'Mitigation, Adaptation, Suffering': In Search of the Right Mix in the Face of Climate Change

21 Pages Posted: 27 Oct 2009

See all articles by Henry Tulkens

Henry Tulkens

Catholic University of Louvain - Center for Operations Research and Econometrics (CORE)

Vincent van Steenberghe

Belgian Federal Ministry for the Environment

Multiple version iconThere are 2 versions of this paper

Date Written: September 2009

Abstract

The usually assumed two categories of costs involved in climate change policy analysis, namely abatement and damage costs, hide the presence of a third category, namely adaptation costs. This dodges the determination of an appropriate level for them. Including adaptation costs explicitly in the total environmental cost function allows one to characterize the optimal (cost minimizing) balance between the three categories, in statics as well as in dynamics. Implications are derived for cost benefit analysis of adaptation expenditures.

JEL Classification: Q54, Q58

Suggested Citation

Tulkens, Henry and van Steenberghe, Vincent, 'Mitigation, Adaptation, Suffering': In Search of the Right Mix in the Face of Climate Change (September 2009). CESifo Working Paper Series No. 2781, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1476217 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1476217

Henry Tulkens (Contact Author)

Catholic University of Louvain - Center for Operations Research and Econometrics (CORE) ( email )

34 Voie du Roman Pays
B-1348 Louvain-la-Neuve, b-1348
Belgium
+32 10 47 43 21 (Phone)
+32 10 47 43 01 (Fax)

Vincent Van Steenberghe

Belgian Federal Ministry for the Environment

Brussels
Belgium

Do you have negative results from your research you’d like to share?

Paper statistics

Downloads
100
Abstract Views
780
Rank
225,071
PlumX Metrics