Tuesday, September 25, 2018

Social Costs of Carbon

Researchers have developed a reliable set of data that allows each country to know just how much economic damage will be done by carbon dioxide emissions. 

The three countries set to lose the most from climate change are United States, India and Saudi Arabia.

it also found that the damage being done worldwide by those CO2 emissions is significantly higher than in estimates used by authorities including the US government.  Policymakers often point to the fact that carbon dioxide causes little immediate harm to the economy as justification for rolling back regulations. But the new study shows that the actual impact of climate change could be much more intense than previously thought. The new study shows that the US economy in fact stands to lose considerably from climate change, despite repeated suggestions from politicians that the opposite is true.

"Our analysis demonstrates that the argument that the primary beneficiaries of reductions in carbon dioxide emissions would be other countries is a total myth," said lead author and University of California San Diego assistant professor Kate Ricke. "We consistently find, through hundreds of uncertainty scenarios, that the US always has one of the highest country-level SCCs [social cost of carbon]. It makes a lot of sense because the larger your economy is, the more you have to lose. Still, it's surprising just how consistently the US is one of the biggest losers, even when compared to other large economies."

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