The Stern Review on the Economics of Climate Change was warmly welcomed by Christian Aid. However, the relief agency warned that its conclusions would still expose millions of poor people to an unacceptably high risk of disease, drought and famine.

"Sir Nicholas's report is of major international significance and should leave no-one in doubt about the need for immediate action on climate change," said Andrew Pendleton, Christian Aid's senior climate change analyst.

However, Mr Pendleton cautioned: "Talk of economic dangers is all very well but the real danger remains poor people in the developing world whose future depends on our willingness to act. If we follow the Report's conclusions, we may avert economic bankruptcy but we will still be teetering on the brink moral bankruptcy."

Mr Pendleton welcomed the report's main message which said that dealing with climate change was wiser than delaying. It also said, however, that Stern's benchmark of economic feasibility was incompatible with the urgent needs of poor people.

"We are concerned that the Stern Report has dismissed a level of CO2 and other equivalent greenhouse gases (CO2e) of 450 parts per million as too expensive. But in reality poor people are already struggling to cope with existing climate change as a result of an atmosphere polluted with 430ppm of CO2e. At Stern's levels, large parts of the developing world would be exposed to a much greater risk of disaster and misery," Pendleton said.

"Stern's figures means that the world's average temperature would almost certainly increase beyond the two degree mark that scientists agree is safe. This could condemn million of poor people on the front line of climate change to death," said Mr Pendleton.