Economic Risks of Climate Change

Points the way toward a new era in climate-risk analysis... [T]he authors not only provide a basis for rational judgments by policy makers but also open a new avenue toward progressive improvement in our understanding of risk. -- From the opening commentary by Michael Oppenheimer, Princeton University Solid scholarship shows that we can improve the economy through wise use of our knowledge of climate change and energy. Better quantifying the uncertainties and near-certainties will help guide wise policies. Economic Risks of Climate Change: An American Prospectus is an important step forward. -- Richard Alley, Pennsylvania State University, author of Earth: The Operators' Manual This report has changed my understanding of what climate change means for the United States, providing incredibly detailed visibility into regional changes in climate and their economic consequences to specific sectors. Given its unique ability to touch home for so many, I suspect the study will ultimately be considered a landmark contribution in our understanding of this complex and vital subject. -- From the opening commentary by Michael Greenstone, University of Chicago This report is a careful, very timely and fundamentally important contribution... Its legacy should be continued research to assess and, where possible, quantify those impacts that cannot now be avoided, and which must be adapted to, as well as to gain a better grasp of just how huge the risks of unmanaged climate change are likely to be, even for a superpower. -- From the opening commentary by Lord Nicholas Stern and Bob Ward, Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment