Climate investment is only growth opportunity of 21st century, says leading economist

Nicholas Stern, pictured, led a review that concluded climate action would cost less than the damage caused by inaction. Photograph: David Levenson/Getty Images

Investment in climate action is the economic growth story of the 21st century, while growth fuelled by fossil fuels is futile because the damage it causes ends in self-destruction, the economist Nicholas Stern has said.

The plummeting costs of clean technologies, from renewable energy to electric cars, plus the healthier and more productive societies they enable, meant investments could simultaneously tackle the climate crisis and faltering economic growth, and bring millions of people out of poverty, he said.