Each week, we review the papers, studies, reports, and briefings posted at the “indispensable” RFF Library Blog, curated by RFF Librarian Chris Clotworthy. Check out this week’s highlights below:
...we find that NRDC’s proposal to cut carbon pollution would create new jobs nationally and lower the average American’s monthly electric bill. (The proposal upon which this analysis is based is detailed in our December 2012 report “Closing the Power Plant Carbon Pollution Loophole: Smart Ways the Clean Air Act Can Clean Up America’s Biggest Climate Polluters). Specifically, we found that our proposed carbon standards would, in 2020: — via Natural Resources Defense Council
Assessing Countries’ Contributions to Climate Finance: First Steps
...this paper attempts to outline the importance of assessing international climate finance contributions while describing the difficulties in arriving at universally agreed measurements and indicators for assessment. In many cases, data are neither readily available nor complete, and there is no consensus on what should be included. A number of indicators are proposed in this study as a starting point... — via Brooking Institution
A Risk-based Approach to Wildland Fire Budgetary Planning
In this article, we focus on incentives related to cost containment. We review the literature on the incentive structure facing wildfire managers and describe how the incentive structure does not sufficiently reward cost containment. We then cover a range of possible approaches to promote cost containment, culminating in a novel solution premised on the application of actuarial principles to wildfire... — via Forest Science
The Rising Cost of Wildfire Protection
Wildfires are getting larger and causing more damage. Headwaters Economics produced this report as part of our long-term commitment to better understand and address why wildfires are becoming more severe and expensive. The report also describes how the protection of homes in the Wildland-Urban Interface (WUI) has added to these costs and concludes with a brief discussion of solutions that may help control escalating costs... — via Headwaters Economics
Flood Insurance: Implications of Changing Coverage Limits and Expanding Coverage
The National Flood Insurance Program [NFIP] was created in 1968 and is the only federal flood insurance available. It may be the sole source of insurance to some residents of flood-prone areas. Mainly due to catastrophic losses in 2005, the program became indebted to the U.S. Treasury and has been unable to repay this debt. Because of NFIP’s financial instability and management challenges, GAO placed the program... — via U.S. Government Accountability Office
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