Skip to main content

Valuing Climate Damages Updating Estimation of the Social Cost of Carbon Dioxide (2017) / Chapter Skim
Currently Skimming:

Executive Summary
Pages 1-4

The Chapter Skim interface presents what we've algorithmically identified as the most significant single chunk of text within every page in the chapter.
Select key terms on the right to highlight them within pages of the chapter.


From page 1...
... The IWG asked the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine to examine potential approaches, along with their relative merits and challenges, for a comprehensive update to the current methodology. The task was to ensure that the SC-CO2 estimates reflect the best available science, focusing on issues related to the choice of models and damage functions, climate science modeling assumptions, socioeconomic and emissions scenarios, presentation of uncertainty, and discounting.
Read the entire page →
From page 2...
... The present value of damages reflects society's willingness to trade value in the future for value today. The IWG methodology combines tens of thousands of SC-CO2 results obtained from running three IAMs using five different socioeconomic and emissions projections, a common distribution of equilibrium climate sensitivity (a parameter that characterizes the relationship between CO2 concentrations and long-term global average temperature change)
Read the entire page →
From page 3...
... • The climate module should use a simple Earth system model that satisfies well-defined diagnostic tests to confirm that it properly captures the relationships between CO2 emissions, atmospheric CO2 concentrations, and global mean surface temperature change and sea level rise. • The damages module should improve and update existing formu lations of climate change damages, make calibrations transparent, present disaggregated results, and address correlation between different formulations.
Read the entire page →

Key Terms

  • temperature change
  • social cost
  • average temperature
  • climate damages
  • regulatory impact

  • global average
  • discount rate
  • climate modeling
  • particular regulation
  • climate sensitivity

  • climate science
  • methodology combines
  • future socioeconomic
  • modeling assumptions
  • existing iwg

  • metric tons
  • examine potential
  • mean surface
  • carbon recommends
  • iams define

  • market damages
  • surface temperature
  • modular approach
  • assessing approaches
  • common distribution

  • atmosphere persists
  • baseline emission
  • nonmarket damages
  • impact analysis
  • emission trajectories


    • This material may be derived from roughly machine-read images, and so is provided only to facilitate research.
    More information on Chapter Skim is available.