Policy record

Social Cost of Carbon

Social cost of carbon estimate could be revised downwards, which would make it harder to show that regulations were beneficial in a RIAS. Lower SCC values would reduce the calculated benefits of emissions reductions, making it more difficult to demonstrate that proposed regulations are cost-effective or beneficial, potentially stalling or weakening climate policy implementation.

Nature of risk

Social cost of carbon estimate could be revised downwards, which would make it harder to show that regulations were beneficial in a RIAS. Lower SCC values would reduce the calculated benefits of emissions reductions, making it more difficult to demonstrate that proposed regulations are cost-effective or beneficial, potentially stalling or weakening climate policy implementation.

Policy summary

What changed

The Social Cost of Carbon is a measure used to quantify the economic damages associated with an incremental increase in emissions include damages from a variety of climate change impacts such as changes in net agricultural productivity, human health effects, property damage from increased flood risk, disruption of energy systems, and the value of ecosystem services. These estimates are used to value expected changes in emissions as part of cost-benefit analysis (CBA) of regulatory proposals.

Primary source

canada.ca

Open source