With models, researchers first simulate what the path of climate change would be in the absence of a policy change. This then leads to biophysical impacts on agriculture and sea level, ultimately leading to damages to our economy and human welfare.

Goulder: The cost is usually calculated with what are called “integrated assessment models.” These models capture the pathway through which an extra ton of emissions leads to a change in atmospheric concentrations, which in turn leads to changes in average global surface temperature and precipitation. The short answer: When calculating the social cost of carbon, the main components are what happens to the climate and how these changes affect economic outcomes, including changes in agricultural productivity, damages caused by sea level rise, and decline in human health and labor productivity. The social cost of carbon is the total damage that an additional ton of CO 2 has on outcomes, converted into dollars. The short answer: The social cost of carbon is the cost of the damages created by one extra ton of carbon dioxide emissions.īurke: When we emit a ton of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, it sticks around for a while and causes warming, affecting human outcomes.

Are you overall optimistic or pessimistic about our capability to lower our emissions?.

What research still needs to be done to better understand the true social cost of carbon?.

Are there any noteworthy recent advances that will help us lower emissions?.

How does the social cost of carbon relate to environmental justice?.

Is it possible to both meet environmental challenges and grow our economy?.estimate of the social cost of carbon compare to estimates from other countries? What is the Biden administration doing to minimize carbon emissions?.Why has the social cost of carbon changed between the different presidential administrations?.What are the greatest costs associated with carbon emissions?.What are the greatest contributors to our carbon emissions?.What role does the social cost of carbon play in policy evaluation?.Why is it considered such an important number, and why have I never heard of it?.Here are the 14 questions Burke and Goulder answered: Goulder is the Shuzo Nishihara Professor in Environmental and Resource Economics in the School of Humanities and Sciences and director of the Stanford Environmental and Energy Policy Analysis Center.

“The social cost of carbon is the single most important number for thinking about climate change,” said Burke.īurke is an associate professor of Earth system science in the School of Earth, Energy & Environmental Sciences (Stanford Earth) and a senior fellow at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies.

Calculating carbon footprint