Lord Stern says fossil-fuelled growth is futile as the damage it causes ends in economic self-destruction Lord Stern says fossil-fuelled growth is futile as the damage it causes ends in economic self-destruction Investment in climate action is the economic growth story of the 21st century, while growth fuelled by fossil fuels is futile because the damage it causes ends in self-destruction, the economist Nicholas Stern has said. The plummeting costs of clean technologies, from renewable energy