Metrics for Aggregating the Climate Effect of Different Emissions: A Unifying Framework

Richard S.J. Tol (), Terje K. Berntsen, O'Neill, Brian C., Jan S. Fuglestvedt, Keith P. Shine, Yves Balkanski and Laszlo Makra
Additional contact information
Terje K. Berntsen: CICERO - Center for International Climate and Environmental Research
O'Neill, Brian C.: Institute for the Study of Society and Environment, National Center for Atmospheric Research P.O. Box 3000 Boulder, CO 80307 USA
Jan S. Fuglestvedt: CICERO ? Center for International Climate and Environmental Research ? Oslo, P.O. Box 1129 Blindern, N-0318 Oslo, NORWAY
Keith P. Shine: Department of Meteorology, University of Reading
Yves Balkanski: LSCE/IPSL, Laboratoire CEA-CNRS-UVSQ
Laszlo Makra: SZTE, University of Szeged, Hungary

No WP257, Papers from Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI)

Abstract: Multi-gas approaches to climate change policies require a metric establishing ?equivalences? among emissions of various species. Climate scientists and economists have proposed four classes of such metrics and debated their relative merits. We present a unifying framework that clarifies the relationships among them. We show that the Global Warming Potential, used in international law to compare greenhouse gases, is a special case of the Global Damage Potential, assuming (1) a finite time horizon, (2) a zero discount rate, (3) constant atmospheric concentrations, and (4) impacts that are proportional to radiative forcing. We show that the Global Temperature change Potential is a special case of the Global Cost Potential, assuming (1) no induced technological change, and (2) a short-lived capital stock. We also show that the Global Cost Potential is a special case of the Global Damage Potential, assuming (1) zero damages below a threshold and (2) infinite damage after a threshold. The UN Framework Convention on Climate Change uses the Global Warming Potential, a simplified cost-benefit concept, even though the UNFCCC frames climate policy as a cost-effectiveness problem and should therefore use the Global Cost Potential or its simplification, the Global Temperature Potential.

Keywords: Climate change; multi-gas climate policy; Global Warming Potential; equivalences between greenhouse gases (search for similar items in EconPapers)
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-ene and nep-env
Date: 2008-09
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