On a recent visit to Cape Town, Sir Nicholas Stern, the head of the UK government’s economics service, said the effects of climate change would be felt globally, but would hit Africa, the continent with the least capacity to cope, the hardest.
The former World Bank economist who authored the Stern Review Report on the Economics of Climate Change, said Africa could benefit from global initiatives for clean energy investment, reduced deforestation and development of global public goods. The study suggests that global warming could shrink the global economy by 20%, but advised that taking action now would cost just 1% of global gross domestic product.
