Valuing Climate Damages : Updating Estimation of the Social Cost of Carbon Dioxide

The social cost of carbon (SC-CO2) is an economic metric intended to provide a comprehensive estimate of the net damages - that is, the monetized value of the net impacts, both negative and positive - from the global climate change that results from a small (1-metric ton) increase in carbon-dioxide (CO2) emissions.

Under Executive Orders regarding regulatory impact analysis and as required by a court ruling, the U.S. government has since 2008 used estimates of the SC-CO2 in federal rulemakings to value the costs and benefits associated with changes in CO2 emissions.

In 2010, the Interagency Working Group on the Social Cost of Greenhouse Gases (IWG) developed a methodology for estimating the SC-CO2 across a range of assumptions about future socioeconomic and physical earth systems. Valuing Climate Changes examines potential approaches, along with their relative merits and challenges, for a comprehensive update to the current methodology.

This publication also recommends near- and longer-term research priorities to ensure that the SC- CO2 estimates reflect the best available science. Table of ContentsFront MatterExecutive SummarySummary1 Introduction2 Framework for Estimating the Social Cost of Carbon3 Socioeconomic Module4 Climate Module5 Damages Module6 Discounting Module7 Long-Term Research NeedsReferencesAppendix A: Biographical Sketches of Committee Members and StaffAppendix B: Presentations to the CommitteeAppendix C: Elicitation of Expert OpiniAppendix D: Global Growth Data and ProjectionsAppendix E: Comparison of a Simple Earth System Model to ExistingSC-IAMsAppendix F: Empirical Equation for Estimating Ocean AcidificationAppendix G: Damages Model-Specific Improvement Opportunities