1.1 The urgent need to combat global climate change has been firmly established. An
overwhelming body of scientific evidence, including the Fourth Assessment Report of the
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC 2007) and a recent review on the
economics of climate change led by Nicholas Stern (Stern 2007), underscore the severe
risks to the natural world and global economy. According to Stern, how we decide to live
over the next 20–30 years—how we treat forests, generate and use energy, and organize …