I had breakfast this morning with Lord Nicholas Stern and about 25 local leaders in Seattle. The discussion ranged from policy to technology, with many points between. In 2006, as Chancellor of the Exchequer, Stern commissioned the ground-breaking Stern Review, which analyzed the economic costs of climate change, as well as of stopping it, as a percentage of GDP. Here are a few notes of interest from this morning's conversation:

Professor Lord Nicholas Stern signed copies of his book, "The Global Deal," for leaders in Seattle following a discussion about climate policy. (Energy Priorities photo)

On Copenhagen: This meeting will be highly political, with each country trying to shift attention to what other countries are doing. "I'm sure the U.S. looks different from the inside since November fourth; from the outside I can assure you it looks very different on this issue." The United States will be under pressure to commit to targets. China and India will try to avoid hard targets, and push for support in the form of technologies.

On 2020 targets: The next ten years are critical to set the pace of mitigation. The Waxman-Markey clean energy legislation is very important, but it's not critical that it pass the House and Senate before Copenhagen. "Achieving even single-digit percentage reductions by 2020 will be a stretch for most countries; yet the likely necessary reduction by 2050 is 80 percent. 2020 is near the midway point, and many countries are asking how we'll get the rest of the way to 80 percent."

On climate change deniers: "Our best tool is steady, calm discussion of the facts about how dangerous delay is."

On tax versus cap-and-trade: "Many special interests support a tax because they know it will be easier to shoot down. There's a serious lack of sincerity."

On economic stimulus: There is not enough focus in the U.S. and U.K. recovery packages on developing public transit, and much less is hoped for here than has been achieved in Europe. "The French make very good high-speed trains, and that's because the French government created enormous demand for them. The ability of the private sector to respond is impressive."

On transportation: "If every major city in the U.S. agreed to prohibit fossil-fueled cars within the city by 2025, changes would happen very fast." Stern acknowledges that Americans love our cars. "If we try to do this by eliminating the private car, we won't get there. We can make them much cleaner, and do things like charge for roadway usage as a way to slow the massive wastes of time and fuel."

On the green recovery: The developed world sees the climate issue as an economic growth opportunity. The Korean stimulus package is greener than the U.S. package. "The Koreans saw that the U.S. is moving toward smart grids and they said, 'the smart grid needs smart appliances, so let's make smart appliances.'" The smart grid is a huge opportunity, one that will require collaboration that can only be driven and coordinated at the federal government level.

On communications: Yann Arthus-Bertrand is taking his aerial photos into schools with explanations -- it's one example of how many opportunities there are for powerful means of communications to help marshal public support."

Nicholas Stern's new book is The Global Deal released Monday by Public Affairs Books.