Sir Nicholas Stern to join IDEAGlobal Group as Vice Chairmanam

Sir Nicholas Stern will join IDEAGlobal Group as Vice Chairman, effective 13 August 2007.  IDEAGlobal Group is a leading independent global research organisation.  Sir Nicholas’ work will encompass overall strategy, market development, and analysis.

Sir Nicholas recently left the UK government where, inter alia, he was Head of the UK Government Economic Service, directed the writing of the Report of the Commission for Africa and, more recently, led the Stern Review on the Economics of Climate Change.  Such expertise, will fit well with the broad-ranging economics and analysis conducted by IDEAglobal and also with the aims of IDEAcarbon, recently launched to provide market analysis and rate any asset with carbon collateral providing a standard risk measure for participants in this rapidly growing sector.

Sir Nicholas noted: " I am delighted to be joining the IDEAGlobal Group as Vice-Chairman.  I'm looking forward to working with the group on economic policy issues as well as on the future development of the carbon market.  I am very happy to be joining a research organisation which has a history of fostering positive changes to the global economy and developing markets".

In welcoming Stern, Shandi Modi, Founder of the IDEAGlobal Group, noted: “I’ve known Nick for many years; he has done a tremendous job in shaping the attention of the global community to take action on climate change which is now happening.  At IDEA he will undoubtedly play a major role in adding strength to our goal of harnessing the institutional investment sector to play a meaningful role through the development of a new asset class in Carbon, Nick will also be advising on our analytical work in other asset classes we cover as well in helping us think through future strategy”.

 “Nick’s knowledge of the economics of climate change and his commitment to promoting the effective use of markets to reduce carbon emissions will provide tremendous impetus to our work. His knowledge and contacts will help us enormously“, said Ian Johnson, Executive Chairman of IDEAcarbon. 

Sir Nicholas will begin his appointment on 13 August 2007.  As a former Crown servant, Sir Nicholas has applied for and received Government approval for this appointment in the normal way.  He is also (half-time) IG Patel Professor of Economics and Government at the London School of Economics and Political Science. He will be working part-time at IDEA, consistent with his responsibilities at LSE and HSBC.

IDEAGlobal Group includes IDEAglobal, which focuses on capital markets and economic trends and market analysis; and IDEAcarbon, which focuses on carbon markets and ratings of carbon investments.

For further information please contact

Ian Johnson     0207 664 0200
ijohnson@ideacarbon.com

Mike Gallagher   0207 664 0200
mgallagher@ideaglobal.com

Notes to editors 

IDEAGlobal Group, is an independent, global, research organization, with its headquarters in Singapore, and subsidiaries in New York and London.  IDEAGlobal Group is a leading supplier of independent and impartial advice to 50 central banks in the formation of policy and is read by financial professionals in over 1,000 dealing rooms worldwide.  Of the 50 largest financial institutions as ranked by Euromoney, all but four are clients of IDEAglobal.  Group companies include IDEAglobal and IDEAcarbon.

IDEA has over 80 full time research staff as well as access, on an exclusive basis, to a group of expert academics at the London School of Economics, and an active Advisory Board of former central bankers and former CEOs of investment banks, which includes Mr Ng Kok Song, MD, Public Markets, GIC, Singapore, and Professor Helmut Schlesinger ex-president of the Deutsche Bundesbank.

IDEA was established in 1989.  Our research covers all the major asset classes including stocks, bonds, currencies, credit default swaps, energy and commodities (including the emerging carbon markets).   As an independent observer of international macro policy in OECD countries and most of the emerging countries in the world, IDEA enjoys a position of trust and respect among its global community of clients which numbers some 30,000 professionals.

IDEA’s focus on anticipating the evolution of risk (political, macro policy, and market) has enabled it to develop an experienced and integrated understanding of the major dominant forces driving market sentiment and public policy in many countries and trading blocs.

IDEAcarbon is a leading professional services provider to the carbon finance community.  Our key offerings are ratings, funds valuation and strategic advice to those working within the environment and energy sectors.  Governments, financial institutions, corporations, developers and traders can all benefit from our forward-looking, independent and objective advice.   A dedicated team of expert professionals work to provide our clients with tailor-made risk management solutions.     

IDEAcarbon’s strength lies in its depth.  The company is chaired by Ian Johnson, formerly VP Sustainable Development, at the World Bank.   Sam Fankhauser runs the strategic advice division and was previously deputy chief economist at the EBRD. Our sister company, IDEAglobal has provided specialist advice to financial markets since 1989.  Our company comes to this emerging market with almost two decades of experience in market intelligence.  This has allowed us to develop rigorous proprietary tools and models in conjunction with the finest intelligence available.