The first bullet point above reflects different perspectives on policy appraisal
and CBA in general, but particularly on CBA for climate change policy. There
were three broad groups of stakeholders. A first group which believed that costeffectiveness
should be the primary consideration when appraising lower-level
policies, given that the UK Government had already set a long-term (2050)
target for reducing emissions of CO2. Such an approach should lead to the
achievement of this goal at least cost. Within this group there were two lines
of argument. Those who strongly felt that cost-benefit analysis had absolutely
no role in long-term climate change policy and targets, and believed such policy
should be set on the basis of scientific evidence, physical impacts and the
precautionary principle. Some respondents in this group also raised the issue of
the duty of care and human rights. Alternatively, there were those that believed
that when policy is not easily based on an objective assessment of the costs and
benefits (as with climate change), the process of target setting helps to reveal
the weight which society puts on costs and benefits. They implicitly believe