Estimates of the social cost of carbon
Subtitle: background and results from the rice-2011 model
By: William D. Nordhaus
Contributors: National Bureau of Economic Research
Series: NBER working paper series -- working paper 17540; Working paper series (National Bureau of Economic Research : Online) -- working paper no. 17540.
Publisher: National Bureau of Economic Research
Published: 2011
Place of publication: Cambridge, MA
Language: eng
Format: Electronic resource
Description: "A new and important concept in global warming economics and policy is the social cost of carbon or SCC.  This concept represents the economic cost caused by an additional ton of carbon-dioxide emissions or its equivalent.  The present study describes the development of the concept as well as its analytical background.  We estimate the SCC using an updated version of the RICE-2011 model.  Additional concerns are uncertainty about different aspects of global warming as well as the treatment of different countries or generations.  The most important results are: First, the estimated social cost of carbon for the current time (2015) including uncertainty, equity weighting, and risk aversion is $44 per ton of carbon (or $12 per ton CO2) in 2005 US$ and international prices).  Second, including uncertainty increases the expected value of the SCC by approximately 8 percent.  Third, equity weighting generally tends to reduce the SCC.  Finally, the major open issue concerning the SCC continues to be the appropriate discount rate"--National Bureau of Economic Research web site.
Notes: Title from PDF file as viewed on 1/10/2012.

Includes bibliographical references.

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Mode of access: World Wide Web.