Word: ackerman
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...idea is that if we have a number, we can compare the costs and benefits of efforts to reduce CO2 in the atmosphere," says Frank Ackerman, PhD, an economist specializing in climate change at the Stockholm Environment Institute's center at Tufts University. "If, say, we value CO2 damages at $20 a ton, then $15 per ton is considered an acceptable cost to ameliorate it. If the SCC is $2, spending $15 seems out of line." The other key statistical variable is the "discount rate," which establishes how to account for future costs and benefits in today's currency...
...Frank Ackerman says that the EPA is basing its SCC calculations on models that minimize the economic risks of climate change. He notes that one model includes the assumption that for the first few decades, climate change will bring economic benefits to the world as a whole...
...Climate change is different from anything we've had to contend with on a policy level," says Ackerman. "The assumption in any policy discussion is that if a proposal doesn't go forward, you still have the status quo. Here the status quo is not available as a fallback, as doing nothing means a rapidly changing climate and worsening conditions all over the world. By the time you're absolutely certain of the impacts and can observe them in everyday life, it's too late." This is why, he says, paying attention to the dynamics of climate harbingers - such...
...Rather than letting the unknowns paralyze us, Ackerman suggests looking at the potential costs of climate change differently. "You don't buy fire insurance on your house because you think it's going to burn down, but because you're not completely sure that it won't," he says. He says about 3% of per capita income is what is needed to protect against climate change: the amount people typically spend on insurance. We could think of it as collective property - or life - insurance...
...could go back and tell yourself to not do one thing during the financial crisis, what would that be, and why? -Kathy Ackerman, Minneapolis I've obviously thought about this a lot, and I believe that the major decisions we made were the right ones. But I've got a list of things that I would like to have done better. For instance, when we sent the Troubled Asset Relief Program [TARP] proposal to Congress, it was a three-page outline. It was not intended to be a complete request. It was intended to be a starting point for negotiation...