The most comprehensive review ever carried out on the economics of climate change. The Review was commissioned by the Chancellor of the Exchequer (UK) in July 2006. It has been carried out by Sir Nicholas Stern, Head of the Government Economic Service and former World Bank Chief Economist. The first half of the Review focuses on the impacts and risks arising from uncontrolled climate change, and on the costs and opportunities associated with action to tackle it. A sound understanding of the economics of risk is critical here. The Review emphasises that economic models over timescales of centuries do not offer precise forecasts – but they are an important way to illustrate the scale of effects we might see