Professor of Economics, Department of Economics; Professor of the Economics of Climate Change, Institute for Environmental Studies and Department of Spatial Economics - University of Sussex; Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam
Assessment Paper
Climate change is real and man-made. It will come as a big surprise that climate change from 1900 to 2025 has mostly been a net benefit, rising to increase welfare about 1.5% of GDP per year. Why? Because global warming has mixed effects and for moderate warming, the benefits prevail.
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Richard S. J. Tol's paper on Emission Abatement was of one of the key research papers from the Copenhagen Consensus on Climate in 2009 ( Fix The Climate ), this updated Assessment Paper was released...
Policy Advice
By Richard S.J. Tol. The European Union aims to limit its 2020 greenhouse gas emissions to 80% of its 1990 emissions. The European Commission has published an impact assessment, but not a cost-benefit analysis – an earlier cost-benefit analysis covered the eventual target but not the intermediate ones, let alone the details of policy implementation. This paper fills the gap, estimating the costs and the benefits of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 20% in a decade.
The working paper used by the Expert Panel is available for download here, the finalized paper has been published in Smart Solutions to Climate Change by Cambridge University Press. Climate economist...
An Assessment Paper on Global Warming was prepared for the second Copenhagen Consensus by Gary W. Yohe, Richard S.J. Tol, Richard G. Richels, and Geoffrey J. Blanford. The working paper used by the...
A Scorecard for Humanity fits into the ongoing conversation between optimists and pessimists for the last half century. The central question has been: what is the state of the world? The results of our study have been published by Cambridge University Press under the book title How Much Have Global Problems Cost the World? A Scorecard from 1900 to 2050
In 2004 and 2008, the Copenhagen Consensus Center held two major projects that helped to shape overseas development spending and philanthropic decisions for years to come. The third Copenhagen Consensus was the latest iteration of our ongoing work to prioritize the best solutions.
Global warming is real; it is caused by man-made CO2 emissions, and we need to do something about it. But we don't need action that makes us feel good. We need action that actually does good.
The second Copenhagen Consensus took place 25-30 May in Copenhagen. Once again, our Expert Panel tackled the question, Imagine you had $75 billion to donate to worthwhile causes. What would you do, and where should we start? The Panel released a prioritized list recommending how best to tackle ten of the world's most pressing issues.
