Skip to main content
Climate
Search

Main navigation

  • Climate 101
    • What We Know
    • What Can Be Done
    • Climate Primer
  • Explore
    • Explainers
    • Ask MIT Climate
    • Podcast
    • For Educators
  • MIT Action
    • News
    • Events
    • Resources
  • Search
MIT

Main navigation

  • Climate 101
    • What We Know
    • What Can Be Done
    • Climate Primer
  • Explore
    • Explainers
    • Ask MIT Climate
    • Podcast
    • For Educators
  • MIT Action
    • News
    • Events
    • Resources
  • Search
PostFebruary 14, 2019

What are the policy implications of a dramatic range of climate damage estimates?

"Dramatic climate disruption and massive economic losses are coming in just a few decades, not centuries, if we continue along our present path of inaction" notes Frank Ackerman (Synapse Energy Economics & former lecturer at the Department of Urban Studies and Planning), citing an ever increasing body of academic reports and articles.

Why, despite ominously large foreshadowing of the lifetime damages per ton of carbo dioxide, is there such deep uncertainty and a wide scale of value for those damages?

In Climate Damages: Uncertain but Ominous, or $51 per Ton? Ackerman explores the models used to project future costs, their reliability, and what uncertainty means for climate policy. Read Ackerman's full posts, part one - part two.

by Department of Urban Studies and Planning MIT
Topics
Finance & Economics
Energy
Government & Policy

Related Posts

PostJune 16, 2025

Lack of middleman between Illinois farmers and consumers limits market for ...

MIT Climate
A man laughs while carrying a white and green box that reads "farm fresh vegetables."
PostJune 12, 2025

Podcast episode: Digging into climate-smart dairy with Carolyn Beans

MIT Climate
A composite of two side-by-side images. On the left, a woman with a blue shirt smiles. On the right is the logo of the FarmHouse podcast: a flowerpot and a window, through which we can see a small building and windmill.
PostJune 11, 2025

A vision for transportation resilience in the energy transition

MIT Center for Sustainability Science and Strategy
Rethinking resilience of low-carbon transportation
PostJune 11, 2025

As labor costs rise, AI is learning to farm

MIT Climate
Agricultural workers place stakes in the ground among jalapeƱo plants.

MIT Climate News in Your Inbox

 
 

MIT Groups Log In

Log In

Footer

  • About
  • Terms & Conditions
  • Privacy Policy
  • Accessibility
  • Contact
MIT Climate Project
MIT
Communicator Award Winner
Communicator Award Winner