We provide counterexamples to the idea that mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions, and adaptation to climate change, are always substitutes. We consider optimal mitigation policy when climate damages follow a geometric Brownian motion process with positive drift and mitigation is lumpy.
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We study optimal adaptation to climate change when the harmful consequences of globalwarming are associated with uncertain occurrence of abrupt changes. The adaptation policy entails the accumulation of a particular sort of capital that will eliminate or reduce the catastrophic damage of an abrupt climate change when (and if) it occurs. The occurrence date is uncertain.
This study examines the potential role of adaptation in assets and operations in response to climate change, and the expected effect of adaptation activities on firm value. In particular, by defining adaptive capacity of assets and operations, we can value the adaptive capacity of an asset (such as a seawall or a desalination plant) whose capital could lie idle for decades.
Property-level stormwater drainage systems consist of roof drainage systems and those systems that connect buildings and their surrounding ground surfaces to main sewer networks, on-site rainwater harvesting or other capture systems. The design of these local systems has traditionally been based on simplistic approaches that fail to account for performance and integration.
This paper presents the study on agriculture adaptation to climate change by adopting the assumed land use change strategy to resist the water shortage and to build the capacity to adapt the expected climate change in the northern China. The cost-benefit analysis result shows that assumed land use change from high water consuming rice cultivation to other crops is very effective.
This paper measures the economic impacts of climate change on China's grain production by using provincial time series data over a 32-year period. The panel data model and time series region model with/without adaptation are applied at the same time to assess the effectiveness of a common production function.
We use contingent valuation to elicit WTP for a reduction in the risk of dying for cardiovascular and respiratory causes, the most important causes of premature mortality associated with heat wave and air pollution, among the Italian public. The purpose of this study is three-fold.
The risk of losing income and productive means due to adverse weather can differ significantly among farmers sharing a productive landscape and is, of course, hard to estimate or even “guesstimate” empirically. Moreover, the costs associated with investments in adaptation to climate are likely to exhibit economies of scope.
We investigate the impact of climatic change on welfare in European regions using a hedonic travel-cost framework and focusing on tourism demand. Our hedonic price estimations combine detailed hotel price information with tourism-specific travel cost estimations for each pair of EU region.
Global climate models predict a rise in extreme weather in the next century. To better understand future interactions among adaptation costs, socioeconomic development, and climate change in developing countries, observed losses of life from floods and droughts during 1960–2003 are modeled using three determinants: weather events, income per capita, and female education.
In this article we investigate the complex relationship between environmental risk, poverty, and vulnerability in a case study carried out in one of the poorest and most flood-prone countries in the world, focusing on household and community vulnerability and adaptive coping mechanisms.
Analysis of climate change impacts upon water resources has focused primarily on water quantity issues. The impacts upon water quality and water quality management have had little attention.
Extreme meteorological events have increased over the last decade and it is widely accepted that it is due to climate change. Some of these extremes like drought or frost episodes largely affect agricultural outputs that could face a serious decline. Therefore, additional efforts on technology and adaptation become crucial to reduce the effect of climate change on agricultural production.
Project planning in the future must directly address both climate change and uncertainties about it. This paper presents the use of classical decision criteria, such as maximin and minimax regret, and approaches for adapting to climate change given the uncertainties.
Heat waves, defined as an interval of abnormally hot and humid weather, have been a prominent killer in recent years. With heat waves worsening with climate change, adaptation is essential; one strategy has been to issue heat wave warnings and undertake awareness campaigns to bring about behavioral changes to reduce heat stroke.
Vulnerability of Bangladesh to Cyclones in a Changing Climate: Potential Damages and Adaptation Cost
This paper integrates information on climate change, hydrodynamic models, and geographic overlays to assess the vulnerability of coastal areas in Bangladesh to larger storm surges and sea-level rise by 2050.
The dominant assumption in economic models of climate policy remains that adaptation will be implemented in an optimal manner. There are, however, several reasons why optimal levels of adaptation may not be attainable. This paper investigates the effects of suboptimal levels of adaptation, i.e. adaptation restrictions, on the composition and level of climate change costs and on welfare.
Scientists predict that some climate change is already inevitable, even if greenhouse emissions are stabilised. Adaptation strategies will be of comparable importance to reducing emissions. However, the specific effects of climate change are currently unknowable, especially at the local level. Given this uncertainty, deterministic adaptation strategies are inappropriate.
As a consequence of Climate Change sea level rise as well as a change in the intensity and propensity of rain are expected in the Basque Country. Valuing the costs and benefits of adapting to these changes becomes an important piece of information for the planning process. This paper develops two methodological frameworks.
Beach nourishment is a policy used to rebuild eroding beaches with sand dredged from other locations. Previous studies indicate that beach width positively affects coastal property values, but these studies ignore the dynamic features of beaches and the feedback that nourishment has on shoreline retreat.
New Orleans and Bangkok are vivid examples of major urban areas recently affected by massive inundations of floodwaters. The pending effects of climate change may exacerbate this problem; yet, local decision makers lack a clear and consistent framework for analyzing the costs and benefits of alternative modes of adaptation.
We evaluate the potential impacts and measure the potential limits of adaptation of agriculture to climate change. Pressures on land and water resources are expected to intensify existing risks in low latitude areas – e.g., South-East Asia deltas – and in regions with current water scarcity – e.g.
This paper provides a primer on the fiscal implications of climate change, in particular the policies for responding to it. Many of the complicated challenges that arise in limiting climate change (through greenhouse gas emissions mitigation), and in dealing with the effects that remain (through adaptation to climate change impacts), are of a fiscal nature.
Investment decision making is already difficult for any diverse group of actors with different priorities and views. But the presence of deep uncertainties linked to climate change and other future conditions further challenges decision making by questioning the robustness of all purportedly optimal solutions.
The issue addressed within the EWASE project centres on the assessment of the effectiveness and efficiency of Early Warning Systems (EWS) for medium sized river basins prone to flash floods. The approach pursued relates the concept of risk analysis to the evaluation of strategies for flood damage prevention through early warnings.
The paper presents research results on flood risk mitigation by the controlled flooding of a retention area on the middle reaches of the Elbe River. The retention area consists of six large polders and the floodplain of a tributary, the Havel, and is located near the Havel's confluence with the Elbe River.
With respect to the enormous damages floods have caused in Central Europe in the last few years (Odra 1997, Elbe 2002), the use of detention areas for reducing flood risk is of high importance in modern flood management. By the controlled flooding of sparsely populated areas with low damage potential the risk for downstream areas with higher vulnerability can be reduced.
The increasing land-use activities in European mountain regions have led to a considerable threat of natural hazards such as flash floods and debris flows in areas used for settlement purposes and economic activities.
The aim of this project is to advance knowledge of the costs of climate change in the UK, by generating initial estimates of the welfare effects associated with specific impacts occurring under a range of climate change and socioeconomic scenarios for the UK. To the extent possible, it also indicates how and where the burden of these welfare affects may fall.