Lord Stern launches climate economic research centre

Lord Nicholas Stern, the author of the government funded Stern Review, has today launched a UK research centre into the economic and policy implications of climate change.

The Centre for Climate Change Economics and Policy has already received backing from insurance company Munich Re, who has donated £3m to the centre.

The CCCEP is to evaluate the economics of climate risks and opportunities in the insurance sector.

Ernst Rauch, head of Munich Re's corporate climate team, said: 'We see opportunities for us in addressing the substantial demand for insurance-based solutions stemming from the very different strategies necessary to mitigate and adapt to climate change and the ensuing challenges' BusinessGreen.com reported.

The project will be chaired by Lord Stern, directed by Judith Rees, from the London School of Economics, and Andy Goulson at the University of Leeds. They have received a £5m grant from the UK Economic and Social Research Council

The CCCEP aims to find emission reduction strategies that will prove efficient, equitable and acceptable to both the public and private sectors and to answer questions on what industries to invest in, when and what measures need to be taken to reduce vulnerability to climate change including the cost of such actions.

So far the CCCEP has outlined developing climate economics, governance, and mitigation as some of its major research areas.