From "Climate Casino"

From "Climate Casino" Copyright © 2013 by William Nordhaus

Figure 1.

The circular flow of global warming science, impacts, and policy.

From "Climate Casino" Copyright © 2013 by William Nordhaus

Figure 2.

Global CO2 emissions, 1900-2010.

From "Climate Casino" Copyright © 2013 by William Nordhaus

Figure 3.

Carbon intensity of U.S. economy, 1900-2010.

From "Climate Casino" Copyright © 2013 by William Nordhaus

Figure 4.

A comparison of a transmission line on the left with a computer model of the energy and economic system on the right. Each serves a useful function, but computerized models are crucial tools for understanding trends and the impacts of different policies.

From "Climate Casino" Copyright © 2013 by William Nordhaus

Figure 5

. Projections for baseline CO2 emissions.

From "Climate Casino" Copyright © 2013 by William Nordhaus

Figure 6.

Atmospheric concentrations of CO2 measured at Mauna Loa Observatory, Hawaii, 1958-2012.

Figure 7.

Temperature response of models in IPCC fourth Assessment Report. The curves show a smoothed distribution of the calculated transient temperature (darker line, at left) and equilibrium temperature (lighter line, at right) increases from eighteen models.

From "Climate Casino"

Copyright © 2013 by William

Nordhaus

From "Climate Casino" Copyright © 2013 by William Nordhaus

Figure 8.

Global temperature trend as constructed by three research groups, 1850-2012.

From "Climate Casino" Copyright © 2013 by William Nordhaus

Figure 9.

Global mean temperature increase as projected by IPCC scenarios and IAMs. The figure compares four projections using IPCC scenarios with those of the regional DICE (RICE) model and the average of the EMF-22 integrated economic models. The letters A1B, A2, B1, and B2 represent standardized emissions.

From "Climate Casino" Copyright © 2013 by William Nordhaus

Figure 10.

Historical proxy temperature estimates for Greenland.

From "Climate Casino" Copyright © 2013 by William Nordhaus

Figure 11.

Tipping points: moving from good to a bad equilibrium. The double-bottomed bowl illustrates how stresses can change a system slowly until a tipping point is reached, after which there are rapid and potentially catastrophic changes. Note that there are two equilibria - a good equilibrium in (a), and a bad equilibrium in (d).

From "Climate Casino" Copyright © 2013 by William Nordhaus

Figure 12.

Illustration of a tipping point for the Greenland Ice Sheet. This figure shows a calculation from the GRANTISM model of the response of the Greenland Ice Sheet to different temperatures.

Figure 13.

Living standards and climate change with and without economic growth. This figure shows two possible futures. One is "no growth," which turns off productivity growth immediately. The other shows the projection of productivity growth built into most integrated assessment models. The top half compares the paths of per capita consumption. ("Per capita cons" represents average consumption of food, shelter, education, and other items.) The bottom half shows the difference in climate paths of growth and no growth with and without any climate policies. Rapid climate change is the unintentional by-product of rapid economic growth with no abatement policies.

From "Climate Casino"

C

opyright © 2013 by William

Nordhaus

From "Climate Casino" Copyright © 2013 by William Nordhaus

Figure 14.

Estimated impact of climate change on wheat yields for low-altitude regions. The lines show the summary results drawn from about fifty published studies at multiple sites of yields per acre as a function of mean local temperature change. The lower line shows the response without adaptations, while the upper line shows yield changes with a limited set of adaptations, including CO2 fertilization.

From "Climate Casino" Copyright © 2013 by William Nordhaus

Figure 15.

Trends in the prices of farm products, United States, 1948-2011. The figure shows the movement of farm prices relative to all prices.

From "Climate Casino" Copyright © 2013 by William Nordhaus

Figure 16

. History and projected sea level for uncontrolled and temperature-limited scenarios, 1900-2010. The figure shows the history and a comparison of two DICE model SLR projections (unconstrained emissions and a limit of 2°C increase in global temperature) with that of the average of IPCC models for unconstrained emissions (SRES A1B) over the next century. Note that, even with an ambitious policy to limit warming, there will be substantial SLR.

From "Climate Casino" Copyright © 2013 by William Nordhaus

Figure 17. Projected sea level relative to 2000 for uncontrolled and temperature-limited scenarios. The figure shows illustrative sea-level projections over the coming half millennium from the DICE model. Note that even in the case of strong climate-change policies, substantial SLR is projected because of the inertia in ocean response.

From "Climate Casino" Copyright © 2013 by William Nordhaus

Figure 18.

Normalized costs of hurricanes for the United States, 1900-2012. This figure shows the ratio of damages to GDP for all hurricanes for the given year. Damages are highly skewed, with high damages in a few years, but little or no damages in most years.

