LSE launches climate change research body

New £5m research centre to study economic policies needed to drive down carbon emissions

The London School of Economics and the University of Leeds this week announced they are to join forces to launch a new research centre dedicated to studying climate change economics.

The Centre for Climate Change Economics and Policy is to be funded for the next five years by a grant of over £5m from the Economic and Social Research Council and will focus on how political and economic systems need to evolve to tackle carbon emissions and adapt to climate change.

The centre will be led by Lord Stern of Brentford, the economist behind the Treasury's influential Stern Review, and managed by Professor Andy Gouldson and Professor Judith Rees.

"As the scientists continue to play their role in analysing the causes and effects of climate change, it is crucial that social scientists take a lead in the building of policy," said Professor Stern. "The aim of the Centre for Climate Change and Economics Policy is to advance climate change policy by improving both the evidence and the tools available to decision makers."

The Centre will focus its work on developing new economic models for assessing the impact of climate change, identifying strategies for reducing emissions and adapting to global warming in developed and developing economies, and examining approaches for overcoming the current stumbling blocks in international negotiations.

Professor Gouldson, director of the sustainability research institute at the University of Leeds, said that the Centre would have an important role to play in developing the economic and legislative policies "needed to deliver rapid reductions in emissions and to enable vulnerable countries and communities to adapt to the impacts of climate change".

The Centre is expected to establish links with policy makers and business leaders across the world and has promised to make its research findings available freely online. It also said that it would host an online forum to allow academics and interested parties to discuss its research findings.

In related news, the Scottish government this week announced the launch of a new Scottish European Green Energy Centre in Aberdeen.

Speaking at the European Movement Energy Conference in Aberdeen, First Minister Alex Salmond said that the Centre would foster research links between Scottish businesses and universities and the rest of Europe, while accelerating the development of renewable energy technologies and projects.

"I want to see Scotland working as a full and equal partner with our fellow countries in the North West Atlantic, actively deploying the new energy technologies for the benefit of all," he added.