Smart Solutions to Climate Change
Comparing Costs and Benefits

Bjørn Lomborg challenges world-class economists to describe the costs and benefits of a range of policies to combat global warming.

Bjørn Lomborg (Edited by)

9780521763424, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 9 September 2010

436 pages, 87 b/w illus. 102 tables
25.4 x 18 x 2.5 cm, 1 kg

'… a constructive book that focuses seriously on finding effective ways to combat global warming, and the differences of opinions it expresses are stimulating and enlightening … Smart Solutions marks symbolically the end of one stage of thinking about climate change and the beginning of another.' Nature

The failure of the Copenhagen climate conference in December 2009 revealed major flaws in the way the world's policymakers have attempted to prevent dangerous levels of increases in global temperatures. The expert authors in this specially commissioned collection focus on the likely costs and benefits of a very wide range of policy options, including geo-engineering, mitigation of CO2, methane and 'black carbon', expanding forest, research and development of low-carbon energy and encouraging green technology transfer. For each policy, authors outline all of the costs, benefits and likely outcomes, in fully referenced, clearly presented chapters accompanied by shorter, critical alternative perspectives. To further stimulate debate, a panel of economists, including three Nobel laureates, evaluate and rank the attractiveness of the policies. This authoritative and thought-provoking book will challenge readers to form their own conclusions about the best ways to respond to global warming.

List of figures
List of tables
List of contributors
Acknowledgements
Introduction Bjørn Lomborg
Part I. The Solutions: 1. Climate engineering Eric Bickel and Lee Lane
1.1 Alternative perspective Roger Pielke Jr
1.2 Alternative perspective Anne E. Smith
2. Carbon dioxide mitigation Richard S. J. Tol
2.1 Alternative perspective Onno Kuik
2.2 Alternative perspective Roberto Roson
3. Forestry carbon sequestration Brent Sohngen
3.1 Alternative perspective Sabine Fuss
4. Black carbon mitigation Robert E. Baron, W. David Montgomery and Sugandha D. Tuladhar
4.1 Alternative perspective Milind Kandlikar, Conor C. O. Reynolds and Andy P. Grieshop
5. Methane mitigation Claudia Kemfert and Wolf-Peter Schill
5.1 Alternative perspective David Anthoff
5.2 Alternative perspective Daniel Johansson and Fredrik Hedenus
6. Market and policy driven adaptation Francesco Bosello, Carlo Carraro and Enrica de Cian
6.1 Alternative perspective Samuel Fankhauser
6.2 Alternative perspective Frank Jotzo
7. Technology-led climate policy Isabel Galiana and Christopher Green
7.1 Alternative perspective Valentina Bosetti
7.2 Alternative perspective Gregory Nemet
8. Technology transfers Zili Yang
8.1 Alternative perspective David Popp
Part II. Ranking the Opportunities: 9. Expert panel ranking Nancy L. Stokey, Vernon L. Smith, Thomas C. Schelling, Finn E. Kydland and Jagdish N. Bhagwati
Conclusion Bjørn Lomborg
Index.

Subject Areas: Environmental economics [KCN], Economics [KC]