Stern’s report is based on flawed figures
There are two curious omissions in Sir Nicholas Stern’s report on global warming. Both open it to flanking attacks from sceptics. The first is that nowhere in his 575-page tome does he reveal what discount rate he assumes to estimate the present value of future disasters. Second, the word “nuclear” has been omitted from the executive summary, conclusions and the points for action liberally scattered through the report. There is an important connection between these omissions, which suggests why Sir Nicholas was so coy.
The main report contains, it is true, discussion of both issues, including an opaque technical treatment of the economics of discount rates, and general remarks about the relative costs of nuclear power
