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Upward revision of the social costs of methane and nitrous oxide

A multi-model analysis shows that the incorporation of advances in damage functions — namely growth effects — substantially increases the social cost estimates of methane and nitrous oxide, although uncertainty remains.

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Fig. 1: Estimation of SC-CH4 and SC-N2O.

References

  1. Technical Support Document: Social Cost of Carbon, Methane, and Nitrous Oxide Interim Estimates under Executive Order 13990 (Interagency Working Group on Social Cost of Greenhouse Gases, United States Government, 2021); https://go.nature.com/3n5eBeIThis paper reports estimates for the social costs of CH4 and N2O.

  2. Diaz, D. & Moore, F. Quantifying the economic risks of climate change. Nat. Clim. Change 7, 774–782 (2017). This paper reports how improved damage modelling affects the social cost of carbon.

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  4. Kanter, D. R. et al. Improving the social cost of nitrous oxide. Nat. Clim. Change 11, 1008–1010 (2021). This paper reports the impacts of the interactions between N2O and ozone on social cost estimates.

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  5. Wang, T., Teng, F., Deng, X. & Xie, J. Climate module disparities explain inconsistent estimates of the social cost of carbon in integrated assessment models. One Earth 5, 767–778 (2022). This paper reports the impacts of climate modelling on the social cost of carbon.

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This is a summary of: Wang, T. & Teng, F. Damage function uncertainty increases the social cost of methane and nitrous oxide. Nat. Clim. Change https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-023-01803-4 (2023).

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Upward revision of the social costs of methane and nitrous oxide. Nat. Clim. Chang. 13, 1170–1171 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-023-01825-y

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