Sydney - Climate change could have a devastating effect on the global economy if the predictions in the Stern report released in London earlier this month are near the mark, International Monetary Fund (IMF) managing director Rodrigo de Rato said Saturday.
De Rato is in Melbourne to attend the annual G20 meeting of finance ministers and central bankers.
"The link between greenhouse-gas emissions and changes in global temperature is now well-established," de Rato told reporters. "It's a matter of fact rather than of faith."
He said the projections in the report of Nicholas Stern, former chief economist at the World Bank, were alarming. Stern said climate change could cut economic growth by 5 to 20 per cent in many countries.
"If these numbers are borne out even broadly by further analysts, they are alarming indeed," de Rato said. "In terms of the effect on people's quality of life, here in Australia and worldwide, the effects could be devastating."