Date: Thursday, september 17, 2009

To address climate change the countries of the world must act now, act together and act differently said Kirk Hamilton of the World Bank in Helsinki on September 17.

Kirk Hamilton, co-author of the World Development Report 2010: Development and Climate Change, presented the findings of the WDR to government, academics and NGOs at the Finnish Ministry for Foreign Affairs, on September 17.

The presentation was organized by the Ministry for Foreign Affairs, and chaired by Under Secretary of State Ritva Koukku-Ronde.

Director of the UN University WIDER, Professor Finn Tarp, and Eero Yrjö-Koskinen, Executive Director of the Finnish Association for Nature Conservation commented on the report, before the debate was opened to the floor.

About the Report:

Today's enormous development challenges are complicated by the reality of climate change - the two are inextricably linked and together demand immediate attention. Climate change threatens all countries, but particularly developing ones. Understanding what climate change means for development policy is the central aim of the World Development Report 2010.

The World Development Report 2010 explores how public policy can change to better help people cope with new or worsened risks, how land and water management must adapt to better protect a threatened natural environment while feeding an expanding and more prosperous population, and how energy systems will need to be transformed.

The authors examine how to integrate development realities into climate policy - in international agreements, in instruments to generate carbon finance, and in steps to promote innovation and the diffusion of new technologies.

The World Development Report 2010 is an urgent call for action, both for developing countries who are striving to ensure policies are adapted to the realities and dangers of a hotter planet, and for high-income countries who need to undertake ambitious mitigation while supporting developing countries efforts.

The authors argue that a climate-smart world is within reach if we act now to tackle the substantial inertia in the climate, in infrastructure, and in behaviors and institutions; if we act together to reconcile needed growth with prudent and affordable development choices; and if we act differently by investing in the needed energy revolution and taking the steps required to adapt to a rapidly changing planet.

To learn more about the report's findings, see www.worldbank.org/wdr2010