Economic tradeoffs in mitigation, due to different atmospheric lifetimes of CO2 and black carbon

Seshadri, Ashwin K (2015) Economic tradeoffs in mitigation, due to different atmospheric lifetimes of CO2 and black carbon. In: ECOLOGICAL ECONOMICS, 114 . pp. 47-57.

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Abstract

Tradeoffs are examined between mitigating black carbon (BC) and carbon dioxide (CO2) for limiting peak global mean warming, using the following set of methods. A two-box climate model is used to simulate temperatures of the atmosphere and ocean for different rates of mitigation. Mitigation rates for BC and CO2 are characterized by respective timescales for e-folding reduction in emissions intensity of gross global product. There are respective emissions models that force the box model. Lastly there is a simple economics model, with cost of mitigation varying inversely with emission intensity. Constant mitigation timescale corresponds to mitigation at a constant annual rate, for example an e-folding timescale of 40 years corresponds to 2.5% reduction each year. Discounted present cost depends only on respective mitigation timescale and respective mitigation cost at present levels of emission intensity. Least-cost mitigation is posed as choosing respective e-folding timescales, to minimize total mitigation cost under a temperature constraint (e.g. within 2 degrees C above preindustrial). Peak warming is more sensitive to mitigation timescale for CO2 than for BC. Therefore rapid mitigation of CO2 emission intensity is essential to limiting peak warming, but simultaneous mitigation of BC can reduce total mitigation expenditure. (c) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Item Type:	Journal Article
Publication:	ECOLOGICAL ECONOMICS
Publisher:	ELSEVIER SCIENCE BV
Additional Information:	Copy right for this article belongs to the ELSEVIER SCIENCE BV, PO BOX 211, 1000 AE AMSTERDAM, NETHERLANDS
Keywords:	Global climate change; Climate change mitigation; Black carbon; Carbon dioxide; Mitigation tradeoffs; Mitigation timescales
Department/Centre:	Division of Mechanical Sciences > Divecha Centre for Climate Change
Date Deposited:	26 Jun 2015 05:27
Last Modified:	26 Jun 2015 05:27
URI:	http://eprints.iisc.ac.in/id/eprint/51762

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