Each week, I review the papers, studies, reports, and briefings posted over at the RFF Library Blog.
Assessing the Social Costs and Benefits of Regulating Carbon Emissions
[Institute for Energy Research] Julian Morris has produced a detailed study for Reason that explores the costs and benefits of carbon dioxide emissions. Morris concludes with the provocative claim that the weight of evidence suggests federal agencies should ignore carbon dioxide emissions when evaluating regulations, because on balance the “positive externalities” from enhanced agricultural output, reduced deaths from cold, and so forth balance out the “negative externalities” from climate change… - via Reason Foundation / by Julian Morris
The Value of Water: A Framework for Understanding Water Valuation, Risk and Stewardship
The report…shows that most investment decisions are based on the price of water. However, because water is often heavily subsidized or even free, basing decisions on the price of water only accounts for a portion of the full value. Such narrow approaches are not maximizing shareholder value, nor generating strong social or ecological value… - World Wildlife Fund | International Finance Corp. / by Alexis J. Morgan and Stuart Orr
Progress Report: Subsidence in the Central Valley, California
[Live Science] California is sinking even faster than scientists had thought, new NASA satellite imagery shows.
Some areas of the Golden State are sinking more than 2 inches (5.1 centimeters) per month, the imagery reveals. Though the sinking, called subsidence, has long been a problem in California, the rate is accelerating because the state’s extreme drought is fueling voracious groundwater pumping. - NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory | California Institute of Technology / by Tom G Farr, Cathleen Jones and Zhen Liu
When Nuclear Ends: How Nuclear Retirements Might Undermine Clean Power Plan Progress
[Yale Environment 360] If U.S. nuclear power plants are retired early or phased out completely, greenhouse gas emissions could revert back to 2005 levels and undermine nearly all progress the power sector has made over the last decade in lowering carbon emissions, according to an analysis by the Washington, D.C.-based think tank Third Way. The group found that retired nuclear plants would predominantly be replaced with natural gas power plants, not renewable energy sources, because renewables would not be able to keep pace with lost nuclear capacity. - via Third Way / by Samuel Brinton and Josh Freed
Legal Considerations Surrounding the Introduction of an Emissions Performance Standard at EU Level
This paper is produced by ClientEarth, in conjunction with WWF European Policy Office, in order to consider the appropriate legal framework for the introduction of an Emissions Performance Standard (EPS) into EU law. - via ClientEarth | World Wildlife Fund
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