U.K. report: Warming will damage economy

No longer the lap poodle, at least in global warming.

Thomas Wagner, Associated Press Writer:

The British government also hired former Vice President Al Gore, who has emerged as a powerful environmental spokesman since losing the 2000 presidential election, to advise it on climate change — a clear indication of Prime Minister Tony Blair's growing dissatisfaction with U.S. environmental policy.

The 700-page report argues that environmentalism and economic growth can go hand in hand in the battle against global warming. But it also says that if no action is taken, rising sea levels, heavier floods and more intense droughts could displace 200 million people by the middle of the century.

The report said unabated climate change would eventually cost the equivalent of between 5 percent and 20 percent of global gross domestic product each year. The report by Sir Nicholas Stern, a senior government economist, represents a huge contrast to the U.S. government's wait-and-see policies.

Blair called for "bold and decisive action" to cut carbon emissions and stem the worst of the temperature rise.

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