhouse gas emissions should be reduced and how this should be done, to meet our statutory emissions reduction targets and prevent dangerous levels of climate change. Green Alliance believes that an ambitious response to the report is wholly consistent with a smart and effective response to the recession, and that announcements in and around the 2009 budget should reflect this.

Even though we are optimistic about the potential for addressing this challenge in ways that both enable the UK to meet its climate change targets and to drive investment into new and exciting low carbon industries, we believe that the risks to the achievement of these targets in the necessary timeframe are real.   

download them all below

Part 1 - the risks of ignoring the science (Martin Rees, president, Royal Society)
Part 2 - the danger of delaying public investment (Professor Paul Ekins, Kings College London)
Part 3 - the risk of uncertain markets (Steve Holliday, chief executive, National Grid) 
Part 4 - The risk of forgetting the poor (Ed Mayo, chief executive of Consumer Focus) 
Part 5 - The risk of a lack of vision (Stephen Hale, director, Green Alliance)