The Costs of Reducing Greenhouse-Gas Emissions (PDF; 655 KB)
Source: Congressional Budget Office
From CBO Director’s Blog:

The consumption of fossil fuels and deforestation are producing increasingly large quantities of greenhouse gases, particularly carbon dioxide (CO2). Most experts expect that the accumulation of such gases in the atmosphere will result in a variety of environmental changes over time Although the magnitude and consequences of such developments are highly uncertain, researchers generally conclude that a continued increase in atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases would have serious and costly effects.

Reducing emissions, through a cap-and-trade program or regulations for example, would impose a burden on the economy by lessening the use of fossil fuels and altering patterns of land use. Today CBO released a brief discussing the economic costs of reducing greenhouse-gas emissions in the United States, describing the main determinants of costs, how analysts estimate those costs, and the magnitude of estimated costs. The brief also illustrates the uncertainty surrounding such estimates using studies of a recent legislative proposal, H.R. 2454, the American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, November 25th, 2009 at 2:38 am and is filed under Business and economics, Energy, Environment, Government and politics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.