Climate Change 1995: Economic and Social Dimensions of Climate Change: Contribution of Working Group III to the Second Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change

Book Description

Large, irreversible changes in climate may have a major effect on the economies of the world. The social costs of climate change will vary dramatically from country to country. This landmark assessment from Working Group III of the IPCC addresses the costs of climate change, both in terms of society and equity issues, and the economic burden of combating adverse climate change. The editors assess the response options, the applicability of cost-benefit analysis to climate change, and the costs faced by the many countries committed to limit greenhouse gas emissions by the year 2000. This exhaustive analysis will be invaluable for the international community of policy makers concerned with the consequences of climate change.

The Impact of Climate Change on the United States Economy

Average customer rating:

The Impact of Climate Change on the United States Economy

Manufacturer: Cambridge University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Economic Conditions | Economics | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

Natural Resources | Economics | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

Economic Conditions | International | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

Environmental Science | Earth Sciences | Science | Subjects | Books

General | Science | Subjects | Books

All Titles | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books
ASIN: 0521607698

Book Description

Understanding the impacts of climate change on economic behaviour is an important aspect of deciding when to take policy actions to prevent or mitigate its consequences. This book applies advanced new economics methodologies to assess impacts on potentially vulnerable aspects of the US economy: agriculture, timber, coastal resources, energy expenditure, fishing, outdoor recreation. It is intended to provide improved understanding of key issues raised in the recent Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) reports. It concludes that some climate change may produce economic gains in the agriculture and forestry sectors, whereas energy, coastal structures, and water sectors may be harmed. The book will serve as an important reference for the scientific, economic, and policy community, and will also be of interest to natural resource/environmental economists as an example of economic valuation techniques. The volume will clearly be of main importance to researchers and policymakers in the US, but will also be influential as a model for assessment of impacts on economies worldwide.

Managing the Global Commons: The Economics of Climate Change

Average customer rating:

Managing the Global Commons: The Economics of Climate Change
William D. Nordhaus
Manufacturer: The MIT Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Economic Policy & Development | Economics | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

Natural Resources | Economics | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

General | Popular Economics | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

General | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

Environmental Science | Earth Sciences | Science | Subjects | Books

General | Physics | Science | Subjects | Books

Book Description

Coping with the challenges of global warming is a daunting task for both scientists and economists, who must understand future changes, and for policy makers, who must ultimately choose policies to balance risks and costs. Managing the Global Commons presents a unique effort to encompass economic, scientific, and policy aspects of this great geophysical experiment.

Managing the Global Commons provides a detailed analysis of the DICE model (Dynamic Integrated model of Climate and the Economy) as well as an extensive analysis of the model's results. DICE is the first dynamic model to include a closed-loop system that includes emissions, concentrations, climate change, damages, and emissions controls. The model is useful for estimating the costs and benefits of different paths for slowing climate change and for analyzing the impact of control strategies over time.

The analysis contains a number of methodological advances and major findings - most importantly the construction of a small model to encompass the primary components of the climate and economic system within an optimization framework. Also included are new techniques and results concerning the role of uncertainty and the "risk premium" involved in policies to slow global warming. In addition, the analysis derives a set of uncertain representative scenarios that summarize the large number of potential outcomes into a manageable number to be used within an optimization framework and incorporated into a contingent-commodity framework.

Nordhaus examines several different approaches to climate-change policy: no controls, economic optimization, geoengineering, stabilization of emissions and climate, and a ten-year delay in undertaking climate-change policies. Among these, there is a modest advantage of an efficient policy over no controls or a ten-year delay, while the three stabilization options would impose significant net costs. Overall, Nordhaus observes, the analysis reveals that even with major technological breakthroughs and stringent controls, the momentum of past greenhouse gas emissions coupled with great inertia in climate change policy will lead to an inevitable rendezvous with massive climate change.

