This review will focus on the question of discounting. The paper begins with an outline of the expected utility model used in the Stern Review. Next, the question of ‘inherent discounting’, that is, the idea that future outcomes should be discounted simply because they are in the future, is examined, along with the closely related concept of the pure rate of time preference. This discussion forms the basis for an assessment of the approaches to discounting and climate change adopted by the Stern Review and by its critics.