Le rapport Stern : la chose est vraiment importante

Les choix des journaux pour la place, notamment graphique, qu’ils accordent aux informations est une précieuse indication de l’importance notamment qu’on accorde à cette information. Vendredi, The Independent faisait son premier titre sur le rapport Stern, traitant du coût astronomique de la crise climatique pour l’économie mondiale. Le fait que The Observer reprenne cette affaire sans apporter quelque chose de fondamentalement nouveau par rapport à The Independent, et qu’il lui donne également la place de “manchette” sur sa page une est une indication précise.

En bonne logique journalistique, The Independent ayant eu l’information, The Observer n’aurait pas dû la mettre si fortement en évidence. S’il le fait, c’est que la nouvelle est très importante et ressentie comme telle dans les milieux du pouvoir à Londres. Un journal comme The Guardian est aussi attentif à cela. Il y a là un signe de plus de la très grande importance accordée à Londres au rapport Stern.

«Britons face the prospect of a welter of new green taxes to tackle climate change, as the most authoritative report on global warming warns it will cost the world up to £3.68 trillion unless it is tackled within a decade.

»The review by Sir Nicholas Stern, commissioned by the Chancellor of the Exchequer and published tomorrow, marks a crucial point in the debate by underlining how failure to act would trigger a catastrophic global recession. Unchecked climate change would turn 200 million people into refugees, the largest migration in modern history, as their homes succumbed to drought or flood.

»Stern also warns that a successor to the Kyoto agreement on cutting greenhouse gas emissions should be signed next year, not by 2010/11 as planned. He forecasts that the world needs to spend 1 per cent of global GDP — equivalent to about £184bn — dealing with climate change now, or face a bill between five and 20 times higher for damage caused by letting it continue. Unchecked climate change could thus cost as much as £566 for every man, woman and child now on the planet — roughly 6.5 billion people.

»The 700-page report argues that an international framework on climate change covering the globe will be necessary, and that different countries may opt to reduce emissions differently. Options range from many more green taxes to carbon trading.

»Stern's verdict will create fierce political debate, with a growing belief in government that taxes on activities such as driving or flying will have to rise.»

Mis en ligne le 29 octobre 2006 à 10H22