Economic Models of Climate Change: A Critique

Average customer rating:

Saving Earth From the Neo Classical Economists
A superb look at the limitations of all economic models

Economic Models of Climate Change: A Critique
Stephen J. DeCanio
Manufacturer: Palgrave Macmillan
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Economic Policy & Development | Economics | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

Natural Resources | Economics | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

General | Popular Economics | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

General | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

Environmental Science | Earth Sciences | Science | Subjects | Books

General | Nature & Ecology | Science | Subjects | Books

All Titles | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books
Similar Items:

ASIN: 1403963363

Book Description

The climate policy debate has been dominated by economic estimates of the costs of policies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Yet the models used to derive those estimates are based on assumptions that have largely gone untested. The conventional approach embodies structural features that rule out alternative market outcomes. In addition, the distribution of "climate rights" is crucial to determining the economic affects of various policies. Bringing these considerations to the forefront shows how domestic and international policy solutions might be found.

Customer Reviews:

Saving Earth From the Neo Classical Economists.......2004-09-30

Did you know that according to economists, it would not be worth 6 cents per person to save the earth's economy from destruction 300 hundred years from now ?

Did you know that the models used by neo-classical economists to consider climate change have so many solutions to their equations that they cannot produce information useful to policymakers without being rigged to do so ?

Did you know that the assumptions then used to run the models either have been shown to be completely wrong or have never been validated scientifically?

Did you know that the energy models being used to project the economics of climate issues decades into the future have been wildly inaccurate in making much shorter term predictions ?

If not, you need to read DeCanio's book.

DeCanio rips away the fig leaf of objectivity from economists claiming to produce valid information for the climate change debate. Deconstructing their models through all their theoretical twists and turns, DeCanio reveals how their biases shape assumptions that in turn predetermine the outcomes of their analyses, a heads I win, tails you lose approach. DeCanio shows how these models, posing as application of the scientific method, with hundreds of equations that seem objective, actually are a classic example of `garbage in, garbage out'.

There is no court of malpractice to charge the neo-classical economists for their recklessness. But DeCanio's book serves as a warning: the results of the neo classical economic models of climate change put the earth's health at risk.

A superb look at the limitations of all economic models.......2004-03-10

I assigned this book for my class on forecasting at Stanford University, and have been pleased with the results. It is a wonderful exploration of the limitations of all economic forecasting models, not just those assessing the economics of reducing greenhouse gas emissions. It analyzes how these models treat consumers, producers, and intergenerational equity in a way that lays bare the myriad assumptions (most of which are not tested empirically) that determine the results. The book brings to bear the latest developments in information economics, transaction costs economics, increasing returns to scale, and the theory of the firm, and is enormously helpful for determining when economic results are credible. DeCanio makes it clear that "current [modeling] practice only hides the essential questions behind a technical facade," an observation that is in accord with my own experience as leader of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory's Forecasting group for more than a decade. DeCanio also analyzes the accuracy of energy-economic models in predicting prices and quantities, and finds their accuracy to be dismal, a result that will not be surprising to anyone familiar with this field. Finally, DeCanio's conclusions about the biases inherent in current climate modelling are important to note: all current modeling frameworks are biased towards overestimating costs for ameliorating climate change, and DeCanio concludes that economic theory is not now able to predict with confidence the economic impacts of reducing greenhouse gas emissions. If you are involved in debates about climate change economics at any level, get this book. Even if you are not an economist, reading the non-technical sections will teach you a lot, and will allow you to ask questions of those who confidently make assertions based on these flawed and limited modeling frameworks.