From "Climate Casino" Copyright © 2013 by William Nordhaus

Figure 19

. Impacts of climate-change hurricane intensification and redistribution on different regions. Which regions are likely to be most adversely affected by the hurricane intensification induced by global warming? A study finds that Central America is the most vulnerable by far of any region, followed by North America (primarily the U.S.).

From "Climate Casino" Copyright © 2013 by William Nordhaus

Figure 20

. Estimate of extinction rate for marine life for the last 600 million years. The extinction rate is the number of families of known marine organisms that became extinct per unit of time. Spikes represent major extinction events. The dotted line is the time trend.

From "Climate Casino" Copyright © 2013 by William Nordhaus

Figure 21

. Historical and projected extinction rates of different groups. The figure shows a recent compilation of estimates of historical and projected extinction rates for major groups. Historical estimates are for species that became extinct in the wild. The projections are for threatened groups.

From "Climate Casino" Copyright © 2013 by William Nordhaus

Figure 22

. Estimates of the impact of global warming on the global economy. The figure shows a compilation of estimates of the aggregate damages from global warming for each temperature increase. Dots are individual studies. The solid line is the global damage function used in the DICE model. The arrow is the estimate from the most recent IPCC survey of impacts. The estimates generally include only partial estimates of damages to nonmarket sectors.

From "Climate Casino" Copyright © 2013 by William Nordhaus

Figure 23.

Sources of CO2 emissions, 2010. This figure shows the percentage break-down of CO2 emissions in 2010 for all countries (left bars) and for the United States (right bars).

From "Climate Casino" Copyright © 2013 by William Nordhaus

Figure 24.

A projection of the most economical way for the United States to reduce CO2 emissions by fuel type. According to a study by the U.S. Energy Information Administration, we should reduce coal use most sharply. These results are similar to those of other economic models.

From "Climate Casino" Copyright © 2013 by William Nordhaus

Figure 25

. The average cost of reducing GHG emissions, 2025. This figure shows an estimate of the average cost of reducing emissions in the most efficient manner for the world as a whole. Estimates for the United States differ slightly but have the same shape.

From "Climate Casino" Copyright © 2013 by William Nordhaus

Figure 26

. Estimated global costs of meeting different climate objectives. The two curves show the fraction of global income needed to attain given temperature objectives. The left-hand curve assumes 100 percent participation and efficient policy design, while the right-hand curve assumes 50 percent participation. Low participation makes it virtually impossible to achieve the 2°C Copenhagen target.

From "Climate Casino" Copyright © 2013 by William Nordhaus

Figure 27

. Discounting reduces the value of distant goods. Discounting is like visual perspective, reducing the value of goods and services in the future.

From "Climate Casino" Copyright © 2013 by William Nordhaus

Figure 28.

Estimated global temperature variations for the last 400,000 years along with model projections for the next two centuries. This figure shows a reconstruction of global temperatures using Antarctic ice core data for the last half-million years. The present temperature is normalized at 0°C. The line with dots shooting up at the far right shows a projection of future temperature increases from the DICE model in a no-controls baseline scenario. If global warming continues unchecked, future temperatures will soon surpass the historical maximum of the last half-million years.

From "Climate Casino" Copyright © 2013 by William Nordhaus

Figure 29

. Total costs of different temperature targets assuming 100 percent efficiency and no discounting. This figure shows the undiscounted annual costs of emissions reductions (the downward-sloping line), damages (upward-sloping line), and total costs (U-shaped curve) for each temperature limit. All values are undiscounted. This takes the idealized case of efficient abatement and universal participation. The damage curve here assumes that there are no catastrophic damages or tipping points.

From "Climate Casino" Copyright © 2013 by William Nordhaus

Figure 30

. The temperature target rises with inefficient abatement without discounting. The second case assumes inefficient abatement because of limited participation. Again, curves are the annual costs of emissions reductions (the downward-sloping line), the undiscounted damages (upward-sloping line), and total costs (the U-shaped curve). This version assumes no catastrophic damages or tipping points and that future values are not discounted.

From "Climate Casino" Copyright © 2013 by William Nordhaus

Figure 31

. Total costs of different targets assuming limited participation and discounting of future incomes. This calculation shows the annualized costs when the damages are discounted at 4 percent per year but still assuming inefficient abatement because of limited participation. Here, the economic calculus indicates an optimal temperature limit of 4°C.

From "Climate Casino" Copyright © 2013 by William Nordhaus

Figure 32

. Climate policy with a sharp tipping point at 3½°C. The final example has a threshold or tipping point at a temperature increase of 3½°C in a situation with discounting and limited participation. This shows that the optimal temperature increase is very close to the threshold. It is constrained on the low side by abatement costs and on the high side by the sharp increase in damages.

