An Introduction to Climate Change Economics and Policy

by Felix R. FitzRoy, Elissaios Papyrakis

Interest in climate change has generated a mountain of literature leaving many floundering in the sheer flood of information, commentary, claims and initiatives. This highly accessible book assumes no prior knowledge and cuts through the confusion to explain the key economic and policy issues related to climate change in simple language and with only a few statistics. Coverage slices across the breadth and depth of climate change, providing short summaries of the most relevant research and conclusions from various disciplines. The authors highlight where economists and policy makers generally misunderstand the science of climate change, underestimate the risks of runaway warming and exaggerate the costs of radical measures to stabilize the climate.

A key focus is the impact of climate change on world agriculture, the world's most important activity. The authors provide a critical examination of how current policies that promote poor water usage and soil erosion are risking a catastrophic collapse of agriculture in the poorest and most populous countries in a warming world. They look at the solutions such as how no-till, conservation farming, third generation biofuels from waste land, alternative energy, and bio-char production to raise sustainable yields, reduce emissions and sequester carbon in soil.

The second, crucial thrust is a critical examination of the growth economy paradigm of rich countries that is driving climate change. The authors look at economic measures to control climate change including switching taxes from labor to carbon and subsidies from fossil and nuclear energy to renewable alternatives as well as demand management and energy saving.

Overall the book provides a comprehensive, critical introduction to the issues and highlights the main policies that are needed to initiate the transformation to sustainability and avert the worst risks of climate catastrophe.

224 pages, Paperback

First published October 23, 2009

Reviews

[Jaswinder Singh · Rating 4 out of 5]

A must read for everybody who wants to start understanding different aspects of climate change. Contrary to the title the first chapter of the book is actually about the science of some of the major processes that you must understand. It gives you decent picture of what are thermodynamics involved. Next few chapters will help you understand about international politics and much more. A really good read.

[Anthony · Rating 2 out of 5]

I would recommend this only to people who have no understanding of climate change, and if you fit that requirement than I would not recommend this book. This book is so uncritical (there is not a single graph, not a single table to back up any of their claims) and polemical: CCS is bad, nuclear is bad (all at face value), discounting is bad. Don't waste your time.