How to Live a Low-Carbon Life: The Individuals Guide to Stopping Climate Change

Average customer rating:

I found to be a good read but

How to Live a Low-Carbon Life: The Individuals Guide to Stopping Climate Change
Chris Goodall
Manufacturer: Earthscan Publications Ltd.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Architecture | Professional & Technical | Subjects | Books

Consumer Guides | Reference | Subjects | Books

Conservation | Environment | Outdoors & Nature | Subjects | Books

Energy | Physics | Science | Subjects | Books

Natural Resources | Economics | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

Energy Efficient Design | Home Design | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books
Similar Items:

ASIN: 1844074269

Book Description

That climate change is happening is now all too clear. Many of us want to take action to reduce our carbon dioxide emissions. Yet the lack of a consolidated source of reliable information on how to calculate one’s individual emissions and the difficulty in assessing different options for effectiveness and cost savings has proven to be a major stumbling block. But personal actions to reduce carbon emissions, if replicated on a sufficient scale, might just save the planet.

How to Live a Low-Carbon Life provides the first comprehensive, one-stop reference guide to calculating individual carbon emissions and it lays out clear plans for how individuals can reduce their emissions. Covering all aspects of modern life from transport to home heating to food sources and the vexing issue of vacations, the book provides easy-to-use tables for conducting a personal lifestyle carbon audit.

Easy reference tables enable rapid carbon footprint calculations, and a companion website houses downloadable spreadsheets to facilitate a complete lifestyle carbon audit as well as up-to-the minute information on new products and carbon-reducing technologies.

This is the most comprehensive guide to calculating and reducing individual and home carbon emissions. It provides all the information needed for people and families to understand their impacts on the world’s climate. It gives us the information to enable us to adjust lifestyles and live a responsible life.

Written in an optimistic tone, How to Live a Low-Carbon Life shows how easy it is to take responsibility and reduce our personal carbon emissions.

Customer Reviews:

I found to be a good read but.......2007-07-16

This book has a lot of interesting fact and data, but they are all center on England and little is said about the USA and our energy use. I found the mathematical formulas and their process of think and conclusions about data to be the most interesting part of the book. I found to be a good read but was disappointed that all of the suggestions they made where to reform government to make it more environmental friendly. The book did show how our person choices have an impact but the book said that all real change had come from the government of course I disagree with this.

Statehouse and Greenhouse: The Emerging Politics of American Climate Change Policy

Average customer rating:

Statehouse and Greenhouse: The Emerging Politics of American Climate Change Policy
Barry George Rabe
Manufacturer: Brookings Institution Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Public Policy | Government | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

General | Politics | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

Reference | Politics | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

U.S. | Politics | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

Natural Resources | Economics | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

ASIN: 0815773099

Book Description

Few public policy issues seem as hopeless as global climate change. Mounting evidence shows that accumulating levels of greenhouse gases are already beginning to alter climate patterns, and this only intensifies concerns about long-term dangers. In turn, potential policy remedies appear feckless. Prospects for implementation of the Kyoto Protocol are highly uncertain even among nations that have ratified the accord. At the national level, the United States, which is the leading source of greenhouse gases, remains completely disengaged from the Kyoto process. Increasingly, other developed nations severely criticize the United States for its perceived failure to engage this issue.

But a quiet yet growing trend for state governments to assume a leadership role in reducing greenhouse gases suggests that a far more robust process for American policy development is under way. Conventional analyses assume that climate change can only be addressed by international regimes and national governments. However, many states have developed active, multi-faceted programs to address carbon dioxide, methane and other greenhouse gases within a diverse array of policy sectors, including energy, environmental protection, transportation, natural resources, and agriculture.

Book Description

The adoption of the Kyoto Protocol in December 1997 was a major achievement in the endeavour to tackle the problem of global climate change at the dawn of the 21st century. After many years of involvement in the negotiation process, the book's two internationally recognised authors now offer the international community a first hand and inside perspective of the debate on the Kyoto Protocol. The book provides a comprehensive scholarly analysis of the history and content of the Protocol itself as well as of the economic, political and legal implications of its implementation. It also presents a perspective for the further development of the climate regime. These important features make this book an indispensable working tool for policy makers, negotiators, academics and all those actively involved and interested in climate change issues in both the developed and developing world.

