Synopses & Reviews
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.
Review
"This book represents a unique effort by contributors from 29 countries under the auspices of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change to pull together all that is known about the likely social and economic impact of climate change over the next century or so....It stands as a relatively compact statement on the current state of policy analysis, and how to apply it in this particular area of public decision making." Foreign Affairs"Climate Change 1995 is compelling reading for all students of the environment....It should be a standard reference text for policymakers and stakeholders." American Scientist
Table of Contents
Summary for policymakers; 1. Introduction: scope of the assessment; 2. Decision-making frameworks for addressing climate change; 3. Equity and social considerations; 4. Intertemporal equity, discounting and economic efficiency; 5. Applicability of techniques of cost-benefit analysis to climate change; 6. The social costs of climate change: greenhouse damage and the benefits of control; 7. A generic assessment of response options; 8. Estimating the costs of mitigating greenhouse gases; 9. A review of mitigation cost studies; 10. Integrated assessment of climate change: an overview and comparison of approaches and results; 11. An economic assessment of policy instruments for combating climate change.