From "Climate Casino" Copyright © 2013 by William Nordhaus

Figure 33

. Illustrative carbon prices needed for a 2½°C temperature limit. This figure shows target price paths for CO2 that would lead to a maximum temperature rise of around 2½°C. These results are from a group of thirteen models and show the central tendency as well as maximum and minimum required carbon prices across models. The path assumes full participation and efficient policies.

From "Climate Casino" Copyright © 2013 by William Nordhaus

Figure 34

. Whimsical certificate for emissions allowance for the United States of Pacifica.

From "Climate Casino" Copyright © 2013 by William Nordhaus

Figure 35

. The market price of CO2 under the European Trading Scheme. This figure shows the history of CO2 prices under the EU Emissions Trading Scheme from 2006 to 2012. The price declined sharply during the financial crisis and at the end of 2012, when the future of global climate-change agreements was in doubt. Note: The vertical scale uses metric tons rather than American tons (2,205 versus 2,000 pounds). The euro averaged $1.36/€ during this period.

From "Climate Casino" Copyright © 2013 by William Nordhaus

Figure 36

. Share of global emissions. The Kyoto Protocol (the dashed line) covered almost two-thirds of emissions when it began. However, the growth of developing countries and the departure of the United States and Canada reduced that share to about one-fifth by the time it expired in 2012. The EU was the major stalwart throughout this period (its share of global emissions is shown as the solid line).

From "Climate Casino" Copyright © 2013 by William Nordhaus

Figure 37

. Historical and projected

decarbonization

in the U.S. economy. The figure shows the rate of change in the CO2-GDP ratio, or the rate of

decarbonization

. The left side shows the actual rate of

decarbonization

for the past half century. The right side shows the rate needed to achieve the ambitious goals for reducing CO2 emissions by 83 percent by midcentury.

From "Climate Casino" Copyright © 2013 by William Nordhaus

Figure 38

. Sources of energy used in the United States, 2009.

From "Climate Casino" Copyright © 2013 by William Nordhaus

Figure 39.

Decline in the price of solar power. Prices declined sharply in the early era, reached a plateau, and then dropped again when China entered the market with large governmental subsidies.

From "Climate Casino" Copyright © 2013 by William Nordhaus

Figure 40

. Few innovations survive the transition from scientific laboratories to the marketplace.

From "Climate Casino" Copyright © 2013 by William Nordhaus

Figure 41

. Popular understanding of major scientific concepts. People generally accept continental drift and the heliocentric view, while the big bang theory of the origin of the universe and evolutionary theories are correctly understood by less than half of Americans.

From "Climate Casino" Copyright © 2013 by William Nordhaus

Figure 42

. Fraction of population saying that global warming is real. This figure synthesizes data on public views in the United States on global warming. While the questions differ, they typically are "Do you think the earth is warming?" The dots are the individual surveys, while the solid line is a

statistical fit

.

From "Climate Casino" Copyright © 2013 by William Nordhaus

Figure 43

. Widening partisan divide on environmental policies in the U.S. Congress. The figure shows the difference between the environmental scores of Democrats and Republicans in the House and Senate over the past four decades. In the early years, there was considerable overlap in views, but in recent year the two parties have become increasingly polarized.

From "Climate Casino" Copyright © 2013 by William Nordhaus

Figure 44.

The temporal trade-off in climate-change policies. The bars show net benefits (equal to damages plus abatement costs, all discounted at market interest rates) for country groups for two time periods. The left solid bars are the net benefits for the first half century, while the light shaded bars are the net benefits for the balance of the period through 2200.

From "Climate Casino" Copyright © 2013 by William Nordhaus

Figure 45

. Americans gradually accepted the scientific view that smoking causes cancer even as the tobacco industry conducted its campaign of deception.

From "Climate Casino" Copyright © 2013 by William Nordhaus

From "Climate Casino" Copyright © 2013 by William Nordhaus

From "Climate Casino" Copyright © 2013 by William Nordhaus

From "Climate Casino" Copyright © 2013 by William Nordhaus

From "Climate Casino" Copyright © 2013 by William Nordhaus

From "Climate Casino" Copyright © 2013 by William Nordhaus

From "Climate Casino" Copyright © 2013 by William Nordhaus

From "Climate Casino" Copyright © 2013 by William Nordhaus

From "Climate Casino" Copyright © 2013 by William Nordhaus

From "Climate Casino" Copyright © 2013 by William Nordhaus

From "Climate Casino" Copyright © 2013 by William Nordhaus

From "Climate Casino" Copyright © 2013 by William Nordhaus

From "Climate Casino" Copyright © 2013 by William Nordhaus

From "Climate Casino" Copyright © 2013 by William Nordhaus

From "Climate Casino" Copyright © 2013 by William Nordhaus

From "Climate Casino" Copyright © 2013 by William Nordhaus

From "Climate Casino" Copyright © 2013 by William Nordhaus

From "Climate Casino" Copyright © 2013 by William Nordhaus