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Publications

Viewing all publications in Academic Articles/Working Papers
  • Climate-Society Feedback Effects Cover

    Climate-Society Feedback Effects

    Be Wary of Unidentified Connections

    To ensure policies are based on accurate predictions of climate impacts, it is critical to understand social-ecological system (SES) feedbacks, including how humans change the climate by reacting to a changing climate. Building on recent scholarly work on the topic, this article describes SES interactions and how they can be incorporated into climate policy tools such as the social cost of carbon. The article then proposes a research agenda for the identification, quantification, and integration of climate-society feedbacks into social-cost integrated assessment models (SC-IAMs).

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  • Modeling Strategic Objectives and Behavior in the Transition of the Energy Sector to Inform Policymaking Cover

    Modeling Strategic Objectives and Behavior in the Transition of the Energy Sector to Inform Policymaking

    in The Electricity Journal

    The typical starting point and centerpiece of energy decarbonization is the electric power sector, a large direct GHG emitter. Published in The Electricity Journalthis paper explores what the modeling community should do to inform this transition, including expanding energy market datasets and designing models that incorporate multiple objectives and manifold actors behaving strategically in a framework consisting of large uncertainty, while accounting for the physics of power systems.

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  • Climate and Power System Reliability in the Aftermath of the Texas Blackouts Cover

    Climate and Power System Reliability in the Aftermath of the Texas Blackouts

    The February 2021 blackout in Texas underscored the importance of reliable and resilient power systems. This article discusses the roles of regulators, markets, fuel and generation supply chains, and interdependent infrastructures, and finds that they need to be reconsidered and redefined to successfully meet the future challenges of increased electrification and severe weather

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  • Playing with Fire Cover

    Playing with Fire

    Responding to Criticism of the Social Cost of Greenhouse Gases

    Federal agencies will need to offer considered and detailed responses to objections raised in the notice-and-comment processes for individual regulations or administrative actions that apply the Working Group’s social cost valuations. Given its expertise, the Working Group should consider providing such responses now, so that agencies can then incorporate them into future actions. This working paper offers a blueprint for those responses.

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  • About Time

    Recalibrating the Discount Rate for the Social Cost of Greenhouse Gases (Working Paper)

    In light of recent evidence, a new range of discount rates appropriate for calculating the social cost of greenhouse gases could be conservatively estimated as between 0.5%-2.5%, with a central estimate of 1.5%. Agencies should follow the Interagency Working Group’s guidance on applying new social cost of greenhouse gas estimates based on updated discount rates—and will need to justify their choices, including any departures from prior practices.

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