Climate Economics
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The Economics of 350: The Benefits and Costs of Climate Stabilization
October 6, 2009
America’s largest network of independent climate economists has issued a major new report showing that the more aggressive world leaders are in curbing world carbon emissions, the greater the economic benefits will be.
The two lead authors, SEI researchers Frank Ackerman and Elizabeth A. Stanton, co-authored the report with researchers from universities and think-tanks across the country. The report argues that a worldwide effort to lower atmospheric carbon concentrations to 350 parts per million is affordable; it can create more new jobs, spur more innovation and protect businesses, governments and households from the damages caused by the rapid heating of the earth.
The report concludes that the estimated cost of reaching a target of 350 parts per million is roughly equivalent to one to three percent of world gross domestic product. However, the financial, human and environmental cost of not stabilizing the earth at 350 parts per million over the next 200 years will likely be much greater.
“The reason people buy fire insurance is not because they are certain that their house will burn down; rather, it is because they cannot be certain that it won’t. A carbon target of 350 parts per million buys us insurance against catastrophic climate change.”Frank Ackerman, Stockholm Environment Institute and Tufts University, lead author of the report.
Frank Ackerman presented the report to a large audience at the Society for Environmental Journalists annual meeting in Madison, Wisconsin, on October 9.Download presentation (pdf)
Selected press coverage:
Washington Post Op-Ed: We can afford to save the planet
October 23, 2009
By Eban Goodstein, Frank Ackerman and Kristen Sheeran
Yale Enviornment 360: The Economic Case for
Slashing Carbon Emissions
October 20, 2009
Opinion piece by Frank Ackerman
Washington Post (Oct. 6, 2009)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/10/06/AR2009100600018.html
NYT GreenInc. (Oct. 2, 2009)
http://greeninc.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/10/02/the-economics-of-climate-stabilization/#more-25975
Wall Street Journal (Oct. 6, 2009)
http://blogs.wsj.com/environmentalcapital/2009/10/06/climate-costs-can-the-world-really-afford-to-roll-back-carbon-emissions/
Grist Magazine (Oct. 6, 2009)
http://www.grist.org/article/the-economics-of-350/
Southern CA Public Radion 89.3 KPCC- CA, USA (Oct. 5, 2009)
http://www.scpr.org/news/2009/10/05/350-study/
OregonLive.com - Portland,OR,USA (Oct. 5, 2009)
http://www.oregonlive.com/environment/index.ssf/2009/10/new_report_urges_quick_aggress.html
ABC7.com Green Content (Oct. 6, 2009)
http://www.greenrightnow.com/kabc/2009/10/06/economists-say-heading-off-climate-disaster-now-would-be-affordable/
8 Leading Economists Consider 350ppm Achievable | 350.org
By Bill McKibben
http://www.350.org/about/blogs/8-leading-economists-consider-350ppm-achievable