Summarizes the science of climate change and impacts on the United States, for the public and policymakers.

This volume shows how to develop new energy sources in ways that are less damaging to the environment than previous practices have been. Contributors to the compilation discuss how developing countries can: identify the most important environmental issues for their energy investments measure the costs and benefits, including environmental considerations, of sustainable energy development incorporate macroeconomic and institutional issues into energy planning. The editors highlight the institutional barriers to energy development planning that takes into consideration the environmental effects. They outline typical environmental impacts of renewable energy systems and provide an overview of applicable technologies. The report also discusses environmental policy in the production and consumption of oil and gas, with a review of pollution standards and control. And one section explores issues concerning greenhouse gases, such as how to apply controls fairly. These technical materials are a product of the program on energy policy and planning of the World Bank's Economic Development Institute. This volume will help policymakers and planners identify environmental issues in energy investments.

This book presents in detail a pair of models of the economics of climate change. The models, called RICE-99 (for the Regional Dynamic Integrated model of Climate and the Economy) and DICE-99 (for the Dynamic Integrated Model of Climate and the Economy) build on the authors' earlier work, particularly their RICE and DICE models of the early 1990s. Humanity is risking the health of the natural environment through a myriad of interventions, including the atmospheric emission of trace gases such as carbon dioxide, the use of ozone-depleting chemicals, the engineering of massive land-use changes, and the destruction of the habitats of many species. It is imperative that we learn to protect our common geophysical and biological resources. Although scientists have studied greenhouse warming for decades, it is only recently that society has begun to consider the economic, political, and institutional aspects of environmental intervention. To do so raises formidable challenges of data modeling, uncertainty, international coordination, and institutional design. Attempts to deal with complex scientific and economic issues have increasingly involved the use of models to help analysts and decision makers understand likely future outcomes as well as the implications of alternative policies. This book presents in detail a pair of models of the economics of climate change. The models, called RICE-99 (for the Regional Dynamic Integrated model of Climate and the Economy) and DICE-99 (for the Dynamic Integrated Model of Climate and the Economy) build on the authors' earlier work, particularly their RICE and DICE models of the early 1990s. They can help policy makers design better economic and environmental policies.