The Cost Of Climate Change

Curbing climate change has a dollar value — here’s how and why we measure it

Joseph Aldy, Marcvh 12, 2017 (The Conversation)

“…[President Trump and his appointees argue that reversing Obama-era rules to cut carbon pollution and undoing obstacles to coal mining on] public lands…will bring coal miners’ jobs back…although coal industry job losses reflect competition from cheap natural gas, not regulations that have yet to take effect…But they ignore the fact that mitigating climate change will produce large economic gains…[Burning fossil fuels produces benefits but] also generates widespread costs to society…[According to the U.S. government, the social cost of carbon (SCC) is] about US$40 per ton…[T]he Trump administration and critics in Congress may reduce this figure or even stop using it…We can always improve our processes for estimating and using the SCC, but…[a] well-functioning democracy needs transparency about the economic benefits [and costs] of investments driven by public policy…[I]t makes sense that reducing carbon emissions benefits society by reducing risks of flooding, wildfires, storms and other impacts associated with severe climate change…[And] rising carbon pollution will increase the likelihood of lower agricultural yields, threaten public health through heat stress and damage infrastructure through floods and intense storms…” click here for more

click thru to the SCC report

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