The Cost of Climate Policy in the United States: MIT Study
Q: Can you address how the costs that could result from a “no policy” case might compare with the costs of the proposed regulations?A: In the case of “no climate policy,” I think it is more appropriate to talk about “damages” instead of “costs,” because there are some things that can be easily associated with dollar amounts and there are other things that are harder to quantify and to put a price tag on. At the MIT Joint Program we have done studies where we are trying to quantify the costs associated with the impacts of climate change on agriculture and coastal infrastructure, and of air pollution on human health. These are easier to quantify. However, there are many other important effects that cannot be convincingly put into a dollar measure, and for this reason we have not tried to estimate the economic and environmental effects of a no-policy path. Consider, for example, the main icon of a climate change — polar bears. How can one put an appropriate cost in dollar terms for a potential disappearance of polar bears due to melting Arctic ice? Or, as another example, on a coral bleaching due to increasing ocean temperature and acidification? Some people even argue that climate change is a strategic problem that should not be considered in terms of a traditional “benefit-cost” approach.
3 Questions: Sergey Paltsev on the costs of climate-change legislation
Complete Study: http://globalchange.mit.edu/pubs/abstract.php?publication_id=1965
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