The Social Cost of Carbon - the most important number you’ve never heard of

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"'The Social Cost of Carbon may be the most important number you’ve never heard of,' according to Frank Ackerman and Elizabeth Stanton in a recent publication from the Economics for Equity and the Environment Network.

The Social Cost of Carbon (pdf) analyzes the efforts within the U.S. government to develop a value of the economic impact of CO2 emissions to use in everything from regulation writing to discussions as to carbon legislation. Set the price too high and the economy could take a near-term hit in terms of lost opportunity costs for more sensible investment choices. Set the price too low and, well, the devastating impacts of catastrophic climate chaos could result as the economy under invests in climate mitigation and adaptation. Right now the costs for polluting CO2 is roughly, well exactly: $0 per ton. Watching glaciers melt, species go extinct, and allergy sufferers suffer more clearly shows that figure is too low.

Ackerman and Stanton provide a strikingly searing look at how the work, to date, of the interagency working group has relied on questionable analyses that systematically understate the costs that CO2 emissions cause and will create. The United Kingdom’s latest calculation is that the Social Cost of Carbon is in the range of $41-$124 per ton, with a central case of $83. The US interagency group’s conclusion: a central price of $21. Why might the U.S. figure be a quarter of the UK figure?"

http://getenergysmartnow.com/2010/04/16/the-most-important-number-youve-never-heard-of/