Human activities around the world are producing increasingly large quantities of greenhouse gases, particularly carbon dioxide (CO2) resulting from the consumption of fossil fuels and deforestation. A comprehensive response to that problem would include a collection of strategies: research to better understand the scientific processes at work and to develop technologies to address them; measures to help the economy and society adapt to the projected warming and other expected changes; and efforts to reduce emissions. This report discusses the economic costs of reducing greenhouse-gas emissions in the U.S., describing the main determinants of costs, how analysts estimate those costs, and the magnitude of estimated costs. Illustrations.

Climate technology becomes more and more relevant in international environmental policy negotiations. At the Kyoto conference binding emission reduction targets have been established for several regions of the world. The major challenge is how to realize these reduction goals with minimum costs without generating new distributional and social difficulties. The book analyses the macroeconomic structural and distributional impacts of greenhouse gas mitigation strategies for the EU and the member states.