ONE of the world's leading climate change experts, Sir Nicholas Stern, has warned countries such as Australia will face future trade barriers unless it moves to a low-carbon economy.
In a speech to the National Press Club yesterday, Lord Stern said the world should embrace what he called the ''new industrial revolution'' of cleaner technologies and renewable energy.
''Not participating in this new industrial revolution runs two types of risk: you drop behind technologically and you risk, not tomorrow or the next day but 10 or so years from now, finding real difficulty in the trade story,'' he said. ''Ten or 15 years from now, those that produce in dirty ways are likely to face trade barriers.''
Lord Stern said while he had spent his career arguing against protectionism, trade barriers against countries that did not reduce their emissions were ''right'', although he hoped it would not come to that.
Lord Stern is a strong supporter of a carbon price and the author of the 2006 Stern Review, which articulated the economic case for action on climate change. He is in Australia on a personal trip but has taken time out to meet with major political players, including the independent MPs Rob Oakeshott and Tony Windsor, who will decide who forms the next government. Lord Stern would not reveal details of his conversation with the two MPs yesterday except to say they were ''very thoughtful, reflective and well-informed people, thinking very seriously about the problems of the future''.
Lord Stern's visit comes as Terry Tamminen, the climate adviser to the Californian Governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger, is in Melbourne to address a business conference.
Mr Tamminen told the Sydney Morning Herald he was also meeting Victorian government officials about Mr Schwarzenegger's proposed R20 climate group, which aims to bring together regional governments from America, Asia, Africa and Europe.
One of the group's aims is to develop a global emissions trading scheme at a state government level, which could also connect into the European Union's emissions trading scheme.
Details of the R20 will be launched at a Global Climate Summit in November along with a ''green bank,'' backed by the United Nations Development Program, to help participating governments fund low carbon development.
Mr Tamminen said Australia should look to California, which is regarded as a leader in renewable energy industries, as an example of how acting on climate change is good for the economy.
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