Climate Change and Energy Policy: Proceedings of the International Conference on Global Climate Change : Its Mitigation Through Improved Production

Average customer rating:

Climate Change and Energy Policy: Proceedings of the International Conference on Global Climate Change : Its Mitigation Through Improved Production
Louis Rosen
Manufacturer: AIP Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Rivers | Earth Sciences | Science | Subjects | Books

General | Science | Subjects | Books

General | Physics | Science | Subjects | Books

Weather | Environment | Outdoors & Nature | Subjects | Books

Natural Resources | Economics | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

All Titles | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books

Business & Investing | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books

Nonfiction | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books

Outdoors & Nature | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books

Science | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books
ASIN: 1563960176

Book Description

The first conference of its kind explicitly designed to encourage the integration of the climate change community with the energy policy- making and research communities. The book looks at climate change on many levels including its economic impact and its effect on energy technologies. Of interest to energy researchers and policy makers.

Climate Change, Justice And Future Generations

Average customer rating:

Climate Change, Justice And Future Generations
Edward A. Page
Manufacturer: Edward Elgar Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Environmental Science | Earth Sciences | Science | Subjects | Books

Conservation | Environment | Outdoors & Nature | Subjects | Books

General | Conservation | Outdoors & Nature | Subjects | Books

Reference | Outdoors & Nature | Subjects | Books

Natural Resources | Economics | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

All Titles | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books
ASIN: 184376184X

Book Description

`Climate Change, Justice and Future Generations is an authoritative, analytical and extremely scholarly integration of scientific and technical information, empirical data and modelling concerning global climate change and high-level normative analysis. Page convincingly and patiently lays out the argument, including the ways in which climate change challenges settled modes of ethical thought, despite it being one of the most, if not the, important ethical issues of the age. As a book on both theoretical and applied ethics it makes an important contribution to the field.' - John Barry, Queen's University Belfast, UK

`What the climate change policy called "Contraction and Convergence" has lacked until now is an authoritative theoretical grounding. Here Ed Page puts this right. In masterful fashion, he dissects the issues at stake in designing climate change policy, and leaves his readers in no doubt that there is a fair and effective alternative to rising tides. This is a book for students, researchers - and for anyone with the feeling that business as usual is no longer an option.' - Andrew Dobson, University of Keele, UK

Global climate change raises important questions of international and intergenerational justice. In this important new book the author places research on the origins and impacts of climate change within the broader context of distributive justice and sustainable development. He argues that a range of theories of distribution - notably those grounded in ideals of equality, priority and sufficiency - converge on the adoption of the ambitious global climate policy framework known as `Contraction and Convergence'.

Book Description

The global debate over who should take action to address climate change is extremely precarious, as diametrically opposed perceptions of climate justice threaten the prospects for any long-term agreement. Poor nations fear limits on their efforts to grow economically and meet the needs of their own people, while powerful industrial nations, including the United States, refuse to curtail their own excesses unless developing countries make similar sacrifices. Meanwhile, although industrialized countries are responsible for 60 percent of the greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to climate change, developing countries suffer the "worst and first" effects of climate-related disasters, including droughts, floods, and storms, because of their geographical locations. In A Climate of Injustice, J. Timmons Roberts and Bradley Parks analyze the role that inequality between rich and poor nations plays in the negotiation of global climate agreements.

Roberts and Parks argue that global inequality dampens cooperative efforts by reinforcing the "structuralist" worldviews and causal beliefs of many poor nations, eroding conditions of generalized trust, and promoting particularistic notions of "fair" solutions. They develop new measures of climate-related inequality, analyzing fatality and homelessness rates from hydrometeorological disasters, patterns of "emissions inequality," and participation in international environmental regimes. Until we recognize that reaching a North-South global climate pact requires addressing larger issues of inequality and striking a global bargain on environment and development, Roberts and Parks argue, the current policy gridlock will remain unresolved.

Books:

Books Index

Books Home

Recommended Books