Warming is not the crucial uncertainty

Published in ERW, 13 Oct 2013

A study by researchers in the US suggests that information on the impacts of climate change and the development of future technology is critical when it comes to making climate-related policy. The study contradicts the widely held belief that uncertainties in the amount of future global warming are the most important.

Governments often have to perform cost-benefit analyses to determine which is the best climate policy. For instance, a more stringent fuel-efficiency target may cost car companies money to implement today, but that must be weighed up against the potential environmental damage, in terms of cost, that higher emissions would generate in the future. Such costs cannot be known for certain; they always have a degree of uncertainty. […]

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