STOCKHOLM, April 4 -- Swedish researcher Thomas Sterner, working for the United Nations' climate change assessment report, suggested pricing CO2 emissions to combat climate change, said the Gothenburg University of Sweden in a statement on Friday.

The third part of IPCC's (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) fifth assessment report, Working Group III on the technical and socio-economic aspects of climate change concerns measures to reduce or eliminate emissions of greenhouse gases while Sterner, professor from Business School of the Gothenburg University, serves as a coordinating lead author for the working group on measures to combat climate change.

The report believed one potentially strong measure policy instrument is to make emitters of CO2 pay a price in relation to the amount emitted, but it "all hinges on this price being sufficiently high."

"We have explored the new policy instruments introduced around the World...most of the new instruments are too weak to be meaningful. What we need to avoid dangerous climate change is the application of strong policy instruments," Sterner was quoted as saying in the statement.

"Overall, I feel that our report may come across as too modest compared with the report from Working Group I, which was presented last autumn and described the climate situation in the world as catastrophic. But there are indeed real opportunities to limit the emissions", said Sterner.

The IPCC is a scientific body under the auspices of the United Nations (UN). It reviews and assesses the most recent scientific, technical and socio-economic information produced worldwide relevant to the understanding of climate change.